R&D boost at Sanofi plant
5 Oct 2011 by Evoluted New Media
Sanofi has instigated an innovative regeneration programme to secure new businesses and jobs to its soon-to-close Dagenham plant.
The Rainham Road South plant is due to close in 2013 for commercial reasons, but Sanofi believe the site could provide excellent research and development facilities for other pharmaceutical or science-based companies.
“We want to write a story which is about future job creations, rather than one of job losses, when we cease operations at the end of 2012,” said Jim Moretta, Sanofi site leader – Dagenham. “Our goal is to work with our appointed regeneration and land specialists, alongside the local stake holders, to deliver a solution which benefits the local community and local businesses, as well as our own employees.”
Cheshire-based regeneration specialists SOG Ltd have been appointed to manage the project, aimed at transforming the site into a multi-occupancy centre with businesses across a broad spectrum including office space, retail, manufacturing units, warehouse and distribution, health and leisure and research and development.
Moretta said: “There are excellent R&D facilities here which could benefit other large pharmaceutical companies or small to medium businesses intending to grow their operations in the science sector.”
The site has sterile manufacturing facilities, chemical and microbiology laboratories and warehouses with specialist utilities including water for injections, deionised water, clean steam, medical grade compressed air as well as air-conditioning systems.
“There are thousands of square feet of specialist manufacturing and laboratory facilities on the Dagenham site that would cost millions of pounds to recreate at today’s prices,” said SOG’s property expert Tim Metson. “Our plan is to retain these buildings and offer them to other scientific businesses where they can be adapted for a multitude of R&D projects.”
“Rather than simply knock down these state-of-the-art facilities and turn them into building plots, we want to find new users for them.”
The plan has the backing of Barking and Dagenham Council, which hopes that a new era of science research and development will be created on the site once Sanofi leaves – attracting more skilled jobs to the borough.
