Moderna MITC is first UK major Life Sciences project win for Sisk
Wednesday 8th May 2024: Sisk has been officially been appointed by Moderna as its preferred bidder for the fit-out of its new UK drug substance and manufacturing facility at the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC), located on the Harwell Science Campus in Oxfordshire, having began construction on site in January.
The MITC development will encompass a research, development and manufacturing facility, providing the UK public with access to mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and potentially other emerging respiratory health threats. When complete the facility will have capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic, bolstering the UK’s future pandemic resilience strategy.
Construction on site has already begun with the facility expected to become operational in 2025, subject to planning and regulatory approvals. This win cements Sisk’s Life Sciences & Technology team in the heart of the UK’s biopharma-rich ‘golden triangle’ between London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Harwell is the UK's leading science and innovation campus, where government, academia and industry work together to solve the critical problems facing our planet. The campus is home to £3bn national facilities and 6,000 colleagues committed to scientific discovery and understanding.
Donal McCarthy, COO, Life Sciences, Data & Tech, Sisk said: “Sisk is pleased to announce that we have won our first major life sciences project in the UK. We have a demonstrable track record of working with key US blue chip clients in Ireland and across Europe. After some key appointments internally, we now have the capability to bring this skillset to the UK. We look forward to delivering a world class facility for Moderna and growing our Life Sciences offering across the UK.”
Nicolas Chornet, Senior Vice President for Resilience Operations and MITC Site Head at Moderna, said: “Construction of the MITC is well underway and we are delighted to collaborate with Sisk on this vital phase of the project. Upon completion, the facility will leverage cutting-edge mRNA technology to develop innovative vaccines for the UK public and we look forward to contributing to the UK’s dynamic life science sector through the onshoring of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.”
ENDS
About Sisk
Sisk is an innovative, international, construction and engineering business with a long-term vision and over 165 years in operation. Sisk employs approx. 2,300 people and is Ireland's leading provider of construction services with extensive operations across Ireland, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe with the track record, scale and capacity to successfully undertake large, complex multidisciplinary programmes. Sisk is recognised by global clients as a world leader in safe delivery.
Sisk delivers projects and programmes in key sectors such as Data and Technology, Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences, Infrastructure, Transportation, Healthcare, Commercial, Residential, Retail, Industrial, Leisure, Education and Energy. Sisk offers a life-cycle approach to construction from planning and offsite construction, through delivering and fitting out a project safely and sustainably with technology as a key enabler, and then working with clients to help manage and maintain buildings efficiently throughout their lifespan.
For more see www.johnsiskandson.com
About Moderna
In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio and integrated manufacturing facilities that allow for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both ground-breaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune diseases. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.co.uk
About Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus Harwell is the UK's leading science and innovation campus, where government, academia and industry work together to solve the critical problems facing our planet.
The campus is home to £3bn national facilities and 6,000 colleagues committed to scientific discovery and understanding. Moderna is the latest organisation to join Harwell’s thriving Health Tech cluster which has grown to over 70 life science organisations since it launched in 2016.
The campus’ unique combination of expertise in the development of vaccines and mRNA technologies includes: Europe’s largest collection of open access, publicly funded scientific facilities, such as The Rosalind Franklin Institute and the Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator and commercial organisations including: Catalent, Vaccitech, NeoVac and Nanovation Therapeutics.
