BES win contract to design and deliver £4 million refurbishment project

Located at Recipharm’s King’s Lynn manufacturing site, the project involves refurbishment of a large section of Building 7; a facility originally designed and constructed by BES in 2014

Rochdale company BES, a specialist in controlled environments for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, has been awarded a £4 million project to design, construct and commission a medical device production facility for manufacturer Recipharm, which creates drug delivery devices such as inhalers.

Located at Recipharm’s King’s Lynn manufacturing site, the project involves refurbishment of a large section of a facility originally designed and constructed by BES in 2014.

The original project included additional capacity to enable Recipharm to futureproof for expansion and the new facilities will allow the company to realise that goal, complementing existing inhaler manufacturing within another building on site.

BES is principal designer and principal contractor on the project, which continues Recipharm’s futureproofing strategy with a flexible design that will enable ease of repurposing should the company choose to refocus its operations.

The existing office areas will be retained and will remain in use throughout the project, while existing cleanrooms and fallow areas will be stripped out, remodelled and refurbished to accommodate plastic injection moulding and assembly capabilities.

Developing the client’s initial RIBA stage 2 design, BES has leveraged the expertise of its multidisciplinary team, suite of technological tools and knowledge of the original building specification to provide significant improvements within the finished stage 4 design, including utilising waste heat from the process systems for use in the HVAC plant. The cooling process system also includes an innovative recovery system which collects and re-uses water from moulding process.

The building services design also involves new chillers and new air source heat pumps, with standby capability incorporating the process systems, chilled water, compressed air and boiler systems to underpin operational continuity and minimise the risk of unscheduled downtime.

The process requires the extensive overhead cranes to be incorporated into the structure. BES’s knowledge of the existing portal frame design have helped to overcome the challenges of the additional loads, as well as the need to suitably coordinate new and existing services as well. Both the building services and the architectural design have also factored in the need for business-as-usual operation of the building while the new facilities are constructed, and the BES team has developed a phased programme around the client’s operational requirements.

Architecturally, the BES team was also responsible for reconfiguring the space to create the revised layout and altering the goods in and goods out arrangements in line with the remodelling.

The design team used IES software to undertake thermal modelling of the building, which helped to design a new ventilation plant whilst utilising capabilities of the existing ventilations systems. This has provided significant cost savings and minimised installation time required for strip-out and new plant installation. 

Alfred Cook, FM Technical Projects Manager from Recipharm, said: “BES has carried out a number of successful projects for us at multiple UK sites over the past 10 years and their experience of our operational and commercial priorities makes them a trusted delivery partner.

“They have worked collaboratively with our team throughout the design process for our new injection moulding facilities to develop the design around our process requirements and business-critical need to maintain uninterrupted operating conditions.

“Work has now started on the construction phase and, thanks to BES’ multidisciplinary team, we can be confident of a joined-up approach across the complete turnkey project. We look forward to handover in Q3 2022.”