AMEC, the international engineering services company, has been awarded a major contract to provide detailed design and construction services for a new US$18.5 million global vaccine research centre for UK-based Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC.
The Centre will support Shire's biologics business and will be located at the company's current site in Laval, Quebec, home to Shire's therapeutic research centre.
AMEC's global PharmaChem unit will provide detailed design as well as construction services for a mix of renovation and extension of the facility.
The centre will provide approximately 70 000 square feet of laboratory and office space and will host scientists from both therapeutic and biologic research.
Work on the project begins immediately and is expected to be completed within the first half of 2004.
"We are very pleased to be working again with our long-term client, Shire,“ said Nick Morris, President of AMEC's global PharmaChem unit. "Shire's goal is to become a significant player in the global vaccine market, which is expected to grow from US$5 billion to US$10 billion in annual sales within five years.
AMEC has put together an impressive global team of experts to undertake this job and assist Shire in achieving that goal.“
AMEC's vaccine research centre project team consists of specialist design groups from AMEC's Oakville, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Stratford-upon-Avon, UK offices.
Last year, AMEC was awarded a contract to provide full design, management and construction services for Shire's new corporate head office in Basingstoke, England, following an initial front end study awarded AMEC in early 2002.
Shire is a rapidly growing international specialty pharmaceutical company with a strategic focus on four therapeutic areas central nervous system disorders, gastro intestinal, oncology and anti-infectives.
AMEC's provision of engineering expertise and support services to industrial clients accounts for around16 per cent of its global revenues. Over the past 12 months, the company has provided services to nearly all of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies from dedicated offices in Germany, Switzerland, the UK and North America.
An international engineering services company, AMEC provides design, project delivery and maintenance support to clients in the oil & gas; transport; infrastructure and industrial sectors.
The company generates revenues in excess of US$8 billion and works at the local, national and international levels, employing 50 000 people throughout the UK, continental Europe, North America and some 40 countries worldwide.
For more information, visit www.amec.com
