Global biopharmaceutical company Vertex Pharmaceuticals plans to build a new 155,000 sq ft research facility at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
The news comes as Harwell’s Health Tech Cluster turns ten. The cluster launched in 2016 and now has more than 75 life sciences organisations and 1,400 people. It also comes a year after Moderna opened its manufacturing and R&D facility on the campus.
The new building will give Vertex’s research and development teams a base to develop new therapies for patients. It will sit next to the new CO:LABS building in Harwell’s Accelerator Quarter, an innovation zone that supports science businesses from early-stage development through to scale-up.
Construction is expected to start in early 2027, subject to planning and regulatory approval. The build is expected to support more than 200 jobs across the region.
Professor Michele Dougherty, Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), said: “Harwell exists to bring government, academia and industry together to work on the biggest challenges and for the last decade the Health Cluster we initiated on site has been doing just that. This new facility that will develop transformative medicines is exactly the kind of investment we want to see here. It complements our outstanding national labs, strengthens Oxfordshire’s position as a home for world-class life sciences and supports the wider ambition for the UK to lead in science and innovation.”
Jim Stretton, Managing Director of Harwell Campus, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Vertex Pharmaceuticals to the Harwell Campus community. This new facility will further enable the global biopharma company’s research and development teams to bring transformative therapies to patients. Their decision to invest here reflects the strength of Harwell’s health cluster and Oxfordshire’s thriving research and innovation ecosystem.”
Harwell Campus is a joint venture between Brookfield, which owns 50%, and two public bodies, STFC and the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which own the other 50% between them.
Image courtesy of Harwell Science and Innovation Campus