Scottish vaccine factory touted for potential sale
French firm Valneva has instructed JLL to explore options for its circa 75,000 sq ft Covid-19 vaccine facility in Scotland, including a potential sale.
The new Almeida biomanufacturing facility, in Livingston, West Lothian, spans across just over 44,600 sq ft of warehousing and offices, and some 33,300 sq ft of production facility space. More specifically, it comprises fully segregated manufacturing areas, labs for in-process control testing, including containment level three facilities, and 10 classified clean rooms.
There is no guide price as yet.
French firm Valneva has instructed JLL to explore options for its circa 75,000 sq ft Covid-19 vaccine facility in Scotland, including a potential sale.
The new Almeida biomanufacturing facility, in Livingston, West Lothian, spans across just over 44,600 sq ft of warehousing and offices, and some 33,300 sq ft of production facility space. More specifically, it comprises fully segregated manufacturing areas, labs for in-process control testing, including containment level three facilities, and 10 classified clean rooms.
There is no guide price as yet.
The development is unused, having been originally designed and delivered by Bouygues Construction’s energies and services division as a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing facility, but it also has the potential to produce a range of biopharmaceutical products.
The project formed part of a €1.4bn (£1.2bn) five-year upfront investment agreement with the UK government signed in August 2020 in a move to secure early access to 60m Covid-19 vaccine doses. Long-term, the expanded Livingston facility was expected to potentially supply up to 130m vaccine doses, if needed, to the UK and internationally.
However, the UK government scrapped the deal in September 2021 owing to “commercial reasons” and fears that Valneva’s Covid-19 vaccine would not be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. As a result, the construction of the site was put on hold.
In February last year, Valneva secured a further £20m of research and development backing from Scottish Enterprise to revive its vaccine manufacturing plans in the region and fully complete the construction of the facility.
In the meantime, Valneva remains committed to Livingston and its adjoining facility, where the company continues to manufacture vaccines, including for Covid-19 and chikungunya.
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