Scheme to house R&D facilities for work into vaccines for respiratory diseases

Plans for a £150m vaccine manufacturing centre in Oxford for pharmaceutical giant Moderna have been given the green light.

The Innovation and Technology Centre at Harwell Campus has now been approved by the Vale of White Horse council with Glencar set to set to start work later this year ahead of completion in 2025

Designed by Scott Brownrigg, it will consist of two buildings totalling 145,000sq ft, housing research, development and manufacturing facilities for the latest mRNA vaccines for a range of respiratory diseases.

MITC

How the scheme will look when built

The project team also includes project manager Bidwells, structural engineer Baynham Meikle, building services engineer Hoare Lea, landscape architect Exterior Architecture and planning consultant Carter Jonas.

Construction is set to begin later this year with the scheme scheduled to become operational in 2025.

Moderna said the scheme will put Harwell at the heart of the UK’s pandemic resilience strategy. The campus is already home to the £200m Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, which started construction in 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Another Scott Brownrigg-designed scheme in the city is down to the last three bidders.

Oxford Science Park, which is majority owned by Magdalen College, Oxford, is home to over 3,000 people and more than 100 businesses.

The park wants to build three new laboratory and office buildings on Plots 23-26 of the site with work set to be completed by early 2025.

Mace, Laing O’Rourke and Bouygues are preparing to submit final bids for the job which was given planning in February. A winner on the £160m job is due by the summer.