Sartorius, a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry, has opened a new ‘state of the art’ manufacturing facility for downstream equipment in Hampshire. The opening marks the official relocation of more than 90 people to the new facility, located just a few miles away from the company’s former site in Portsmouth.

Dr Thorsten Peuker, head of operations, BPS Systems at Sartorius, said: “The new facility in Havant will be an important part of our global operations network as it will enable our business to grow to meet the requirements of the expanding industry.”

The 58,000ft² site is in close proximity to Portsmouth’s substantial talent pool, enabling the company to bring together skilled engineers with biochemical, electrical, and mechanical backgrounds who will design and manufacture a range of systems for the biopharmaceutical market, including chromatography columns and time- and cost-saving filtration systems. These systems are crucial for manufacturing injectable drugs used to treat cancer and diabetes and for producing vaccines to prevent the spread of viruses.

In addition to a 28,000ft² production area, the centre accommodates a 4,000ft² customer test lab to demonstrate the functionality of Sartorius products.

Mr Peuker continued: “The new facility increases Sartorius’ capacity to deliver support in all areas of our business and provide the highest quality equipment and services to our customers.”

In 2021, Sartorius will invest more than 400 million euros in the expansion of manufacturing capacities around the world to meet the high demand from the growing biopharmaceuticals market.

In line with these investments, Sartorius aims to expand its Havant site, and the company is now offering positions for process engineers, project managers, and design engineers, as well as for several support functions, among other job vacancies. With its new facility in Havant, Sartorius now has five locations in the UK, employing over 900 staff members.