Pharmaceutical company invests in new state-of-the-art facility

Huddersfield pharmaceutical company Thornton & Ross is expanding, with a seven-figure facility due to open at the beginning of January.

The technologically advanced 600 sq m bottling and filling line will be incorporated within the existing Thornton & Ross warehouse.

The move is part of ambitious growth plans by Thornton & Ross – Huddersfield’s largest employer. 40 permanent jobs will be created at the site.

The process design and engineering work will be implemented by Haden Freeman, a process engineering consultancy headquartered in Denton.

Building and civil engineering works will be completed by Hawkins Construction (Northern), a construction company specialising in this type of installation within a hygienic environment.

Hawkins Construction (Northern) aims to deliver the facility with minimal impact and without causing significant downtime on existing filling lines.

The scheme is expected to take 22 weeks to complete, with a completion date of January 1 2020.

Work will involve demolition and alterations to structures around existing production lines, structural steel-work and gantries, internal hygiene standard fire walls, Electrical & Mechanical design and installation, hygiene doors, stainless steel kerbs and specialist hygienic flooring.

Mark Kirkup, Thornton & Ross vice-president of UK Operations, said the development was essential to enable the company to expand.

“This facility represents the largest single investment that our parent company, the STADA Group, has made at our UK site and underlines the success of Thornton & Ross as a company,” he added.

“It will form an integral part of our plans to expand, which include the creation of 40 new permanent positions across the company.

“We selected our partners on this project for their technical capabilities and experience of working in similar environments. Despite the short time frame for completion, we are extremely pleased with how the project is progressing and look forward to seeing the new bottling line in action.”

Shaun Sykes, managing director at Hawkins Construction, added: “We are extremely proud to be involved with this project and look forward to working closely with Thornton & Ross and building our relationship with the project team involved.

“Our teams will ensure all work complies with our ISO:9001 2015 certified quality standards.”

Thornton & Ross develops, manufactures and supplies a wide range of branded over-the-counter medicines, dermatological solutions and other healthcare and hygiene products. These include Zoflora^®, Hedrin^® and Setlers^®.