Stevenage was CREST’s most frequently visited place in 2022. Many biotechnology and life sciences facilities have recently appeared on its map – nearly all with pharma cold stores or cleanroom requirements.
“That’s true – Stevenage has felt like a big construction site for a while now. I’m proud to say we participated in a few of these projects over the past years, contributing to what could soon become the heart of Europe’s R&D for life sciences,” says Mark Kendrick, CREST Business Development Director.
“This one landed in our inboxes in mid-2021. We were excited to be working with a new main contractor client, helping them to deliver a part of a significant project currently in development in the area.”
But it wasn’t until a year later that the end user signed all the contract details. The scope of work was to construct two fully equipped pharmaceutical-grade holding chillers across two storeys, on the first and second floors of the building. Both included a turnkey N+1 refrigeration package with high-specification monitoring system and required a stable temperature of 4°C. Steve Gunning, our Contracts Supervisor, ran the project.
“The main contractor put in an enormous amount of work stripping the internals of the building. Made our job look easy,” he says, mentioning how CREST installers completed the walls in 8 working days, split across three visits.
“Initially, we were only supposed to build the box, install all the refrigeration components and leave the rest to the client,” he continues. “But as it often can be with construction sites, the plans changed, and the team returned for a few hours for a third visit to build over the structure. Long story short, we did slightly more than you can see in the photo. We’re very pleased with the outcome and how we accommodated all the changes, worked around the limited access and our client’s scheduling,” he sums up humbly.
Need a flexible fit-out partner to deliver a cleanroom project or add pharma cold stores to your facilities?
Mark, Steve and their CREST colleagues are here to help. Email mkendrick@stancold.co.uk or call 07585 301425.
