Client
Merit Health
Size
1400 sqm in combination
Sectors
Health, Education & Community
Key Project Information
- Pegasus planning team assisted Modular Health Care Facilities on three sites, which play a significant role in the national and international response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Firstly, permission was secured within 4 weeks for the erection of a modular laboratory building in Clydebank Business Park on behalf of SGC
- Secondly, on behalf of Merit Health, planning permission was secured within 5 weeks f submission for a new modular building, which will serve a CPI’s new ‘RNA Centre of Excellence’ in Darlington
We have been assisting modular design and construction company, Merit Health, on three sites which are to play as significant role in the national and international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Merit Health is a new organisation focussed on delivering healthcare facilities quicker, at a lower cost and with zero carbon emissions in operation through their offsite modular construction techniques.
Firstly, planning permission was secured in just 4 weeks for the erection of a modular laboratory building in Cyldebank Business Park on behalf of SGS, a world leading expert in virology.
The development will enable SGS (supported by the UK Government’s Covid Vaccine Taskforce) to rapidly expand their capability to batch test the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine prior to its distribution around the UK and the globe, being one of only a handful of facilities globally being able to fulfil this role.
The SGS facility in Clydebank has an extensive history of testing various vaccines which has included emergency responses to potential Smallpox, Swine Flu and Influenza outbreaks. The facility will also bolster SGS’s capability to deliver other non COVID-19 treatments and any future outbreaks and threats. Pegasus Environment team also provided landscape advise and support.
Secondly, on behalf Merit Health Pegasus Group secured planning permission within just 5 weeks of submission for a new modular building which will serve a CPI’s new ‘RNA Centre of Excellence’ in Darlington.
The development will form part of CPI’s ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Library’ which will act as a rapid response facility, enabling new mRNA vaccines to be developed to help protect against new variants of COVID-19, as and when they emerge. The proposed facility is directly supported and funded by the UK Government who have recently invested a further £5 million into the scheme as announced in the Spring Budget.
After discharging all pre-commencement conditions in less than 1 week, works commenced on site on Monday 20 September 2021 and the facility will be complete by December 2021.
This work is in addition to securing consent for the extension to a Lateral Flow Test manufacturing facility in York in April on behalf of Abingdon Health and supporting Merit with other upcoming developments within the Health sector.
In each instance the client’s objectives were to deliver the buildings as quickly as possible given the urgent need of the facilities in response to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. As such, not only were we required to prepare and submit the various applications in a short space of time, but to also demonstrate to the Local Planning Authorities how the applications need to be determined in an unprecedented timeframe. To achieve this, we were able to work collaboratively and efficiently with each authority to achieve positive outcomes in each instance.
The sites are to play a significant role in the national and international response to the COVID-19 pandemic with them being instrumental to the vaccine and testing programme. The proposed development would therefore deliver significant health and economic benefits to the UK and across the globe, by ensuring the vaccines provide strong protection against COVID-19. This will not only save lives but will continue to help people to resume regular work and social activities, returning to a “new normal”.
Each scheme will result in further investment in each area, delivering additional high-skilled jobs and associated economic benefits. They will bolster the existing facilities and further allow Darlington, Clydebank and York Biotech Campus to be recognised as an international hubs for biotechnology and life sciences.