We are pleased to announce that BES has been awarded a £4 million project to create a new production facility for opioid addiction treatment specialist, Indivior.

Designed by BES to complement the existing assets at Indivior’s pharma campus in Hull, the new plant forms part of business continuity planning at Indivior, ensuring the company can continue to meet demand while providing the highest standards of health and safety for employees. The facility will be ATEX Zone 22/2 rated, requiring all elements of the specification to minimise the safety and operational hazards associated with the high explosion risk environment where hydrogen reactors are an integral part of the manufacturing process.

BES’s success in winning the contract to design and construct the new facilities builds on an existing relationship between the two companies, which saw BES complete a £20 million research & development facility for Indivior three months ahead of schedule last year.

BES began the design process for the new plant by carrying out a full assessment of Indivior’s requirements and reviewing the accommodation currently used for the seven-stage chemical process involved in production. As part of the business continuity planning strategy, the new building has been designed to allow installation of eight hydrogen reactors, with three of these due for installation at fit out and the addition of the remaining five scheduled over the next two years.

Explains Dale Owen, design lead on the project at BES: “This project builds on the experience of designing and constructing ATEX-certified facilities within the BES team, which involves ensuring that every element of the specification is anti-sparking or intrinsically safe. It also involves designing the facility to minimise the impact of any explosion in terms of both health and safety risk and isolation of hazards to localise any unavoidable damage.

“We have carefully considered the commercial, operational and insurance requirements of the project to design a facility that is as safe and efficient as possible, while answering all safety and hazard isolation validation requirements.”
To help manage the risk of the process critical hydrogen reactors, BES has designed each reactor booth with pressure-resistant panels on three walls and the soffit, while the external wall will automatically release vents if pressure should increase to explosion hazard levels, thanks to an ingenious magnetised design. Each booth is also contained within a two-hour fire-rated environment, ensuring that the damage and safety implications of any incidents can be contained.
The design has been agreed by Indivior and passed by a DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres) Consultant, with fit out due to begin by the end of the year.

Adrian Young, project manager at Indivior adds: “BES exceeded our expectations during the R&D facility project and we have been impressed once again by the niche expertise within the business and the attention to detail across the team. They have even considered operational factors such as the height of different operatives and how that will affect their field of vision from the production facility floor!

“Our investment in this facility is a vital part of our business continuity planning and we are looking forward to seeing it become operational next year.”