Town has hopes for £300m factory (From The Advertiser Series)

Town has hopes for £300m factory

8:46am Thursday 17th December 2009

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HOPES are high that a £300m pharmaceutical factory will be built in a County Durham market town, bringing hundreds of jobs to the area.

Drugs giant GlaxoSmith Kline (GSK) has highlighted its Barnard Castle plant as one of three possible locations for its first UK-based biopharmaceutical factory.

The Barnard Castle plant is Teesdale’s biggest employer, with about 800 people working there. It is not known exactly how many jobs would be created by a new factory.

Earlier in the month, it was thought that GSK would build its new biopharmaceutical plant in Asia or the US, but the money will now be spent in the UK after last week’s Government unveiling of the Patent Box scheme – which slashes tax on profits made from UK patents.

The other possible sites for the factory are in Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, and Ulverston, in Cumbria.

A spokesman from the GSK plant in Barnard Castle said: “It is far too early to say when or where a biopharm plant would be built. GSK will consider a range of options as its pipeline of new biopharmaceutical products progresses and as implementation of the Patent Box scheme gets closer.

“Barnard Castle is likely to be one of several locations to be considered given the similar technologies in use at the site and the technical expertise of staff.

“The timing of the decision on where to build a biopharmaceutical plant is dependent upon the progress through GSK Research and Development of new biopharmaceutical products which is difficult to predict. It is certainly not likely to be taken in the short term.”

The news of the possible investment in the Barnard Castle site bears a stark contrast to 12 months ago when up to 200 redundancies were announced as part of a nationwide cost-cutting exercise at GSK.

The Mayor of Barnard Castle John Yarker said: “Last year we were looking at the worst possible scenario but now we are looking at something which could be very positive.

“It is still not certain that it will happen but it gives people a bit of hope.

“Something like this would have knock-on effects in terms of the construction side and other businesses in the area which would benefit from the investment.”

Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, said: “GSK has already invested £49m in the past two years and there has been a lot of extra work generated through the production of the swine flu vaccine at the factory.

“It is a complete turnaround from last year and it would be very significant indeed.

“I hope very much that the plant does go to Barnard Castle and if it does it would be a testament to the workers and management there.

“It shows that there is a good climate for investment in British industry.”

Regional development agency One North East’s head of business investment, Dr Simon Goon, said: “Any potential for job creation in the North-East is welcomed and hopefully, the GlaxoSmith Kline Barnard Castle site will be selected for this exciting new project.”

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