Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult is a centre of excellence in innovation, with the core purpose of building a world-leading cell and gene therapy sector in the UK as a key part of a global industry.

Located on the Bioscience campus within the rapidly growing European cell and gene therapy cluster in Stevenage, the 11,000m² centre will drive the growth of the industry by helping companies to develop their manufacturing capabilities and systems for large scale, commercial cell and gene therapies.

Phase 1 provided six cleanroom modules in a unique 'collaborative model' to allow tenants to design, develop and establish production facilities for cell-based applications. In addition, quality assurance warehousing, waste treatment and business administration areas were delivered.

Following the successful completion of Phase 1, a further phase of work was commissioned to deliver an additional six clearnroom modules, which opened to collaborators in 2020. Depending on the process, each cleanroom module can accommodate 20 parallel autologous cell processes or a bioreactor process up to 1,000L bioreactors for allogeneic cell or viral vector manufacture.

Phase 3 created an extension to the original building to provide additional quality assurance accommodation. The potential to extend the building was built into the design during Phase 1.