Client:
Lonza Biologics, Inc.

Project Duration:
2000–2004

Project
Constructed Value:
$207 million

Parsons Services:
Architectural/engineering/
procurement/construction management, program
management, process engineering, building, permitting, startup
commissioning

Front entrance to the office/laboratory

The expansion envisioned by Lonza will result in a state-of-the-art facility employing Food and Drug Administration current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) processes. The new facility will quadruple the existing plant’s fermentation capacity with the installation of three 20,000-liter stirred-tank reactors as well as additional purification capacity. The added manufacturing and support systems will be housed in a purpose-built, 270,000-square-foot building next to the existing manufacturing facility. The new production plant will be completed in late 2003 and will start manufacturing products by mid-2004.

Temporary staging area for equipment installation

Growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years, biotechnology has emerged as the next significant medical drug arena. Lonza’s expansion project, one of only a few under construction in the world, stands out as the first facility designed around stainless steel 20,000-liter fermenters, a scale-up size never before constructed in a full-scale facility producing biotechnology fermentations.

Using Lonza’s extensive manufacturing experience as a base, the Lonza-Parsons team custom designed this multiproduct operation to manufacture bulk purified therapeutic proteins for use in clinical studies and in market supply. One critical design challenge was eliminating the potential for one product to cross—and thereby contaminate—another product’s path during concurrent manufacturing campaigns. Another was finding the fastest and most cost-effective way to clean out process equipment and prepare it to produce a different product, all the while adhering to strict FDA regulations. The design team worked closely with regulatory authorities to develop a design that will give Lonza’s customers confidence that products are manufactured to the FDA’s cGMP standards. This design minimizes downtime, thus maximizing throughput and promising customers economical long-term production capability.

Chiller area-utility room

The entire Lonza-Parsons team assembled at the site to work on conceptual design late in 2000, and detailed design followed in 2001. With support from within Parsons and from alliance partners—Phoenix Imperative, Grudeau, Appledore Engineering, and Gilbane Construction—the team focused on designing a facility fully compliant with FDA cGMP requirements. Construction of the main concrete superstructure began early in 2002.

Key to the team’s success is the ability to coordinate effectively across all offices, ensuring seamless communication of up-to-the-minute project cost and schedule information. In addition, a secure public Web system allows the public to see an overview of project progress while the team alone views project details.

Ribbon cutting ceremony—office/laboratory facility April 2, 2003 Left to right: Gerhard Klement, Director of U.S. Operations–Lonza; Michael Avant, Program Director–Parsons; Lesley Wood, LSBO Associate Project Director–Lonza; John Machulski-LSBO Project Director–Lonza; Marcus Gemund, CEO & Head of Lonza Biologics

Both the client and the team chose to use a project administration and contract control software designed specifically for the engineering and construction industries as the platform for all project communications. Effective networking with Parsons’ PRISM system and Livelink document management system completed the communication link. Once integrated internally, the software hub was successfully integrated into Lonza’s cost management system.

To achieve an aggressive schedule, the team minimized document development and turnaround time by using electronic documentation and systems as much as possible, with paper drawings being produced only during the construction phase. Client approval turnaround for drawings was anticipated at no more than five working days; in many instances review and approval took only a day or two.

The project met a major milestone when the first phase of the facility was turned over to Lonza at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Portsmouth on April 2. This first phase consists of a two-story office building containing a laboratory and cafeteria area as well as office support utility systems. Work is continuing in the process area with much of the procured equipment set in place. The project will now focus on mechanical completion of the facility late this year.

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