Balfour Beatty secured a contract to deliver the new COVID-19 testing laboratory in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on behalf of NHS Test and Trace.
Awarded through the Crown Commercial Services framework, Balfour Beatty is constructing the new 225,000 foot-square ‘Rosalind Franklin Laboratory’ which is now open and on completion will add hundreds of thousands of tests to the UK’s daily COVID-19 testing capacity.
Works include the construction of a series of laboratory “lines” within the facility as well as the associated welfare and waste management facilities to support these essential operations, with Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick providing the associated mechanical and electrical works for the new testing facility. The laboratory is being built in a modular approach to enable test processing capacity to increase whilst construction continues.
Having successfully completed the in-house laboratory at the Manchester Engineering Campus Development and the temporary NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow, Balfour Beatty will utilise its unrivalled knowledge and expertise to safely and considerately deliver this innovative, cutting-edge laboratory.
Mark Bullock, Chief Executive Officer for Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, said: “We are immensely proud to be bringing together our expertise from across the Group, to play a key role in delivering the next generation of diagnostic facilities.
“Once complete, the facility will be the largest of its type in the UK and one of the largest in Europe; representing a significant investment in the UK’s pandemic response infrastructure for the future and integral to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in the immediate term.”
Works are already underway with completion expected in later this year. At peak construction, Balfour Beatty will employ a workforce of approximately 600.
