Planning ahead: DPR completed construction on Genentech’s South San Francisco facility more than four years ago, leaving room for one of the largest pharmaceutical freeze dryers ever built

Using a 190-ton crane, DPR lowered the 56,000-pound, stainless steel lyophilizer through the roof of Genentech’s facility in South San Francisco, working “carefully not to disrupt adjacent cleanrooms and manufacturing operations,” said Jeff Roof, project manager with DPR.

After more than six weeks of preparing the building, including opening the roof, demolishing and shoring adjacent floors, and relocating existing process piping, DPR placed the freeze dryer in its final position on the first floor. A 10-ton condenser, a 20-ton refrigeration skid and a new cleanroom air-handler were also shoehorned into the 2,000-sq.-ft. space, leaving riggers with less than one inch to spare from nearby operating equipment.

Before settling into its new home at Genentech, the lyophilizer, manufactured by BOC Edwards Pharmaceutical Systems, traveled great distances. The 750-cubic-foot drying chamber was manufactured in Italy, shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, and down the St. Lawrence Seaway. It crossed the international bridge at Montreal, closed to all traffic to accommodate its size, before reaching BOC Edward’s manufacturing facility in Tonawanda, NY.

The trip from New York to California presented an even bigger challenge, according to Roof, as the unit in its final configuration grew to more than 14 ft. tall and 11 ft. wide. Avoiding overpasses and bridges, the lyophilizer was transported across 10 states in 10 days.

The planning for the installation of the lyophilizer was already underway in 1998, when DPR turned over the Building 8 expansion on Genentech’s South San Francisco campus. That fast-track project included replacing the roof, demolishing an adjacent two-story, 24,500-sq.-ft. office facility, and building out the space into a class 100 and class 10,000 cleanroom “fill and finish” facility. With the entire second level serving as mechanical space, DPR “planned ahead for the installation of the lyophilizer, leaving a spot for the dryer and the necessary hookups,” Roof said.

According to George Pfeffer of DPR, a lyophilizer is a freeze dryer that uses tremendous pressures and very low temperatures - allowing water to pass from a frozen state to a vapor state without passing through a liquid state - to bring various biopharmaceutical products to their final stage in production before sale to the public.

In addition to installing one of the world’s largest lyophilizers, which can accommodate between $7 million and $10 million worth of product at one time, the project featured the build out of a 900-sq.-ft. cleanroom and installation of a new automated loader and conveyor system. These components had been fabricated and shipped from Amsterdam. “Coordination of this complex project depended heavily on the expertise and support of the entire project team, working closely together and thinking ahead to successfully deliver a job well done,” enthused Roof.