Seqirus cGMP Warehouse Expansion
Seqirus cGMP Warehouse Expansion | Holly Springs, North Carolina
The cGMP warehouse expansion supports Seqirus’ growth in manufacturing activity output to meet worldwide demand for the flu vaccine. The company made six million doses of the vaccine in 2016 but planned to scale up to 40-50 million doses per year for the next few years, eventually reaching 100 million doses annually according to Seqirus. The Seqirus cGMP Warehouse Expansion project was completed on budget and within its approximately 10-month construction schedule in November of 2018.
The expansion project comprised new corrosives storage, flammables storage and ambient storage spaces to align with campus expansion upgrades and safety requirements. An IT room, restrooms and various support items were also included in the project scope, as well as modifications to cold storage in the existing warehouse to increase capacity to store final bulk product prior to fill/distribution. DPR’s delivery of the F-min rated floor, which accommodates a narrow aisle semi-autonomous forklift operations and racking system in the 15,000 sq.-ft. warehouse expansion, earned the project a 2019 Golden Trowel Award from the national World of Concrete show.
Expertise and Application
DPR leveraged its extensive pharmaceutical and cGMP facility expertise to deliver several value-added solutions for the owner. One such solution, implemented prior to commissioning, was a rapidly deployable sensor used to ensure that temperature and humidity were effectively controlled in the cGMP space as it was designed and constructed. This low-cost technology application shaved time and added predictability and increased certainty for the owner prior to the official validation stage.
The
Challenges
DPR SPW concrete crews needed to deliver a super flat slab for the high bay space within the warehouse. They worked closely with the engineering team to redesign the foundation slab to achieve a maximum degree of floor flatness to accommodate the semi-autonomous forklift operations and racking system planned for the space.
Photo: DPR SPW concrete crews needed to deliver a super flat slab for the high bay space within the warehouse.
A key challenge for the project team was tying the new cGMP warehouse into the owner’s existing facility, which remained in full operation throughout construction.
Photo: A key challenge for the project team was tying the new cGMP warehouse into the owner’s existing facility, which remained in full operation throughout construction.
The
Solutions
To meet the challenge of delivering a super flat floor, DPR worked closely with the engineer and floor consultants to redesign the foundation slab – changing the aggregate, the rebar for the expansion joints and the control joints to achieve the highest degree of quality and flatness. Since differential ground settlement on site could impact the final floor flatness, DPR built up the foundation pad six feet and then let it settle for several months as SPW concrete crews worked closely with other project team members to iron out the foundation’s design details.
Photo: DPR built up the foundation pad six feet and then let it settle for several months to avoid impacts on floor flatness.
DPR brought several value-added solutions to the construction process. This included suggesting a cost-effective, Internet of Things-based rapidly deployable sensor technology that was used to pretest the cGMP spaces prior to the validation stage.
The goal: ensuring that temperature and humidity were effectively controlled without the need for destratification fans in the high bay storage area, a design change the owner hoped to avoid.
Photo: Sensor technology was used to pretest the cGMP spaces to ensure temperature and humidity were effectively controlled.
“That pretesting device fleshed out a lot of issues prior to actual commissioning and cut the time on that validation effort considerably. It was a very affordable way to add a lot of value to the process.”
Jeff Ward
Project Manager, DPR Construction
Project
Awards
World of Concrete
Golden Trowel Award 2018
The most prestigious award in concrete flooring, Golden Trowels are given annually in recognition of the flattest and most level floor slabs produced in the world.
Photo: DPR brought several value-added solutions to the construction process to avoid the need for destratification fans in the high bay storage area.