Biomedicines manufacturing facility

About BioCork

BioCork is Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine’s state-of-the-art facility producing immunology and oncology treatments. PM Group has supported the design and build of the 20,000+ sqm campus in Ireland since 2005.

The new expansion has been recognised in two major international awards: It has received CURT Awards for both Project Excellence and Safety, and has been announced as ENR Global Projects Manufacturing Category Award Winner for 2024.

The Project

The latest project was a large and complex expansion that increased capacity 75% by adding three production bioreactors, each 15,400 liters, as well as associated seed reactors and expanded warehouse cold rooms, freezers and central utilities.

The team was challenged to execute the project in a live manufacturing environment, which added to the risks and complexity of the work.

Digital innovation enabling superior collaboration and safety

New technologies facilitated real-time, daily collaboration during the BioCork projects delivery:

• Virtual Reality: teams used virtual reality for an initial collaborative review process, enabling timely decision-making and avoiding costly rework, which kept the project schedule on track.
• 3D BIM Modelling: design and construction teams used 3D BIM Modelling to understand the installation sequence and coordination steps in detail throughout the project.
• Drone Footage: weekly interactive planning sessions incorporated drone footage to highlight work areas, enhancing visual oversight and project progression.
• Interactive Whiteboards: these allowed session leaders to email all attendees directly from the screen during meetings, streamlining communication.
• 360-Degree Internal Cameras: these cameras provided visual oversight of the project progression and helped identify inefficiencies.

Leading with sustainability

All the BioCork facilities have been designed and constructed with sustainability as a guiding principal. The latest project, BioCork 3.2 has achieved the LEED BD+C New Construction v4 Silver Award.

PM Group has been involved on all three major development projects at this c.40 hectare site from its original establishment in 2005 as a greenfield facility to produce monoclonal antibody products. 

Our scope has included site evaluation, master-planning and permitting, architecture and engineering design, procurement, construction management support, commissioning/qualification/validation and LEED AP consulting services.

The earlier 19,000 sqm expansion project (BioCork 2) was recognised with ENR and CURT awards in 2020, and was Overall Winner and Project Execution Winner in the ISPE Facility of The Year Awards, 2021.