Excellent progress being made was marked by a symbolic steel signing ceremony staged onsite attended by project VIP’s.

A key milestone has been reached on construction of the new Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire with steels now rapidly rising out of the ground.

To highlight the key milestone a symbolic steel signing ceremony was staged onsite attended by representatives from Harwell Campus, Moderna, Glencar and the scheme architects Scott Brownrigg. A steel beam from the building itself was signed by VIP’s from the three companies before being lifted into place where it will remain as a lasting memento and legacy to the project for many years to come.

Stuart Grant, CEO of Harwell Campus said: “The steel rising event is another significant milestone and step towards the completion of the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre. The Centre will sit at the heart of our thriving health tech cluster at Harwell and will play a key role in strengthening UK vaccine development and global pandemic resilience.

”Darius Hughes, General Manager Moderna also went onto say: “We are witnessing a historical moment that affects us all. From this building we will manufacture mRNA vaccines, including for Covid-19, keeping us safe and protecting the UK population from emerging respiratory health threats.

“We are very happy to see steels rising and the work that Glencar has undertaken to date.  We look forward to watching the construction progress and seeing this building rise out of the ground”.

Talking about the event Glencar Chairman Pat McGillycuddy said: “It’s fantastic to be here onsite today and to see the excellent progress that the team has made with these incredible steel structures rising from the ground.

We are delighted to be working alongside the teams from Harwell and Moderna and to celebrate this important milestone today.  As Darius said today these buildings and this project is a part of all of us as future vaccines to protect public health will have been directly manufactured within these fantastic facilities.

Glencar is proud to have been trusted to deliver this project and we will look forward to further updates as we work towards PC in the summer of next year.

Moderna is the latest organisation to join Harwell’s thriving Health Tech cluster which has grown to over 70 life science organisations since it launched in 2016.