The creation of a pharmaceutical glass manufacturing facility in St Helens, UK has been confirmed.
Speaking at the Furnace Solutions conference last week, the St Helens Council Leader Anthony Burns confirmed that the application to build the plant had been approved.
He told delegates at the glass-focused conference at the Totally Wicked rugby league stadium about plans for a £500 million Life Sciences Investment Zone in the Liverpool city area.
This would include the redevelopment of land formerly used by the glass industry to expand the area’s manufacturing and innovation capabilities.
He said: “I'm glad to announce that SINA Medical have completed the lease on the building to the rear of Glass Futures, bringing medical glass manufacturing back onto UK shores.
“It's no coincidence to us that these groundbreaking facilities are based here in St Helens because of our heritage and because of our place within the glassmaking world.”
SINA Medical Glass will convert a distribution warehouse into a manufacturing facility. It is projected to create 180 jobs by 2025 and 300 roles when fully operational by 2030.
It will manufacture 300 million glass vials a year, which will be sufficient to meet the needs of the UK’s annual requirement of 150 – 200 million vials, with the balance to be exported.
Through a partnership with Glass Futures (of which SINA will be a member) a new furnace design will be developed such that the medical glass products created are as sustainable as possible.
Low carbon products will result from more efficient glass forming processes and enhanced recycling technologies.
Overall, SINA will co-invest over £23m by 2025 alongside £5.5m from the Towns Fund in Phase 1 and a further estimated £60m by 2030 to realise Phase 2.
SINA Medical was supported in its creation by Glass Futures alongside shareholders SGC Group Intl and Hambleden Capital.
