Plan to add 3,000 jobs at former Pfizer site
7 Nov 2012
Sandwich, UK - Discovery Park Ltd has announced plans to potentially generate 3,000 new jobs by 2017, about four times above current employee numbers at the former Pfizer site at Sandwich.
Discovery Park - a consortium led by chief executive, Chris Musgrave alongside chairman, Trevor Cartner and supported by Palmer Capital - bought the 297-acre site on 1 Aug.
The site currently employs 900 people across 14 companies including Augean, Mylan, Peakdale Chemistry Services, Pfizer and LGC among others.
Discovery Park aims to attract new tenants including government scientific bodies, research organisations and science and technology businesses to the site.
The plan, it said, is to take advantage of the benefits of the site’s ‘enterprise zone’ status and the government-funded tax reliefs for science companies as an incentive to attract global brands.
The company’s business development team is proactively identifying national and international academic institutions with a view to offering a bespoke package to meet the requirements of potential academic partners.
“Our plan is to showcase the extraordinary facilities to the global life science, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, science and technology industries, among others,” said Chris Musgrave, chief executive, Discovery Park.
“To have such a diverse range of services in one location - from laboratories to incubator space, specialist niche manufacturing and R&D facilities to warehouse units - is a unique proposition and one which we believe sets Sandwich apart from its competitors.”
Discovery Park claims to have a proven track record in delivering projects of a similar scale.
Musgrave and Cartner also own Wynyard Park, a 700 acre site in Teesside, north east England. Wynyard Park is home to over 65 organisations including Huntsman and AMEC. The park, they say, has generated around 2,000 jobs since its inception in 2005.
