Wasdell set to open new facility in Ireland, offering hard Brexit contingency

The Wasdell Group — an outsourcing partner to companies in the pharma, medical device and clinical trials industries — has announced it will be opening a new facility in Dundalk, Ireland in Spring 2019 after a €30 million investment.

Through the new facility, Wasdell will be able to offer quality control (QC) import testing for pharmaceutical products as well as a variety of current and novel packaging technologies. Additionally, the 90,000 sq. ft facility will boost the company’s storage and distribution services outside of the UK.

The company has also revealed that the location of the new facility will be used to futureproof operations in the event of a hard Brexit. As it will be based in Ireland, the company will be able to perform EU testing and thus will ensure its continuous supply to customers.

“With our new facility, we are not only increasing our packaging and analytical testing capacity to better service new and future customers, but with Brexit on the horizon, we are ensuring challenges and costs are minimised by preparing for every eventuality,” explained Martin Tedham, CEO at The Wasdell Group. “This investment will provide our customers with a robust contingency plan, protecting critical supply chains and ensuring continuous supply of pharmaceutical products post-March 2019.

“Almost 75% of our current turnover is export business and as our customer base is continuing to grow significantly in the US, this facility will allow Wasdell to remain a secure stepping stone into the European market.

“In addition the company has experienced growth in the Irish market over the past four years making the country a logical choice for our latest expansion.”

The Dundalk facility is the latest phase in Wasell’s investment plan to increase capability and capacity and follows the announcement of its new £500k microbiological and analytical laboratory at its Newcastle, UK, site.

Building work on the site, which is expected to fully operational by spring 2019, began in August 2018. The new facility is expected to create around 800 jobs ranging from senior management to roles across operations, quality, technical, commercial, financial, warehousing, laboratory and production.

The Wasdell Group is also planning to build an additional facility close to the Dundalk site to expand its distribution offering.