Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his Budget that AstroZeneca have pledged to invest a massive £450 million at their manufacturing site in Speke for a major expansion.
The investment, which has been long speculated, will be used to research, develop and manufacture vaccines.
The facility will also be operationally net zero with power being supplied from renewable energy sources.
In his Budget speech, Mr Hunt said: “Our £108bn life sciences sector provides over 300,000 high skilled jobs across the UK.” It Is expected that the investment into the Speke site will bring many more job opportunities to the South Liverpool area.
The site in Speke has the current role of supplying the world leading childhood vaccine program, the extra funding seeks to assist this program but will also be used to enhance public health protection and what AstraZeneca have called ‘pandemic preparedness.’
The investment to the site comes alongside a further £200 million to be invested into AstraZenecas presence in Cambridge which will result in the employment of 1,000 people.
Labour MP of Garston and Halewood, Maria Eagle said: “I will support in any way I can their expansion plans. It will be good for the country in terms of resilience against future pandemics and for the local community.”
