As part of a collaboration with WHO, the production of polio vaccines has been increased tenfold at AJ Vaccines’ Amager facility in Denmark in an attempt to combat polio in countries where the illness is still not fully encapsulated. The rapid increase in AJ Vaccines’ production has of course required additional space and a sizeable reconstruction project.
“The purpose of biocontainment is to prevent the spread of anything which might be harmful to people on the outside. It is a highly specialised and also a high-profile project, because biocontainment is hardly ever applied on large-scale production sites. The construction of the Lindholm facility is probably the only other large-scale example in Denmark. This of course makes it even more exciting and challenging to be part of,” says Steffen Højmann who has taken on the roles of construction manager and technical coordinator with responsibility for electrical and mechanical components, instrumentation, ventilation, automation, architecture and the daily operations and maintenance on the construction site.
The task of keeping a potential spread of infection at bay has required that all buildings be constructed air-tight. LBP Engineering have handled the correction of leakages as well as the management of all waste, including ventilation, autoclaving of clothes, and cleaning and heat treatment of production water before sewerage. Polio is neutralised at high temperature or through isolation.
