United Therapeutics Manufacturing Facility
About
THIS PROJECT
United Therapeutics Manufacturing Facility located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland is a purpose-built cGMP facility solely dedicated to United Therapeutic’s production needs. This fast-tracked, design-build project included the construction of a five-story, 32,000 SF building comprised of:
- Three floors of cGMP cleanroom processing suites with prefabricated cleanroom construction
- Two mechanical interstitial support floors for process and HVAC equipment
- One cellar level to house the main process utility equipment
- A rooftop level that contains modular air-cooled chillers, a natural gas generator and a prefabricated boiler house for plant steam generation
PROJECT OVERVIEW
LOCATION:
Silver Spring, Maryland
Mid-Atlantic
CLIENT:
United Therapeutics
INDUSTRY:
Pharmaceutical
PRACTICES:
Advanced Delivery Methods
VDC
Off-Site Construction
SF manufacturing facility
FLOORS OF cgmp cleanroom processing suites
TONS OF STRUCTURAL STEEL
Systems within the facility include:
- Six bioreactor trains (2) 2,300L, (2) 200L and (2) 20L
- Autoclave
- Parts washer
- Biokill waste handling
- Waste neutralization
- Clean compressed air
- RODI generation, bulk storage and distribution
- WFI generation, bulk storage and distribution
- Clean steam generation and distribution
- CIP processing
- Cold storage
- Bulk process gas storage
- Ceiling integrated laminar airflow modules
The project team collaborated with United Therapeutics and the neighboring community to navigate the site’s tight, urban environment. This required detailed off-site fabrication, extensive BIM coordination to accommodate the MEP systems, reworking public utilities in the adjacent roadways and managing just-in-time deliveries.
This project was awarded the 2020 Facility of the Year Award for Social Impact by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE). Recognized for United Therapeutics’ dedicated efforts in solving unmet medical needs and for the unique challenges that the project team had to overcome to make the facility a reality.
