AtkinsRéalis Bolsters Canada's Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity with Design of $109 Million Facility

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AtkinsRéalis

Aug 29, 2024, 07:45 ET

MONTREAL, Aug. 29, 2024 /CNW/ - AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. (TSX: ATRL), a world-class engineering services and nuclear company with offices around the world, has won a mandate from Jubilant HollisterStier, a leading global pharmaceutical contract manufacturer, to provide detailed design for the expansion of their sterile injectable facility in Montreal as part of Canada's Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy pandemic preparedness plan to domestically manufacture and supply vaccines.

"Our life sciences and pharmaceutical capabilities are in demand and helping improve health outcomes in the communities we serve," commented Ian L. Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, AtkinsRéalis. "We operationalize our purpose of engineering a better future for our planet and its people by working with clients in this space to ramp up their facilities to deliver cutting-edge medicine in a post-pandemic world. Having completed prior phases of work on this project for Jubilant HollisterStier, this new mandate is an endorsement of the quality of our service level, innovation, and expertise."

AtkinsRéalis' Industrial team will provide an integrated end-to-end solution for this phase of the project, including design and professional engineering services for the facility and its manufacturing processes. Previous project mandates by AtkinsRéalis included concept design and preliminary engineering. The new spaces are expected to be operational by late 2026.

Strengthening Canada's Medical Resilience

The upgrades to the facility will increase its "fill and finish capacity" by over 100%.1 Fill and finishing refers to the process of filling vials with vaccine and finishing the process of packaging and labelling the vaccines for distribution. Expanding the already 40,000 sq. ft facility will create a world-class sterile manufacturing site, offering a wide range of fill and finish capabilities with flexibility in format, type (live, mRNA, and inactivated/subunit) and batch sizes. This flexible manufacturing platform is important as it will allow the facility to address future health emergencies by producing multiple forms of vaccines for various diseases, whether existing or novel.

"Being chosen to support a project that will strengthen Canadian biomedical self-sufficiency to better position the country for future global health events is a privilege," said Stéphanie Vaillancourt, President, Canada, AtkinsRéalis. "Building on our previous life sciences mandates across Canada, this project showcases our expertise assisting clients with their hi-tech manufacturing needs in the global economy."

The facility's expansion will generate contract development and manufacturing activities for other Quebec biopharmaceutical companies across the life sciences supply chain. Jubilant HollisterStier's expansion is partially funded by the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund, as well as by the province of Quebec.2

Growing Life Sciences & Pharmaceutical Market 

The global race to re-shore advanced manufacturing facilities for vaccines, semi-conductors and more is driving a generational shift in demand for industrial construction, logistics and automation. AtkinsRéalis' end-to-end service spans advisory and concept design, to full engineering, procurement, construction and project management, and continues in to commissioning and training services.

Our Industrial market has deep experience in the life sciences & pharmaceuticals, advanced/hi tech manufacturing, and general manufacturing spheres across a diverse range of sectors including: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food and beverage, chemicals, agrifood & AgriChem, semiconductor/microchip, automotive, EV battery, logistics, data centres, and district cooling. This includes delivering projects such as:

About AtkinsRéalis   

Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital.  News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.  

Forward-Looking Statements

References in this press release to the "Company", "AtkinsRéalis", "we", us" and "our" mean, as the context may require, AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. or all or some of its subsidiaries or joint arrangements or associates. Statements made in this press release that describe the Company's expectations or strategies constitute "forward-looking statements", which can be identified by the use of the conditional or forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "objective", "plans", "projects", "should", "will", "likely", or other variations thereon. Forward-looking statements also include any other statements that do not refer to historical facts. The Company cautions that, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and that its actual actions or results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding certain key elements of the Company's current objectives, strategic priorities, expectations and plans, and in obtaining a better understanding of the Company's business and anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on a number of assumptions believed by the Company to be reasonable as at the date hereof. The assumptions are set out throughout the Company's 2023 annual management disclosure & analysis ("MD&A") (particularly in the sections entitled "Critical Accounting Judgments and Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty" and "How We Analyze and Report our Results") filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com and on the Company's website at www.atkinsrealis.com under the "Investors" section. If these assumptions are inaccurate, the Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. In addition, important risk factors could cause the Company's assumptions and estimates to be inaccurate and actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements. Those risks are identified in the Company's 2023 annual MD&A (particularly in the sections entitled "Risk and Un certainties"), as updated in the first and second quarters 2024 MD&A, are not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements herein reflect the Company's expectations as at the date of this press release and are subject to change after this date. The Company does not undertake to update publicly or to revise any such forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable legislation or regulation. The forward-looking information and statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. 

SOURCE AtkinsRéalis

For more information: Media, Harold Fortin, Senior Director, Global External Communications, [email protected]; Investors: Denis Jasmin, Vice President, Investor Relations, 514-393-8000, ext. 57553, [email protected]

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AtkinsRéalis