Wilkore - Distribution Centres, Offices and Laboratories for Logistics, Pharmaceuticals and Hi-Tech Manufacturing

Wilkore is a design and construction company providing building services to Australian business. Wilkore’s expertise is building distribution centres, offices and laboratories for the logistics, pharmaceuticals and hi-tech manufacturing industries. Wilkore have been responsible for the planning and development of the 500 acre Caribbean Business Park located in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Wilkore’s services include:

• Building, design and construction
• Land and building packages
• Cleanroom technology
• Free feasibility studies
• Extension and refurbishment of existing facilities
• Maintenance and essential services support
• Process plant installation

Warehouse and laboratory renovation and construction

Six years ago, Wilkore was invited by Biota to assist in finding a new premises for the consolidation of their operations. Through an existing client, we found a warehouse and laboratory close to their operations at Monash.

We renovated the front office, where they were able to set up some temporary research operations. We then demolished the rear warehouse and built 1,200m² of laboratories and offices above a ground floor car park.

A large PC2 biology laboratory and two PC3 facilities were built on the southern side. Approximately 18 months after this area was made operational the front of the building was demolished and two floors of offices were installed. In 2008, the office component of the first stage was demolished and new laboratories are currently being installed. In the next 12 months the second storey office will be converted into further laboratories, completing a five year project at this site.

Victorian infectious diseases reference laboratory (VIDRL)

A significant re-fit of the VIDRL laboratories at 10 Wreckyn St, North Melbourne has been underway for the past 12 months. As part of this project, a basement carpark / utility area and a section of office is to be converted into PC2 and PC3 containment facilities.

The building is an old woolstore, and has many construction challenges such as uneven floors, low ceilings and large cylindrical columns with conical column caps. The containment facilities are to have the ability to allow individual suite fumigation, while adjacent suites can still operate. Therefore the rooms must be sealed to a PC4 standard.

The walls and ceilings will be constructed of the Dagard cleanroom panel system using sealing details developed by Wilkore. Each section of panel has at least two layers of sealing. Care has been taken with the door frame design to ensure that it is a fully sealed unit and items such as the door control housing, strike and the fully welded base are all designed to remove a path for contamination or leakage of fumigant.

Office, laboratory and pilot scale pharmaceutical manufacturing facility construction

Advent Pharmaceuticals engaged Wilkore to construct an office, laboratory and pilot scale pharmaceutical manufacturing facility as an addition to the Small Technologies Cluster at Caribbean Park. At Advent’s request the Grade C cleanrooms were to be built using the Dagard cleanroom panel system.

Fully imported from France the facility utilised Dagard full glass doors, full height double glazed walls, pass-thru hatches and automatic sliding doors. The cleanrooms and laboratory will in the future be available as an "open access" facility for pharmaceutical companies requiring small-scale solid dose manufacture for Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials.

Steroid containment facility

Wilkore won the tender to construct the $2.6 million Steroid Containment Facility for Bristol Myers Squibb in late 2006. The 200m² facility was designed to contain the manufacturing operations of two highly potent drugs within a clean environment.

This was achieved through specially designed isolators, downflow booths, separate gowning and decontamination airlocks and a positive / negative pressure regime. The facility was commissioned to Grade C standard and finished in a manner commensurate with a world class facility.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Dandenong expansion

On the 3rd of May 2007 Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott opened the new $63 million Sigma facility at their Dandenong site. This project has consolidated three facilities onto a single site. When in full production the Sigma Dandenong Facility will have one of the highest manufacturing volumes in the Australian pharmaceutical industry.