Cleanroom contract rockets WHP into space

18th September 2019

Alex Lynn

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The extension of a satellite manufacturing centre that supports the UK space industry will be boosted by investment in new cleanroom technology provided by WHP. The contract will see WHP design and build a 440m2 cleanroom facility at the Disruptive Innovation for Space Centre (DISC) on the Harwell Campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire, where it will accommodate seven satellite production and assembly areas.

Delivered and run by the Satellite Applications Catapult, an independent innovation and technology company which drives UK economic growth through the exploitation of space, this new addition to the existing DISC facility will be completed in 2019 as part of an investment programme supported by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP).

The move will improve the scope of the R&D, manufacturing and testing services available in the UK to support the supply chain involved in the innovation, prototyping and small-scale manufacture of space technologies, including spacecraft and launch vehicles.

WHP’s solution, which will see the provision of a Class 10,000 (ISO 7) compliant cleanroom developed using 3D BIM modelling techniques to finalise the architecture, M&E components, and process and critical utilities systems, will meet DISC’s requirement for this range of state-of-the-art facilities.

The cleanrooms will also be intended to offer inbuilt flexibility to accommodate any future requirement for the reconfiguration of the assembly areas, including designing services to allow future movement and designing flexible material and personnel access to multiple cleanrooms.

Project manager Richard Graham at WHP, which has delivered a number of advanced cleanroom facilities across the UK, said: “The DISC contract will see us working in a new industry sector, offering cleanroom expertise to customers who require the highest standards of quality and excellence.

“The satellite industry is a growth area for the UK and with our strong experience, we look forward to delivering a world beating leading-edge cleanroom capability at the Harwell site, as well as developing our presence further in the wider space industry market.”

WHP is a multi-disciplinary engineering company dedicated to providing both standalone and turnkey solutions for cleanroom and manufacturing processes across Europe. The company’s comprehensive services range from design, project management, engineering, validation and fabrication, to full commissioning of new installations.