A new Class 8 cleanroom has been opened at Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre (BBIC), at Wilthorpe, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK, which will help to create a ‘hub’ of health technology businesses.
The venture, thought to be the first shared cleanroom in South Yorkshire, is a partnership between BBIC and Single Use Surgical (SUS), a firm based at BBIC that makes single-use surgical instruments for hospitals around the world.
Shared facilities previously located on site have included an electronics development centre, an e-business centre and post-production editing suite.
The cleanroom is the latest project at BBIC and chief executive Tim Milburn said: “SUS’s involvement is essential in that the company has both the expertise and the quality accreditations to facilitate the Class 8 certification of the cleanroom. We hope that, as well as benefiting SUS, it will also serve as a magnet to attract new businesses to Barnsley.”
The cleanroom, which can be hired out for a daily rate, is aimed at start-up and small companies that make medical, dental, and optical devices, and electronic products.
Staff from SUS will manage the unit and provide training for people who use it.
Milburn said BBIC is seeking to promote and encourage development of innovative technology businesses to generate new jobs and create economic growth in the area.
“Where businesses need help developing specialised facilities we’ve been able to step in and share some of the cost,” he said. SUS is a market leader in supplying single use suction tubes for neurosurgery, and its products are also widely used by ear, nose and throat surgeons. It supplies 75% of hospitals around the UK as well as exporting to 20 other countries.
The firm has a turnover of £1.8m and sells more than 150 different single-use surgical instruments to replace those that are difficult to clean, such as fine suction tubes. SUS designs and develops the instruments and sub-contracts manufacture to approved suppliers.
SUS’s managing director Matthew Tulley said the cleanroom would be a major boost to product development as previously staff had to travel to use a supplier’s cleanroom.
“We use cleanrooms to create and refine our prototypes, often working closely with local surgeons, and that process will now be significantly faster,” he said.
SUS was the first business to sign up to the Genesis initiative run by BBIC. Genesis is now part of the Enterprising Barnsley business support programme.
The Genesis programme is aimed at high-growth businesses in the first year or two of life and includes intensive business coaching support, technical assistance and business development workshops.
