Capital Construction Snapshot: Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry to Invest More than $5 Billion in Fourth-Quarter 2015 Project Starts

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With but a scant three months left of 2015, the Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry is on track for an impressive finish in North America. The sector is set to launch $5.4 billion worth of capital construction and maintenance (MRO) projects during the fourth quarter.

Click on the image at the right for a graph illustrating Pharmaceutical & Biotech capital construction and maintenance projects, by region, that are set to begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2015.

That money is targeted for investment in 224 projects, delivering an impressive average total investment value (TIV) of $24 million per project. The individual project values range from $1 million for scheduled maintenance programs, to $500 million for a grassroot personal care products plant.

Looking back to better comprehend the strength in this year's numbers, during the fourth quarter of 2014, a total of 194 projects with a combined TIV of $2.9 billion began construction. These figures translate into an 86% increase for 2015. Of course, it is essential to keep in mind that when there are a large number of projects topping $100 million in any given quarter, it will boost the stats.

In terms of geographical locations for the projects, the West Coast is currently at the top, with $1.3 billion divided among 25 projects. The Mid-Atlantic is close behind with 31 projects representing $1.2 billion in TIV. The Great Lakes rounds out the top three with $890 million invested in 23 projects.

The largest of the fourth-quarter 2015 projects is Procter & Gamble's (NYSE:PG) (Cincinnati, Ohio) $500 million plan to build a 3 million-square-foot, single-story plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Operating under the code name "Project Independence" until the final site selection was made, the company will produce and distribute an array of personal care and household products, including shampoos, lotions and toothpastes. The project team is in place and construction is scheduled to kick off this month. At full build-out, the company could have a total of 5 million square feet at the 458-acre site in the Tabler Station Business Park.

Another major fourth-quarter 2015 project is Ritedose Corporation's (Columbia, South Carolina) $110 million expansion of its contract manufacturing (CMO) plant for blow-fill-seal (BFS) sterile inhalation/eye/ear/oral unit dose solutions in Columbia. In multiple phases, the CMO will expand the existing 120,000-square-foot campus by 80,000 square feet to accommodate an increased production capacity for both its sterile solutions and unit dose inhalation products. Construction could begin by the end of 2015.

With three months still left to the year, there remains a chance that a percentage of these projects will be delayed or put on hold. Nothing is ever definite until construction begins--and even then, changes happen. Each project will be tracked and updated. Some may be dropped altogether, while new ones are uncovered.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and ten international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.