New ATMP facility sets sights on sustainability goals with ONEsolution approach

Umoja Biopharma, Inc., a preclinical stage oncology company, sees a different future for cancer treatment—a future that provides access to all cancer patients and alleviates the burdens of traditional treatment paths. Umoja leverages in vivo advanced immunotherapies to help the body fight solid cancer tumors through a next-generation cell and gene therapy approach.

As Umoja’s pipeline development grew and advanced, it outgrew its existing laboratory space. The team identified a need for a larger, permanent facility to call home for development and clinical manufacturing.

CRB is providing end-to-end project delivery through our ONEsolution method to design and build Umoja’s new approximately 150,000-square-foot facility in Louisville, Colorado. The project will convert an existing core and shell building into a highly flexible and scalable development and manufacturing site with laboratory, office, and warehouse space. The facility will also boast a new second floor with mountain views. As is the case when converting most existing spaces into a lab, the MEP systems (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) must be rightsized to answer the high demands required by clinical manufacturing.

Purpose and objectives defined with a project charter

From the project start, CRB worked to understand and align on stakeholder goals and drivers. The team developed a comprehensive project charter that laid out the project’s business case, conditions of satisfaction and major milestones.

Some of the key objectives that came to light during the project chartering phase were product flexibility, production scalability and sustainability.

Energy and sustainability goals

While collaborating during one of the early project chartering sessions, we were able to zero in on Umoja’s deeply held social and environmental values.

As a result, the clinical manufacturing facility’s design will focus on features to integrate LEED criteria, become WELL Silver certified, promote an inclusive design, and a future goal of zero carbon emissions to support the company’s virtues. Even though the facility is not yet finished, the Umoja team—along with their extended CRB team—has already begun serving their new, local community through volunteer outreach projects.