BUILDING work has started on a multi-million-pound science facility at Porton Down.

Porton Biopharma (PBL) will make medicines at the new plant, using state of the art equipment, boosting efficiency and productivity.

The firm says the facility will provide a number of new high-end jobs, but could not give a precise figure.

Nor could it disclose the exact cost of the project, revealing only that it ran into the “tens of millions of pounds”.

It is expected to be up and running within two years.

Salisbury MP John Glen led the ground-breaking.

He said: “I am delighted to be here at the initiation of this new phase of construction for PBL, which is going from strength to strength by investing in its facilities in order to cement its position as a leading local life-science company securing important high-value jobs for the area."

The building, around quarter the size of a football pitch, will include a viewing gallery for visitors to see the high-tech process without having to go through the rigorous gowning-up process that is required for everyone that enters clean-room pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.

Managing director Roger Hinton said: “To see the start of the construction stage for this new fermentation facility represents an exciting moment of progress for all of us who are dedicated to growing PBL, since it will enable us to produce more of our products that truly make a difference to patients.”

The construction phase follows the demolition of some older facilities and will also include construction of a new workshop and water plant room to support the main fermentation facility.

Last year the government announced that 600 Public Health England jobs at Porton Down were to be moved to Harlow in Essex over the next four years.