Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 7, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 11 W What's important to Lisa: R A checking account with benefits just for nonprofits R Fast loan approvals and easier cash management R Bankers who take a special interest in her organization ...because they support it. If it's important to you, it's important to us. From products that enhance your organization to bankers who support your mission, Webster Five is behind nonprofits all the way. web5.com/business KHJ22740_WEB-305_BizBanking_6.5x8.5_Lisa_MECH_rev.indd 1 7/20/16 12:38 PM enhances how employees approach their projects. "You've got to understand why you're building something. You're not just installing pipes and drywall, but it's about how you're using it," said Hamilton. "That makes a much better team member." Life sciences makes up for between 20 and 30 percent of Consigli's business, and that can fluctuate based on how life sciences itself is doing and on the behav- ior of the firm's other sectors. Right now, it's seen as a stable industry, and it has been a major driving force behind the company's growth. Consigli has had to increase its work- force by 10 percent every year for at least the past four years, largely driven by hir- ing in life sciences. Spotlight on Worcester While demand for research and development facilities is still growing, there has been a recent surge in bio- manufacturing, said Steele. In fact, bio- manufacturing is growing at the highest rate of any subsector MassBio tracks, she said. Central Massachusetts has been at the center of the biomanufacturing buzz. Bristol-Meyers Squibb's $750-million biologics facility is now up and running in Devens, and the Worcester Business Development Corp. in September was announced as the developer for a potential new 44-acre biomanufacturing site in Worcester, a site that may soon get its first tenant in California-based LakePharma. And in its annual report, the MLSC singled out Worcester for its "unmatched positioning" to become a biomanufacturing leader. Busam, from Gilbane, said com- panies who per- form their research and development in places like Cambridge have historically put their manufactur- ing operations in cheaper areas, such as North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. But companies are realizing the advantages of having them closer to each other. "A lot of biotechnology companies have come to realize it is better to be closer to the science. The economic ben- efits of being closer to science outweigh the tax advantages," he said. "There's been a bit of a boom in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Massachusetts, which is kind of an anomaly." At DPS, an Ireland-based architec- ture, engineering and construction firm with an office in Framingham, senior vice president Aidan O'Dwyer said he has noticed the biomanufacturing spike. His firm, with its U.S. architectural partner TRIA, is building a $110-mil- lion clinical manufacturing facility for Moderna Therapeutics in Norwood. When DPS first came to Massachusetts in 2011, it acquired a small firm with 10 employees and worked in architectural engineering design. Today, the firm employs 140 at its Framingham office and offers com- mission and qualification and construc- tion management services – all in the life sciences industry. Aidan O'Dwyer, senior vice president, DPS. DPS in Framingham helped engineer and design this biomanufacturing facility at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y

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