Clean air technology specialist, Howorth Air Technology, has expanded its operations to accommodate a growing team, creating a dedicated ‘hub’ for its design engineers at its pharmaceuticals industry facility at Raven Locks in Little Hulton, Salford.
The new single-storey building in the grounds of the existing facility has freed up office space to accommodate an influx of new staff, as Howorth’s Pharma Division continues to grow. The business has taken on 12 additional staff in the Division so far this year, with further recruitment under way. The new hub houses Howorth’s team of mechanical design engineers and electrical, controls, and instrumentation design engineers, and will also be used as a training suite.
Headquartered in Farnworth, Bolton, Howorth designs, manufactures, and assembles, ultraclean air equipment for use in operating theatres, and for the pharma, biotechnology, and life science industries. When it opened its facility at Raven Locks in April 2021, the company had a flexible work pattern in place due to the pandemic, with those personnel whose roles allowed them to do their jobs from home then doing so.
Carlo Rava, Howorth’s Pharma Operations director (pictured left, with Dave Preston, Pharma Operations manager, outside the new design hub), said that ‘following a return to a more normal working pattern and amid ongoing recruitment’, staff numbers at Raven Locks outgrew the available office space. He explained: “We looked at ways to expand without taking up precious shopfloor space, and decided the best solution was to develop a hub where the design engineers could be based, with scope to expand further and train new recruits.
“As a result of our investment, we have freed up office space for other functions such as project management, marketing, technical documentation, and service administration. We’ve also created client pods, so visiting clients can have their own rooms during visits and acceptance testing for their equipment. So far this year, we’ve created a significant number of new positions in our Pharma Division, and are looking to recruit further, including for design engineering and project management roles.”
