Member Article

Hilary Benn visits DePuy Synthes Leeds base after £2.4 million R&D investment

The Leeds base of DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson welcomed The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP to Beeston after a £2.4 million investment which consolidated its office space and expanded its facilities.

DePuy Synthes was awarded a grant from the Regional Growth Fund of £2.4 million that has been used to redevelop the Beeston facility to create the new R&D lab.

Mr Benn is the local MP and was invited to see the progress of the redevelopment of the DePuy Synthes site.

The company is consolidating its office space in the White Rose Office Park into one main facility in Beeston and has built a new state of the art R&D Centre at the site.

Mr Benn said: “I was really impressed by all the staff I met and I enjoyed learning a great deal about the company which has such a long history and legacy in Beeston.

“The investment that DePuy Synthes has made will keep highly skilled jobs in the area, encourage investment locally and ultimately help patients to benefit from new medical technologies.”

A presence in Leeds for over 20 years, the DePuy Synthes premises are located on the former site of Chas. F. Thackray Ltd, who first began manufacturing medical equipment in Leeds in the 1900’s.

The company merged with DePuy in 1990, becoming part of Johnson & Johnson in 1998, and following the acquisition of the Swiss medical manufacturer Synthes in 2012, changed its name to DePuy Synthes.

Tom Lavery, DePuy Synthes’ Great Britain and Ireland general manager said: “Thackray helped to revolutionise healthcare around the world and his business is now part of the largest, most comprehensive orthopaedic and neurological business in the world in DePuy Synthes.

But our roots are firmly in Leeds and in the Beeston community, so we’re delighted to be continuing to invest here and build on his legacy,“ said

Dr. Mike Barker, worldwide vice president of Research & Development said: “The new DePuy Synthes R&D Centre here in Beeston will be a facility for industry-leading research and development as well as innovative design and testing of solutions for the health care market.”

“The new R&D facility will build upon our rich heritage as well as our long-established collaboration with universities, teaching hospitals and other organizations in the region and the rest of the UK.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .