Boston Scientific marks 25 years with opening of new sustainable expansion

Boston Scientific is one of the world leaders in medical device manufacturing with a mission to transform lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world. Boston Scientific Cork will celebrate 25 years in Cork this year.

Boston Scientific Cork manufactures medical devices for the treatment of various disease states including Cancers, arterial blockages in the heart and lower limbs, strictures in the GI tract and many more. The site produces 17 million devices every year positively impacting patients with lifesaving or life enhancing minimally invasive surgeries.

The Boston Scientific Cork site was first established on the Model Farm Road in Cork in 1997 with the purchase of 30 acres which included a small advance IDA factory unit and equally significant, the Munster Institute of Agriculture.

The Model Farm Road got its name from the Munster Institute as it was a residential farming education complex for women which first opened in 1859 and continued as an educational institute until 1984. The Jacobethan style building was built in 1852 and was designed by Architect Fredick Darley. It was the first educational institute in the country to cater for female students and has a proud place in history regarding diversity, equity and inclusion in Ireland. We are proud to be its custodians and are committed to preserving it and utilising it as an important part of our campus. Due to our ongoing growth, it remains a key part of the site.

The site celebrates 25 years this year. This is a great source of pride to the 1,600 people who currently work here, some of whom have been here since the start, as well as the many people who spent part of their careers here over the years.

In the past 25 years, there has been strong growth and investment in the site with the launch of many new products. The manufacturing and support space has expanded very substantially to where all 30 acres are fully developed to support medical device manufacturing.

The growth in the past five years from 2017 to 2022 has been most impressive with 18 new products launched bringing novel technologies to the site. The output has doubled in that time and the workforce has gone from 800 to 1,600.

This growth has necessitated the upgrading of the infrastructure with several projects completed and some still underway.

The most significant investment has been a new 3 story block which is integrated to the existing building in the centre of the site. This is a 30,000 square foot building with cafeteria and meeting rooms on the ground floor, office accommodation and collaborative spaces on the 1st and 2nd floors with capacity for an additional 200 people.

The old cafeteria area is now being upgraded to Cleanroom manufacturing space to give capacity for the next wave of growth. The 1st and 2nd floors provide central office collaboration space for teams, some of which had been fragmented in different parts of the site.

The design incorporates Boston Scientific’s workplace standards for office and collaborative space with best in class sustainable, energy and environmental design achieving the award of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold.

Protecting the environment is a key priority for Boston Scientific. Designing and building to “LEED Gold Standard” is one of the ways to demonstrate this in practice. This is a practical certification that ensures energy usage, water consumption, waste management and air quality are core to the design and building process. 

Smart metering of all major utilities allows us to monitor changes and trend usage to ensure that we not only comply with our ISO 50001 certification, but we can act appropriately on energy savings opportunities. The energy data is visible to users which empowers them to participate in the optimisation programs. All our new installations utilise electric heating rather than natural gas in line with our carbon neutrality goals. For the daily users it means a high level of air quality, strong use of natural light and a comfortable and safe work environment, as we continue into the next 25 years.

Boston Scientific is the largest medical device employer in Ireland with manufacturing sites in Clonmel, Cork and Galway. To learn more, visit www.bostonscientific.com