£250m UK plant for MRI cooling technology
Siemens Healthineers has started construction of a £250m (€300m, $314m) site to design and manufacture MRI superconducting magnets in the UK.
The Siemens Healthineers plant in Oxfordshire will also include an R&D hub for innovative and sustainable MRI technology.
The 56,000m2 site will feature high-end manufacturing automation technology that minimises the use of helium, a greenhouse gas, for cooling the superconducting magnets. This is the UK’s first major production site for the DryCool technology which reduces the amount of helium required in an MRI scanner from 1,500 litres to under a single litre and will open in 2026.
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The new factory is one of six current and planned Siemens Healthineers manufacturing sites in the UK and will include a research and development hub responsible for new technologies such as designing and manufacturing some of the world’s smallest and most lightweight whole-body scanners.
The new site is set to support over 1,300 jobs when fully operational in 2030, including the retention of over 600 Oxfordshire-based jobs currently at an existing Siemens Healthineers facility in Eynsham. Many of the roles are for highly skilled workers such as physicists, engineers, technicians and specialized support staff.
“MRI technology plays a vital role in diagnosing disease, helping patients to get healthy and stay healthy. As a world leader in medical imaging, we are very proud to open the next chapter of our history here in Oxford,” said Bernd Montag, chief executive of Siemens Healthineers. “This factory will be the global center for our innovative low-helium magnet technology, meaning we consume far less of a scarce natural resource and enable access to MRIs for many more patients.”
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