Council visit to Thermo Fisher Scientific in Horsham

Published: 22 Nov 2024

General Manager Christy Owings, Cllr Joanne Knowles, Cllr Colette Blackburn, Operations Director Jon Pickering

As part of a series of meetings with prominent local businesses, Horsham District Council’s Cabinet Member for the Local Economy and Place – Cllr Joanne Knowles – and Cabinet for Member for Climate Action and Nature Recovery – Cllr Colette Blackburn – recently visited global life sciences company Thermo Fisher Scientific at their premises in Horsham.

Cllr Knowles and Cllr Blackburn met with General Manager Christy Owings and members of the local Thermo Fisher senior leadership team to discuss matters of the local economy, including their plans to expand their Horsham site. To support this planned growth, they are seeking to improve safe access for employees to the site from the main station as well as improving accessibility for HGVs.

Commenting on the visit, Cllr Joanne Knowles said:

It was a pleasure to meet the team at Thermo Fisher and discover more about the inspiring support they provide for their customers and patients in the UK and globally. It is fantastic to have such an innovative and forward-thinking company operating in our District and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them.”

Cllr Colette Blackburn added:

It was wonderful to hear about Thermo Fisher’s commitment to growth in Horsham. We are very lucky to have a global leader and conscientious employer in our District and we look forward to connecting further with them.”

Christy Owings of Thermo Fisher said:

We were grateful to be able to share Thermo Fisher’s mission with the Council and also to be able to learn about their goals for the Horsham area.  We have been part of the Horsham community for 20+ years and look forward to many more years of bringing prosperity and growth to the area in partnership with the Council.”

Employing 700 people in Horsham alone, Thermo Fisher’s pharma services business provides industry-leading solutions to customers, including drug development, clinical trial logistics and commercial packaging. Their Horsham facility acts as a key global distribution point for clinical trials and commercial supply packaging. The company employs approximately 8,000 colleagues across 30 facilities in the United Kingdom and more than 120,000 colleagues worldwide.

The company’s commitment to the environment forms an important part of their corporate social responsibility approach, having pledged to achieve net zero emissions across their value chain by 2050.

The visit to Thermo Fisher is the Council’s recognition of businesses within the District that help to create, maintain, and promote a prosperous community and local economy. Keep a look out for news of future business visits.