_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Briar

Chemicals

laboratories, which Chris describes as previously being an‘ under-utilized asset,’ through contract work with smaller organizations.“ We’ ve been identifying opportunities with smaller start-up companies that have simple lab facilities and are looking to increase their capabilities, optimize production methods, and start the scale-up process,” he says.“ Our facilities are ideally suited to working on multi-kilo volumes that can then be transferred to larger commercial facilities, and these relationships will hopefully provide the steppingstone for these opportunities to move to new or existing plants on our site.”

Launch platform

With a packaging line acquired at the end of 2025, the new asset has become part of Briar’ s routine and has increased capacity threefold, giving it a greater deal of automation and higher quality control. Additionally, the company inherited a significant lab capability from its previous owners, which Chris says has been a key launching platform for the start-up organizations it works with via universities.“ These labs have been ideal for these organizations as they move from their own small-scale labs, to transferring bench-type reactions to more industrialized processes. We’ re extremely fortunate to be so close to the Norwich Research Park( NRP) and the University of East Anglia( UEA), and we regularly attend the NRP’ s Enterprise Showcase Days. There’ s a lot of innovative work being conducted there and our site can give numerous start-ups a view on the transition from bench chemistry to

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