Council Leader welcomes major investment into Wirral research site
The announcement of £80 million investment into a state of the art new research facility in the borough has been welcomed by the Leader of Wirral Council.
Unilever has said it plans to build a fragrance research and innovation lab next to its current world-class R&D facilities and factories in Port Sunlight.
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paul Stuart, said:
This is a major investment by Unilever, one of Wirral’s most significant employers. This kind of inward investment shows our borough is a place where businesses are welcome. It also represents the opportunity for more local high-skilled jobs and a boost to our local economy.
This is fantastic news and a massive commitment to the Unilever site in Wirral.
The new facility will be a significant step in Unilever’s global investment to build world-class in-house fragrance capabilities, accelerating growth and productivity through fragrance design and ingredient buying, whilst continuing to work closely with key global fragrance house partners.
Fragrance plays a critical role in elevating the consumer experience and performance of everyday products, from shampoos and conditioners to skin moisturisers, body washes and deodorants, and in laundry and home cleaning.
The facility includes a fragrance research and innovation lab, a compounding facility where new fragrances are blended and developed, and evaluation suites where products are tested to assess performance and preference.
The site will be digitally enabled end-to-end, including robotics to blend fragrance oils and real time data capture- enabling digital modelling, analytics and the use of AI to drive fragrance development.
The proposal is to build on the doorstep of Unilever’s world-class R&D facilities and factories in Port Sunlight, subject to planning permission, and for the new facility to integrate fragrance capabilities with consumer insights and product development processes. This will enable Unilever to bring fragrance innovation to their Home Care, Personal Care, and Beauty & Wellbeing brands, including Persil, Dove, Sure and TRESemmé, with greater speed and efficiency.
Unilever is also investing in talent recruitment, hiring industry-leading perfumers with cross-category expertise from fragrance houses around the world. The specialist team will also include fragrance evaluators, who are trained to smell and assess fragrances, and ingredient technologists who will work on Unilever’s long-term technology programme to deliver pioneering fragrance innovations.
Richard Slater, Chief R&D Officer at Unilever, said:
We are delighted to announce this significant investment, further expanding the industry-leading capabilities at our global research and development sites here in the UK. This investment will help to build Unilever’s world-class fragrance expertise and innovation in a new state-of-the-art facility in Port Sunlight, which will be a cornerstone to the growth of our global fragrance business.
Our new fragrance facility and expert perfumers will be a game changer, allowing us to bring fragrance insight and innovation to our brands at speed and marks a bold step in reinventing how FMCG approaches fragrance, leveraging cutting-edge science, AI, and robotics to drive innovation and deliver unmissably superior products to our consumers around the world.
Cameron Jones, Head of Port Sunlight R&D Site, Unilever, said:
We have a long history of innovation and building new capabilities at Port Sunlight. This investment in our new fragrance capability will further enhance our research and development site as a world leading facility here in the North West and continue to deliver great products for shoppers.
Minister for Investment Baroness (Poppy) Gustafsson CBE said:
The UK is a top investment destination and Unilever’s major plan is the latest vote of confidence in our economy, which will boost the UK’s thriving R&D sector, supporting our Plan for Change.
With digital and technologies being identified as a key growth sector in our upcoming Industrial Strategy, we're not only helping to attract and secure investment, but delivering long-term growth that supports skilled jobs and raises living standards across the UK.
This is the latest in a wider £300m investment by Unilever in the UK across offices, R&D sites and factories in the next two years.
Port Sunlight is Unilever’s largest innovation site in the UK, where alongside two factories and two R&D labs, Unilever has also opened an Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) and the Materials Innovation Factory, which was built in collaboration with the University of Liverpool.
