Consumer products giant Unilever opens new personal care product development hub in Liverpool city centre. Tony McDonough reports
Consumer products giant Unilever is opening a new research and development (R&D) hub at Liverpool Science Park (LSP).
Its Elida Beauty global unit for personal care products is taking a 10-year lease on 5,535 sq ft of space at the city centre site. Unilever already employs more than 1,500 people at its personal care products factory and R&D site in Port Sunlight in Wirral.
However, the company will be shaking up the Wirral R&D operation when it sells part of the Port Sunlight estate for housing development. LBN reported in May that Unilever was close to an agreement to sell the site to a developer.
Elida Beauty has signed the lease with Sciontec Developments, owner and operator of LSP. Its mission is “re-founding iconic brands for today’s generation and making them even bigger beauty hits than they were the first time around”.
The 22 beauty and personal care brands in its portfolio include Toni&Guy, V05, TIGI, Impulse, Timotei, and Matey. They are sold primarily in Europe and North America. This new location will provide a base for all Elida Beauty R&D, marketing, sales and supply chain teams.
Andrew Wyrko, chief R&D Officer, at Elida Beauty, said: “We are really proud to be maintaining our presence in the Liverpool city region with our global product development hub.
“Through our connections with Liverpool Science Park and the universities, we will be able to identify and bring to life great new innovations – working in partnership with some of the brightest minds in the country.
“The location puts us at the heart of a vibrant and diverse area which truly reflects the people that use our brands, allowing us to quickly co-develop superior products that solve real consumer needs and provide great value for money.”
As well as the Port Sunlight operation, Merseyside is also home to The Materials Innovation Factory. This is a facility dedicated to the research and development of advanced materials co-founded by the University of Liverpool and Unilever.
Colin Sinclair, chief executive at Sciontec and Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, added: “Elida Beauty is another fantastic addition to the rapidly growing KQ Liverpool innovation ecosystem. It is powering research and creating highly-skilled jobs for the people of Liverpool. Proving that investing in health, wellbeing, science and technology is vital to growing the UK economy.”