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Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory

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Coordinates: 53°20′46″N 2°59′53″W / 53.346°N 2.998°W / 53.346; -2.998
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Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory
View from the east
Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory is located in Merseyside
Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory
Former namesPort Sunlight Research Laboratory
Alternative namesR&D Port Sunlight
General information
TypeResearch
LocationBebington
AddressBromborough Road, Wirral, CH63 3JW
CountryEngland
Coordinates53°20′46″N 2°59′53″W / 53.346°N 2.998°W / 53.346; -2.998
Elevation20 m (66 ft)
Cost£3 million
ClientUnilever Research
OwnerUnilever
Website
Unilever

The Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory is the multinational consumer goods company Unilever's main research and development facility in the United Kingdom. It is located in Bebington, Merseyside.

History

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Unilever's predecessor companies conducted research in Bebington from 1890 and the first dedicated research building was built in 1911 by Lever Brothers. Unilever was formed in 1929, and until 1951 Port Sunlight was its main research laboratory worldwide.

1920s

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In the 1920s the former site researched vitamin A and D in margarine.[1]

1960s

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It created a research division in 1961. In the early 1960s the site researched colloid chemistry, surface active phenomena, rheology of dispersions, surface chemistry, fluorescence of dyestuffs, adsorbed films on liquids, germicides, timber technology (for West Africa), and paper chromatography. Organic chemists, physical chemists and physicists worked there. In the 1960s the site was run by Unilever Research. In 1964, newly-employed scientists would be earning £1,450. New buildings in the mid-1960s meant more staff.

In early 1963, 40 scientists working on margarine and edible oils, moved to the company's new site at Welwyn in Hertfordshire.[2]

In the 1960s it had strong family links with both Wirral Grammar School for Boys, and the associated girls' grammar school.[3]

In 1965 the site installed an IBM System/360 (128k storage) computer at Port Sunlight, connected with time-sharing to IBM 1050 consoles at other sites; it claimed to be the first time such a computer system had been installed in the UK for industrial research, and that networked across the country.

In February 1964, planning permission was applied for a site at Spital, on Port Sunlight golf course. By 1964 the site had an IBM 1620 computer. In 1965 the site formed an Operational Research Section at Port Sunlight, and their computers used PL/I and Fortran IV. In 1967 statisticians used control charts, timeseries analysis, multivariate analysis and stochastic processes. From early 1969 the consoles at the site were IBM 2780 with the MFT2 and HASPII operating systems. By 1969, new laboratories were built.

1970s

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In 1976, Dr Gordon Tiddy of Unilever studied lyotropic liquid crystals with the University of Leeds Chemistry department. In 1978, the site carried out inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy with Leicester Polytechnic on an SRC CASE studentship. In 1979 their statistical computer packages were NAG, and GLIM 1–3.

In the 1970s scientists at Port Sunlight discovered tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), which allows clothes to be washed at lower temperatures.

By the 1970s, Unilever was also the UK's largest food processing company, and the world's second-largest company, outside the US.[4]

1980s

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In 1981 the site conducted work with the University of Oxford, involving free radicals, spin trapping and redox-active enzymes with Dr (later Professor) Allen Hill. In 1987 it conducted fluorescence-coupled surface plasmon resonance research with Durham University Department of Physics.

2010s

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In 2017, Anglo-Dutch Unilever opened a £24m Advanced Manufacturing Centre, built by BAM Construction (owned by the Dutch Royal BAM Group), at the site,[5] with a Materials Innovation Factory[6] at the University of Liverpool, helped by the Regional Growth Fund.

Construction

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Construction of the new £3m centre began in summer 1967.[7] Staff moved in from March 1969.[8]

It was officially opened on Monday 20 July 1970 by Sir Eric Rideal.[9] The gross floor area of the research centre was 207,000 sq ft. Including ancillary buildings it was 350,000 sq ft.[10]

The next door £40m Manufacturing Technology Centre was built from July 1992, by Tarmac Construction.[11] opening in May 1995; the new site included different types of pilot plants, and the five-storey Powder Technology Pilot Plant.[12]

Earlier site

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The first building was built in 1942, at a cost of £172,000, and with enlargements it was 160,000 sq ft by the early 1960s. A £270,000 extension, adding 27,000 sq ft was started in January 1963. As part of the extension, a 250-seat demonstration theatre was added, with a revolving stage, for research conferences. The site had around 150 scientists and about 200 assistants.

Directors

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  • 1956, GC Hampson, joined in 1945
  • November 1961, Sir Kenneth Durham, a former wartime bomber pilot and physicist, who attended the University of Manchester, joining Unilever Research in 1950[13][14]
  • July 1965, Dr Brian Pethica[15]
  • December 1984, Richard Duggan, went to the catholic St Edward's College in Liverpool[16]
  • February 1988, Dr Roger Platt, went to grammar school in St Helens, joined Lever Brothers in 1971, working on Persil Automatic[17][18][19][20]
  • Dr Alan Evenson[21]
  • November 2001, Alan McKinnon, joined Port Sunlight in 1980
  • Mike Parkington

Former employees

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Visits

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Research

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Unilever is the world's third-largest cosmetics company, after L'Oréal and P&G.

Collaborations

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In the 1960s Unilever Research worked with J. D. Bernal of Birkbeck College.[30]

Structure

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The site is on the west side of the railway, between Spital railway station, to the south, and Port Sunlight railway station to the north.

Funding

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By 1970 its research division had 4,600 scientists with a budget of £32 million (current value £625.2 million), rising to £219 million in 1983 (current value £933.4 million), then £330 million in 1987 (current value £1172.4 million). By the end of the 1980s there were around 400 scientists at Port Sunlight.[citation needed]

Activities

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Over 750 scientists are currently[when?] based at the laboratory. It conducts research for products including Dove, Sunsilk and Domestos.

Unilever operates similar research facilities in Vlaardingen, Colworth, Shanghai, Bangalore and Trumbull. Research was earlier carried out at 455 London Road (A315) in Isleworth from 1950 to 1980, it looked at hair, skin and teeth; this research moved to Bebington at the end of 1980. American research was at Edgewater, New Jersey, where Vincent Lamberti invented Dove soap. The industry is represented by the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association.

Unilever had a defined benefit pension plan up until 2019.[31]

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References

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  1. ^ Evening Despatch Friday 17 February 1928, page 2
  2. ^ Liverpool Echo Wednesday 7 November 1962, page 13
  3. ^ Liverpool Echo Saturday 18 June 1966, page 7
  4. ^ Times Tuesday, November 16 1976, page 24
  5. ^ Liverpool Echo November 2015
  6. ^ Materials Innovation Factory
  7. ^ Liverpool Echo Friday 9 June 1967, page 3
  8. ^ Liverpool Echo Friday 14 March 1969, page 7
  9. ^ Liverpool Echo Tuesday 21 July 1970, page 3
  10. ^ Liverpool Daily Post Monday 20 July 1970, page 6
  11. ^ Liverpool Daily Post Thursday 2 July 1992, page 25
  12. ^ Liverpool Echo Thursday 2 July 1992, page 13
  13. ^ Liverpool Echo Tuesday 31 October 1961, page 7
  14. ^ Liverpool Echo Friday 10 November 1961, page 27
  15. ^ Chester Chronicle Saturday 10 July 1965, page 10
  16. ^ Liverpool Echo Tuesday 18 December 1984, page 10
  17. ^ Manchester Evening News Friday 29 January 1988, page 35
  18. ^ Bebington News Wednesday 1 February 1995, page 1
  19. ^ Bebington News Wednesday 3 February 1988 page 2
  20. ^ Liverpool Daily Post Tuesday 2 February 1988, page 19
  21. ^ Bebington News Wednesday 20 May 1998, page 1
  22. ^ Hammersmith Gazette Thursday 15 December 1966, page 1
  23. ^ Liverpool Echo Thursday 11 July 1957, page 14
  24. ^ Liverpool Echo Friday 12 October 1990, page 14
  25. ^ Liverpool Echo Thursday 18 October 1990, page 25
  26. ^ Bebington News Wednesday 31 May 1995, page 18
  27. ^ Bebington News Wednesday 22 May 1996, page 5
  28. ^ Times Saturday February 19 2000, page 24
  29. ^ Times Thursday July 13 2006, page 70
  30. ^ Times Monday October 18 1965, page 19
  31. ^ "Unilever proposes changes to UK pensions and benefits". Unilever UK & Ireland. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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