Chants of “shame on you” were hurled at a construction firm that is building a controversial animal testing facility.

Protesters from campaign group Rickmansworth Against Skanska gathered outside Skanska’s UK headquarters in Denham Way, Maple Cross, this afternoon.

The group organised the demonstration after the company won a £300 million contract to build a facility in Cambridge for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca has confirmed drugs will be tested on rodents at the new facility, but insisted this will help early stage cancer research.

Chants of “animal abuse, no excuse” and “shame on you Skanska” were directed towards the locked doors of the company’s UK headquarters.

One protestor also held up a placard which read “Blood on your hands Skanska”.

Shouting through a megaphone, Aran Mathai, said: “We are here today to call on you Skanska to end your involvement with these construction projects.

“You claim to be a clean company and a good neighbour, but there is nothing clean about animal experiments and there is nothing about being a good neighbour building an animal lab in Cambridge.

“We are calling on Skanska, in line with its own ethical policy, to abandon involvement with this lab.”

A police car was parked nearby throughout the protest.

One protestor, Robbie Blade, said: “There are other experiments which can get exactly the same results. These tests have no bearing on how medication will react on humans, which is why thousands of drugs are withdrawn.

“It is completely wasted, and completely unethical.”

Andy Brown, of Shepherds Way, Rickmansworth, said: “Animals and humans are fundamentally different. Something like 92 per cent of drugs that pass animal testing fail with humans.

“More and more, the scientific community is coming round and are saying that animal testing is not what is needed any more.

“Skanska is a big company, it could go and build a lot of things. There is no reason for it to get involved in something that basically involves torture.”

A spokesman for Skanska said: "Skanska focuses on delivering legally approved projects - that will be used for legal purposes - safely and with the least possible environmental impact. “AstraZeneca and the building are subject to the laws and regulations of the UK and the relevant local authority.”

In a statement, AstraZeneca said: “Our new centre in Cambridge will include a purpose-designed rodent facility, and the studies carried out there will principally support our early stage cancer research.

“Animal studies are a vital part of the research process. They are also required by regulators before they will approve a new medicine to be tested in humans during clinical trials.

“AstraZeneca is committed to the responsible use of animals and their welfare is a top priority at all times.”