Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche is investing an additional 1.2 billion francs to upgrade the northern part of its Basel headquarters. This investment underlines the commitment to Switzerland and will be used to finance another research and development building, the modernization of molecule production, and a building for the Institute of Human Biology.
A vision of the planned new 72-meter high building at Roche’s Basel site can be seen in front of the right white tower (© Roche).
Laboratory workstations
Half a billion francs will be spent to build a 72-meter-high, 13-story research and development building. The aim here is to provide attractive laboratory workstations for up to 450 researchers.
Over 570 million francs will be spent on the new production building 51 for the synthetic and chemical production of medicines, which is intended to replace the existing site infrastructure. There are also plans to extend the existing Building 50.
Roche is to spend around 100 million on the Institute of Human Biology with space for up to 250 researchers. The existing Building 92 will be completely renovated. Since 2014, the company has already invested a sum of 3 billion Swiss francs in its Basel location.
Big plans also for the southern part
“The new buildings will expand the infrastructure for future innovations along the entire pharmaceutical value chain, from research to production”, comments Jürg Erismann, Head of the Basel site. He adds: “This is another clear commitment to the Basel research and production site and to Switzerland”. The construction work on the research building and other building renovations will be completed by 2030.
As Roche explains in a video covering its site development plans in Basel, wide, generously proportioned green spaces will be created in the southern part of the area. To this end, the current research and office buildings will be removed. The government of the canton of Basel-Stadt approved a corresponding development plan.
These plans also include a central building for visitors and employees in the park and a possible third high-rise building with a maximum height of 221 meters. However, the third high-rise is a vision so far, Roche does not yet have any concrete plans.
About Roche
Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines, Roche has grown into the world’s largest biotechnology company and the global leader in in-vitro diagnostics. The company pursues scientific excellence to discover and develop medicines and diagnostics for improving and saving the lives of people around the world. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.
Text: SCCIJ based on Roche material
