OREANDA-NEWS. Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced plans to build a new campus in Burlington, Massachusetts that will serve as a major hub for the North American life science business of Merck. The 280,000-square-foot facility will include a customer collaboration laboratory and training center as well as office space.

“This new and more expansive Merck campus gives us a unique, multi-use life science hub in the United States—one that provides our employees and customers with a sustainable and collaborative working environment,” said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. “We have a long history in Massachusetts, and as a global leader in life science, we are committed to strengthening our presence in one of the most important science and technology hubs in the world.”

The campus will serve as a premier global customer destination, housing both a customer service and call center and an M Lab™ Collaboration Center—a state-of-the-art, shared, exploratory environment where the company’s scientists and engineers work together with customers to help solve their toughest life science challenges. The M Lab™ Collaboration Center will be one of nine centers worldwide created specifically for collaboration, where hands-on training, customer experiments and application troubleshooting take place in a non-GMP environment. Other locations will include Brazil, China, France, India, Singapore and South Korea. This new enhanced M Lab™ center in Burlington, Massachusetts will replace the flagship M Lab™ at the company’s Billerica, Massachusetts facility.

“For nearly a decade, Merck has built a significant presence in Massachusetts and we are extremely pleased to support their expansion in Burlington through the MassWorks Infrastructure Program,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. “Building long-lasting public-private partnerships is vital to growing our economy, and the Merck campus represents significant investment and confidence in our shared future as a global life science center.”

Merck’s 850 full-time Billerica-based life science employees will relocate to the new campus when construction is complete in the second half of 2017.

The $115 million (€104 million) building will be LEED certified. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system is the most widely used third-party verification for green construction, certifying buildings that promote sustainability, resource conservation and human health.

The five-story, single-tenant building near Route 3 and Route 128 in Burlington is being built by The Gutierrez Company. The project includes an opportunity to expand an additional 70,000 square feet. Merck leases the property.