The project is a 7-story interior fitout for a new state-of-the-art R&D headquarters. The new facility will support the current and future research and development, office operations, as well as future investor tours.

The spaces include research labs and support spaces, flexible office spaces, various meeting space sizes including a large innovation space and event space on the first floor. The first floor is connected to the 2nd floor main café space with a large social stair with stadium style seating for large gatherings. A modern, open stair will connect floors 2-7 to activate and connect each floor’s social spaces. The use of color and graphics will differentiate each floor for wayfinding purposes and give each floor its own personality.

Situated in the heart of the London Knowledge Quarter, the new Discovery Research Centre will serve as headquarters for biomedical research to support development of meaningful therapies and vaccines. The location provides critical access to a network of customers, regulators, government decision-makers and market access opportunities. Jacobs supported the Client in their exploration of a number of different site options and ultimately in the selection of this one. We are responsible for the full interior fit-out (architecture, lab planning, interior design and MEP) of this 275,00 SF facility consisting of flexible and specialized laboratories, offices and amenities, both for the Client as well as the community.

Jacobs worked closely with the core/shell developer, Precis and the core/shell architect, AHMM, to ensure that the core/shell design would accommodate the Client’s complex program from a technical standpoint. Not only does the facility allow for visibility between lab and office but also it has been planned to celebrate the science that goes on inside by providing visibility from street level into the laboratories above.

Located in Rahway, the new Biologics Development Center (BDC) is a 210,000 SF, three-story structure that will be the centerpiece of biologics research. The BDC houses a laboratory, a large ISO-8 clean room, pilot plant support, offices and community spaces, and is certified for LEED Gold and targeting WELL certification. The laboratory design maximizes flexibility and incorporates many of the features used at the facility we designed for this Client in South San Francisco a few years before this – overhead ceiling panels, flexible, mobile casework, open labs and planning that enables sharing of lab equipment.

A generous use of glazed partitions allows for penetration of daylight and visibility between the lab and activity-based workplace on the upper two lab floors and views into the first-floor pilot plant from surrounding spaces celebrate the work that goes on within it. The design of the facility is a continuation of the campus character established by our design leads decades ago, but in this case we have used the palette we’ve incorporated into other buildings on campus – a combination of metal, glass, and brick – in an updated configuration that relates to the older buildings but speaks to the future and allows for exterior systems that were entirely pre-fabricated, as were components of the penthouse, interior partitions, modular MEP systems, shafts, stairs, elevators and structure. Only 30 months elapsed between the start of design and move-in, with a 20-month construction duration commencing before design was complete. Close cooperation between everyone involved, combined with a modular design intended to be as flexible and “generic” as possible and an emphasis on prefabrication enabled a fast paced but highly successful project.

This new 300,000 nine-story multi-disciplinary discovery research lab accommodates over 500 occupants of which more than 300 are chemists and biologists whose work spans from exploratory investigation through early clinical development. Intended to minimize hierarchy, encourage collaboration and create an inspiring, science/patient-focused environment using transparency, amenities, art, technology and playful spaces, the facility includes open, flexible research laboratories, a vivarium facility, connected support and administrative workspace and multiple amenities. Chemistry and biology functions were intentionally mixed on floor plates, with a focus on a lab arrangement based around processes and activities versus disciplines and departments.

The plan was devised to enable equipment sharing and minimize redundant, individual ownership. The notion of “Science on Display” is reinforced from the moment one enters the facility and views a large electronic display intended to broadcast imagery and information tied to the research being conducted here. Attention was paid to allowing for visual continuity not just across floor plates but also vertically and break spaces were planned to encourage travel between floors. In addition to planning spaces to enable the activities that would occur inside the building, our team focused on designing to support the goal of maximum prefabrication of building components and sustainability. The project incorporated high efficiency systems and smart controls that predicted a 23% energy savings below code baseline. This combination of low energy use intensity, smart controls and owner operational policies, along with green-e-certified energy and carbon offsets led to the project achieving a LEED Zero Energy and LEED Zero Carbon certification in 2021.

The project execution model was an EPCM, hybrid design-build system; conceptual design, schematic design, design development and the MEP BOD were delivered by Jacobs working for Merck. Jacobs was contracted to the construction manager as architect of record for the remainder of the project, through construction administration, while the construction manager’s MEP trade partners took on the role of engineer-of-record, with Jacobs’ engineers remaining on for technical oversight, peer reviews and to ensure compliance with the basis of design and Merck’s standards.