R&D due to start next year if given the green light
Pharmaceutical’s firm Merck has revealed plans to build a £1bn R&D centre in a central London site opposite King’s Cross station.
Plans for the AHMM-designed scheme have gone out to consultation, with construction expected to start next year if given the go ahead by Camden council.
Merck, known as MSD in Europe, first announced in December 2017 that it was planning to build a new research hub in London.
The new facility will specialise in developing life-saving medicines and “breakthrough” research on diseases associated with aging.
The 10-storey building will include a new entrance to the tube network in its lower ground floor, and its upper storeys will feature a ‘biophillic’ facade adorned with plants and greenery.
The site, which is currently occupied by a low-rise art deco building on Euston Road called Belgrove House, is within London’s ‘Knowledge Quarter’ and close to the Francis Crick biomedical research institute.
Site owner Precis Group is also planning to replace Acorn house, a 1960s office block at a nearby site, with a nine-storey mixed-use block providing 33 affordable homes and 500sq m of office space.
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