Windlesham R&D Campus
UCB

Abell Nepp are supporting Heatherwick Studio and executive architect Veretec as laboratory planners to create a major new headquarters for global biopharmaceutical company UCB.

Relocating from existing facilities in Slough, UCB will move to the 19-hectare campus of Abell Nepp’s former client, Eli Lilly and Company. The existing laboratory buildings, dating from the 1960’s through early 2000’s, will be overhauled to accommodate UCB research and analytical programmes including their extensive use of automation and robotic scientific equipment.

Heatherwick’s proposes a new Collaboration Hub insertion into the heart of the existing campus. This 2,870m² 3-storey organic timber building will be partially submerged, connecting and contrasting in appearance to the existing wings of the research and design building and improving circulation.

Relocating to a single integrated site is essential for UCB’s creative scientific activities and will provide the space for over 800 staff providing synergies needed now and in the future. The ambition is to make the Windlesham campus a sustainable one which integrates with and echoes the landscape to create a collaborative and energising environment where innovation can thrive.

Once complete, the scheme will become one of the Belgium-based UCB’s three global research and development hubs for the discovery of innovative treatments for patients, including gene therapies and translational medicine, as well as their world-class antibody discovery platforms’.