Bayer CropScience Announces $30M HQ Expansion at Research Triangle Park

by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Plant science company Bayer CropScience is planning to invest $29.6 million in the expansion of its North American and global Seeds headquarters in the Research Triangle Park.

The project includes a 29,500-square-foot greenhouse research facility known as GH1, as well as infrastructure and land development that would support the site’s future growth. Construction is scheduled to begin towards the end of summer and be complete in late 2015.

Designed by international architecture and engineering firm Clark Nexsen, GH1 will make use of several sustainable and environmentally friendly features, including a rainwater collection system for greenhouse plant irrigation; low-flow, sensored plumbing fixtures; occupant-sensored lighting; daylight harvesting; MERV 13 filters to improve indoor air quality; an HVAC energy-management system; and reflective roofing to reduce the building’s heat intake.

Upon completion, GH1 will replace Greenhouses 3 and 4, which are more than 30 years old. In July 2012, Bayer also completed the $20 million, 60,000-sq.-ft., Greenhouse 5.

The company’s other recent investments in the RTP area include a $2.1 million, 6,000-sq.-ft. North American Bee Care Center, which opened in April this year; a $16.1 million renovation and remodeling of the Development North America facility which brought an additional 40,000 square feet of space dedicated to crop protection and environmental science research; the $33 million renovation of the North American headquarters currently under way; and the purchase of 70 acres of land adjacent to the North American and global Seeds headquarters to accommodate the GH1 project and potential future growth.

“The construction of this greenhouse represents our continued commitment to RTP and to leaving a better world for the industries and communities we serve through advanced agriculture and bioscience research and development,” Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience L.P., said in a news release. “Our new facility will allow our scientists and other researchers to discover innovative solutions to the world’s ever-changing agricultural issues, and will help us feed a growing planet in need of plentiful food sources grown without threat from dangerous insects and other pests.”

Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG, is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company has a global workforce of 22,400 and is represented in more than 120 countries. Approximately 700 Bayer employees are based in the greater Research Triangle Park area.

Photo credits: Bayer CropScience