Bayer CropScience will invest $29.6 million in the expansion of its North American and global seeds headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
This investment includes the construction of a 29,500-square-foot greenhouse as well as the necessary infrastructure and land development to support the state-of-the-art research facility and potential future growth.
The new facility will accommodate the company’s seed trait research, providing dedicated and isolated greenhouse space for insect testing, consolidated space for nematode trait research, and the capability for groundbreaking plant disease research.
The RTP site has experienced significant operational growth in recent years. This expansion marks the beginning of the development of land acquired in Dec. 2012. Work on the greenhouse, or GH1, is scheduled to begin in the late summer of 2014, with completion scheduled for late 2015.
GH1 is the second greenhouse constructed at Bayer CropScience’s North American and global Seeds headquarters in the past two years.
The $20 million, 60,000-square-foot Greenhouse 5 was opened in July 2012 to support company sustainability and productivity efforts focused on soy, corn and other broadacre crop research.
“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,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP. “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.”
The completed GH1 will include several sustainable and environmentally friendly features designed by international architecture and engineering firm Clark Nexsen. These include 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.
