The deal will see the Sweden-headquartered construction firm demolish four floors of the Collegeville facility and build out of 9,300 square meters of Lab space.
The project will start later this month is due to be completed next October.
The Upper Providence lab became one GSK’s two drug discovery hubs in 2015 – the other being at its headquarters in Stevenage – after the completion of a long running consolidation project.
GSK spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne told us: “This is the second phase of an update to our labs. We moved into other updated labs this fall and have found the redesign quite helpful.”
According to the UK, activities at the US lab include target identification, safety studies, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacture, clinical trial drug manufacture, clinical trial management, medical oversight and regulatory interactions.
Growth plan
The project will be carried out by Skanska USA, a subsidiary that helps the firm’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients build facilities that comply with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
By 2018, 40 percent of GlaxoSmithKline's global drug R&D team will be based in Collegeville.
R&D scientists from GSK’s facilities in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania and Research Triangle Park, N.C., will relocate to Upper Providence.
The UK drug manufacturer has said the headcount at the site will increase from 1,600 to 3,200 before 2018.