The economy isn't getting Quintiles down. The mammoth contract research organization (CRO) just announced that it has consolidated its operations in Scotland into one brand new, state of the art, built-to-suit, 115,000-square-foot building.

The new structure cost about $15 million to build. Quintiles is renting. Tom Wollman, senior VP of global central laboratories for the Research Triangle-based company, wouldn't say what the rent is, but did confirm that it's more than what Quintiles was paying to occupy the three other buildings where it was keeping its 540 employees between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Expand, Contract

However, the new space brings more economies of scale. Wollman says employees from many operations—clinical (data management, project management, regulatory affairs) and central labs—will be under one roof, reducing the need for travel and also cutting out redundancies in services like reception, telecommunications and security. Employees who had been far flung are now excited about working together.

“It's improving functional coordination between them,” Wollman says. “When working in different locations, you tend to work in silos. But now that they are together, the managers are excited and engaged and looking for ways to collaborate better.”

More Space

The new space, says Wollman, will allow Quintiles' Scotland-based central lab—which serves all of Europe, Israel and North Africa—to double in size and take in triple the volume of work. The previous facility was bursting at the seams, says Wollman, adding that Quintiles had to bring in trailers to accommodate all the employees, equipment and samples as the business grew. The new central lab space is 80,000 square feet.

The trailers won't be necessary again. The new space supports easy additions of more square footage should Quintiles need to expand even further, says Wollman. The new lease is in excess of 10 years. Quintiles has been in Scotland for 14 years. The plan is to create 150 new jobs in the region from now through 2011.

Singapore, Too

In November, Quintiles will make a similar move in its Singapore operations, shifting employees spread out over three buildings into a newly renovated, 80,000-square-foot headquarters. That also represents a doubling of the size of its central lab there.

Quintiles has central lab functions on five continents. Beyond the labs in Scotland and Singapore, the company has sites in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa and the U.S.Once the Singapore move occurs, no other expansions are planned for Quintiles' offices or central labs, says Wollman. For now.

—by Suz Redfearn