Merck finds London site for £1B research, business hub

• U.S.-based Merck (NYSE:MRK) is planning to construct a £1B U.K. complex including research labs on a site opposite King's Cross rail station.
• Called MSD in Europe to avoid confusion with Merck of Germany, the company plans to employ 800 people at the 25,000-square-meter facility.
• Assuming it gets local council planning permission for the project to be called London Discovery Research Center, construction will start late next year with move-in expected during 2025.
• While the company expects to create ~120 new jobs for scientists and technicians, most staff will come from MSD's smaller existing labs in London and its business hub in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.
• Research at the U.K. site will focus on diseases of aging, with a particular focus on neuroscience.
• Merck first announced plans for a research and business hub in London in December 2017, but the project took longer than expected to develop as there were few suitable sites available at its preferred location near the Francis Crick biomedical research institute in London's "Knowledge Quarter."