The pharmaceutical Group Ferrer has decided to locate its new research laboratory at Biopol L'Hospitalet. The fact of "being next to where clinical research is being conducted" was crucial in order to take the decision, in the words of Ferrer CEO, Jordi Ramentol.
The proximity of the hospitals of reference (Hospital de Bellvitge and Hospital Duran i Reynals) will establish scientific collaborations with several preclinical and clinical academic groups.

The laboratory will be located in a new building of 17.500 m2, in which Ferrer Group will invest 45 million euros. The works in the building, which will stand next to the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), will start in early 2010. The project manager is the architect William McDonough, who affirms that it will be an atypical centre, world reference in biosustainability.

The building will cover several major new architectural concepts that will facilitate communication between the Group's scientists and other scientists from the biocluster. Due to the building characteristics, it will also become an architectural reference. The new R&D center will have an approximate area of 4.000 m2 to accommodate newly-created companies (spin-offs and start-up).

The installation of the Ferrer Laboratories in the biocluster will contribute to achieve the goal of turning Biopol into "a reference park for the health sector", as expressed by Jordi Ramentol.