European Knowledge Centre (EKC) - The Rationale

"Eisai believes that integrating all company functions on a single site will improve quality, efficiency and productivity through the process of 'Knowledge Creation' which is the principle at the heart of our decision to bring together all our European operations on a single site in the UK. This in turn contributes towards achieving our corporate mission of human health care (hhc) which aims to help improve the lives of patients and their families by developing innovative medicines as quickly as possible."
Mr Haruo Naito, President and CEO, Eisai Co., Ltd.

The EKC represents one of Eisai’s biggest ever single capital projects and fulfils the company’s long held ambition to bring teams from across its business together on one site for the first time.

The aim is to stimulate knowledge creation between teams – from those who create products through research and clinical trials, to those who produce, market and sell them – by bringing them together on one site with all the necessary support functions.

The EKC is a modern and flexible working environment which both provides specialist facilities and encourages teams to meet, talk and work together.

EKC - Facts and Figures

• Eisai has invested over £100 million in building the EKC
• Over 500 Eisai employees work out of the EKC including 60 research staff and 200 clinical development staff
• The EKC site is 14.5 acres – the size of 11 football pitches - and the buildings cover some 23,000 square metres
• Construction started in 2007 and was completed early in 2009
• £7.5 million worth of new equipment has been installed in the production and warehousing facility
• Electricity cabling on the site would stretch from Hatfield to Edinburgh – and the data and telecommunications cables would stretch back again
• The EKC has initial capacity to produce up to 450 million tablets in 10 million packs each year but could ultimately produce up to 800 million tablets and 28 million packs a year

The EKC Buildings

There are four separate buildings on the EKC’s Hatfield site:

• Headquarters building - the main office facility where management, clinical development and sales and marketing teams work
• Research building – which houses the Eisai product creation scientists
• Production building and warehouse – a state-of-the-art facility housing manufacturing and packaging lines, quality control laboratories, offices and changing areas plus a semi-automated high bay warehouse
• Central shared facilities building which features reception, meeting rooms, a coffee bar and restaurant

A common pallet of materials and colours gives the site a cohesive feel. The maximum building height is 20 metres and materials have been carefully used and plant rooms set back on roofs to reduce the visual impact of the larger buildings. Colours and finishes for the interior of the buildings are in a pallet of greys, blues and pinks to reflect Eisai’s corporate colours.

All of the facilities have been designed with disabled employees and visitors in mind.