IMP: Ground-breaking ceremony for the new IMP Building

Last Friday the ground-breaking ceremony for the new research building dedicated to the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) took place at the Vienna Biocenter (Dr. Bohr-Gasse / Neu Marx). This event marks the beginning of the construction work for the 50-million-Euro investment project funded by Boehringer Ingelheim.

Despite the cool weather conditions, Michel Pairet, Senior Corporate Vice President of Research and Non-clinical Development (Boehringer Ingelheim), Philipp von Lattorff, Country Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna, Renate Brauner, Vice-Mayor and Vice-Governor, City of Vienna, Horst Reiner, Managing Director of ATP architects engineers Vienna office and Hans Wenkenbach, COO and Member of the Board, PORR AG together with Harald Isemann, IMP Managing Director Finance and Administration and Jan-Michael Peters, IMP Managing Director Science, carried out the ground-breaking (ceremony).

To Michel Pairet the IMP “is the institution within the global Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies which conducts research ‘beyond borders’. It is the scientific independence of the IMP and its aspiration to carry out the best research possible to find the unexpected, which makes it significant for us.”

Philipp von Lattorff praised the accomplishments of the IMP “as a research institute with an excellent reputation globally, which has developed into the nucleus of the Vienna Biocenter. The new building reinforces the significance of Vienna as a research location within the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies.”

To Renate Brauner “the new IMP building is yet further evidence of the successful development the life science location Vienna Biocenter. By joining forces we managed to create a place, which is globally renowned as a location for top-notch research ‘Made in Vienna’, commented Vice-Mayor and Vice-Governor of Vienna, Renate Brauner, cheerfully.

“ATP develops aesthetically innovative projects in an interdisciplinary and simultaneous planning process. With the new IMP building the spatial connection of the horizontal functions via a vertical atrium as a communications- and meeting place is a central theme”, said Horst Reiner as he explained the architectural considerations of the ATP architects engineers, using a model of the new IMP building.

Hans Wenkenbach, Member of the Board, representing the construction company, said today “PORR is starting a complex construction project and we are confident that once again we will be able to utilize our comprehensive know how in the construction of the new IMP building. We are grateful for the trust that has been placed in us and are – without further ado – ready to get to work.”

Harald Isemann and Jan-Michael Peters in a joint statement said, “today we are both, proud and grateful at the same time. We are grateful to Boehringer Ingelheim for their continued support for our scientific goals and concerns. And we are proud of the exceptional recognition we get for our scientific accomplishments reflected in Boehringer Ingelheim’s decision to invest in a new IMP building.”

The international pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is by far the biggest private funder of basic research in Austria and has been supporting the IMP since it opened in 1988. For the construction of the new IMP building Boehringer Ingelheim has provided an investment budget of 50 Million Euros. The new building will comprise approx. 15,000 square meters gross floor space and will accommodate approx. 250 researchers. Apart from well-equipped and flexible lab space, the new IMP building will house a spacious lecture hall, as well as a new cafeteria all of which will fit harmoniously into the existing VBC environment. The construction works are planned to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2016.

The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna is a basic biomedical research institute largely sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. With over 200 scientists from 35 nations, the IMP is committed to scientific discovery of fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying complex biological phenomena. Research areas include cell and molecular biology, neurobiology, disease mechanisms and computational biology. The IMP is located at the Vienna Biocenter.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna (RCV) is responsible for the human pharmaceuticals and animal health business of Boehringer Ingelheim in more than 30 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Israel. Moreover Vienna coordinates the clinical research activities in the whole region. The site is also the group’s cancer research center and a site devoted to biopharmaceutical research, development and production. In 2013 the Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna had about 3300 employees, thereof 1400 in Vienna.

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