EMD Serono, known as Merck outside of the U.S. and Canada, a science and technology company, has announced plans to build a new campus in Burlington, Massachusetts, that will serve as a major hub for the North American life science business of Merck. The 280,000-square-foot facility will include a customer collaboration laboratory and training center as well as office space.

“This new and more expansive Merck campus gives us a unique, multi-use life science hub in the U.S.—one that provides our employees and customers with a sustainable and collaborative working environment,” said Udit Batra, member of the Merck executive board and CEO, Life Science. “We have a long history in Massachusetts, and as a global leader in life science, we are committed to strengthening our presence in one of the most important science and technology hubs in the world.”

The campus will serve as a premier global customer destination, housing both a customer service and call center and an M Lab Collaboration Center—a state-of-the-art, shared, exploratory environment where the company’s scientists and engineers work together with customers to help solve their toughest life science challenges. The M Lab Collaboration Center will be one of nine centers worldwide created specifically for collaboration, where hands-on training, customer experiments and application troubleshooting take place in a non-GMP environment. Other locations will include Brazil, China, France, India, Singapore and South Korea. This new enhanced M Lab center in Burlington, Massachusetts will replace the flagship M Lab at the company’s Billerica, Massachusetts facility.

“For nearly a decade, Merck has built a significant presence in Massachusetts and we are extremely pleased to support their expansion in Burlington through the MassWorks Infrastructure Program,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. “Building long-lasting public-private partnerships is vital to growing our economy, and the Merck campus represents significant investment and confidence in our shared future as a global life science center.”

Merck’s 850 full-time Billerica-based life science employees will relocate to the new campus when construction is complete in the second half of 2017.

The $115 million (€104 million) building will be LEED certified. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system is the most widely used third-party verification for green construction, certifying buildings that promote sustainability, resource conservation and human health.

The five-story, single-tenant building near Route 3 and Route 128 in Burlington is being built by The Gutierrez Company. The project includes an opportunity to expand an additional 70,000 square feet. Merck leases the property.

Merck will maintain its other North American life science hub in St. Louis, Missouri.