P&G Expands UK R&D Center

Procter & Gamble is going bigger in Britain. The company said it will build a research & development facility for its Gillette brand of razors as part of a major expansion of an innovation center in England, pending local government approval. The Reading Gillette Innovation Centre, which is about 41 miles west of London and reportedly now employs 200, will more than double in size when 250 other P&G employees move from a location near the Surrey district town of Egham. 

P&G intends to build a two-story facility that will encompass about 75,300 square feet and include laboratories, offices and storage warehousing, according to documents filed with the Reading Borough Council. A four-story garage that could accommodate 190 automobiles is also planned. The new structures would occupy about 3.7 acres of the P&G site in Reading. Plans call for the refurbishment of the southern half of the retained Gillette building and the erection of a rear extension that would include the new R&D laboratory and offices plus warehousing.


The site now includes manufacturing buildings, offices, a testing center, a warehouses and surface parking.