IRISH PROJECT management business PM Group has established a new base at Wavre, near Brussels, as part of a drive to expand in the Benelux region.

As well as project management, PM Group also specialises in international engineering and architectural design. It has a particular focus on the delivery of strategic projects in the life-sciences area, particularly for high intellectual property and research and development projects.

The company will employ 50 people within two years in the new operation after it won several biopharmaceutical and research and developments contracts with a combined capital value in excess of €400 million.

The contracts were secured alongside a partner company, Grontmij Industry. They include a new chemical development pilot plant for Janssen Pharmaceutical and the expansion of a Genzyme plant at Geel.

The two companies previously worked together on large projects for clients including GSK Biologicals, Abbott (formerly Solvay Pharmaceutical), MSD (formerly Schering Plough) and UCB.

“The Belgian pharma market has some of the worlds largest players, eight of whom have confirmed planned growth over the next three years, with an estimated capital spend of more than €1.5 billion in total,” said PM Group chief Pat McGrath.

“PM Group has considerable experience working in this sector internationally and we are now building our operations in Benelux. Wavre is at the heart of this region and is attracting major investment from the global life sciences industry.”

PM Group also has offices in Britain, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Sweden. It also operates in Abu Dhabi, India, Russia, the US and Singapore. The business employs 1,700 staff on projects in 25 countries in the life sciences, food, advanced manufacturing and infrastructure sectors.