A new state-of-the art research facility is coming to downtown Winnipeg.
Richardson International said Wednesday it would be spending $30 million to build an innovation centre that will focus on agri-food research and product development.
Construction equipment could already be seen working at the corner of Westbrook Street and Lombard Avenue, where the four-storey building will rise.
Richardson’s President and CEO, Curt Vossen, said its employees need a modern platform for testing and exploring new ideas.
“In order to test derivatives of existing products or create entirely new product streams, our team’s technical capabilities must be backed by the right technical facilities,” Vossen said. “We anticipate the Innovation Centre will provide them with the technical capacity and resources necessary to meet and exceed customer expectations.”
“A facility like this gives us the opportunity to do that modification, testing, look at alternative formulations, recipes and so on and so forth, and then be able to demonstrate it to the people that are really interested in what these functionalities can provide,” he continued.
The facility will be home to approximately 200 employees.
Construction of the new building, just east of Richardson’s downtown headquarters at Portage Avenue and Main Street, is expected to be complete by 2020.