260 people from the healthcare branch of the Urgo group will move a few kilometers in 2025 from the Chenôve site (Côte-d’Or) to a new headquarters in downtown Dijon. This 23 million euro project was launched in 2021, but the new buildings began to emerge at the beginning of 2024. The company will be located in the new Dauphine center over more than 3,350 square meters. “We will reach a beautiful site which has the capacity to accommodate us. To support our growth, we have just acquired 950 additional square meters» explains Briac Le Lous, president of Urgo Consumer Healthcare.
Indeed, after having recorded 200 million euros in turnover at the time of its installation in Chenôve in 2005, 20 years later the group has now reached 870 million euros in turnover. “Our strategy consists of having a dedicated team per client and for our different activities : the medical sector which remains in Chenôve with our first research center and the Healthcare team on the future site in Dijon», explains the manager who wants the support functions to be in the same place as the product design teams to gain agility.
The choice of Dijon
The family group will thus open its fifth site in the Dijon Métropole region and insists on this anchorage. “We have a cutting-edge research industry for which we need qualified people. Our technical professions require a long training period so it is important to establish our teams. Dijon is an attractive city. When a person moves there, they stay there, because they find a quality of life there, accessible housing without being too far from Paris.» Last September, Urgo inaugurated a new logistics center dedicated to pharmacy in Ouges (Côte-d’Or), in which it had invested 22 million euros.
A global investment strategy
The pharmaceutical group is also carrying out other investments. Over the period 2020 – 2030, it planned to commit 300 million euros in R&D to which will be added 100 million euros for the artificial, “living” skin project, Genesis, carried out in Dijon. “We would be the first in the world to know how to do it. We are aiming for a launch between 2032 and 2035. We have the desire to invest for the long term», adds Briac Le Lous.
Besides, Urgo had budgeted 100 million euros for investment in its industry, a budget that had already been reached. “We are working on a new 2025 – 2030 plan. We will undoubtedly have a new factory near Saint-Etienne. We already have a medical textile factory for products that are developing in the American market which has reached its capacities», underlines the president of the healthcare branch. So many investments which should allow Urgo to rise to the highest rank in its sector.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
