Science Building, Framingham, MA The new building at 49 New York Avenue in Framingham, Mass., will incorporate innovative design strategies similar to those in the company's landmark headquarters, Genzyme Center. The 177,000 square foot building, which is scheduled to open in early 2007, will feature an environmentally responsible and employee-friendly design. It will house early stage scientific research and bring together many Genzyme scientists. Offices and labs will be connected by open meeting spaces around the six-story building's central atrium. Researchers who work in related areas will be grouped together, and their offices will be separated by glass walls and sliding glass doors. Genzyme also is seeking to establish the building as the first scientific research laboratory to receive certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating SystemTM. Genzyme intends to register the project for certification under the LEED system, which was created to define "green" building by providing a common standard of measurement. When the Framingham science building opens in early 2007, about 245 employees will occupy the first four floors. Some research teams located in other sites in Framingham will move into the new building and those sites will be re-utilized for other R&D groups. To allow room for later growth, the fifth and sixth floors will be left undeveloped initially, with the exception of a cafeteria on the sixth. When all six floors are full, the building will hold approximately 350 employees and serve the science organization's Massachusetts laboratory needs through 2010.