Jealott's Hill International Research Centre, Bracknell

Jealott's Hill, established in 1927, is a centre of excellence for discovery and bio-performance research and is a key site for environmental sciences. It is our largest research site, employing over 800 scientists and support staff.

As our leading centre for discovery, Jealott's Hill houses our main collection of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds. Over 200,000 chemicals are added to the collection from a variety of sources each year. Sophisticated storage and retrieval robotics and software are used to dispense millions of samples annually, often in microgram quantities, to researchers seeking new crop protection products. State-of-the-art, high-throughput screens are developed and operated for the new active ingredient research that is pursued on site and at our research centre in Switzerland.

To meet the demand for new chemicals to test for biological activity, in the late 1990s we invested over $5 million in extending our Jealott's Hill's chemistry laboratories. In addition, a new glasshouse complex costing over $14 million was opened. As the largest research glasshouse in Europe, it occupies 4,000 square metres and provides modern facilities for the discovery and development of new weed control solutions.

Jealott's Hill is also the Syngenta global centre for environmental sciences and works closely with Syngenta CTL to ensure our products are tested for safety in the environment. We have recently invested nearly $10 million in new facilities to ensure we remain at the forefront of work in this important area.

Much work on site is aimed at developing products that will help produce sustainable farming systems. To support this effort, half of the 250-hectare site is a commercial farm used to demonstrate integrated crop management techniques.

As an important location for our environmental science work, researchers at Jealott's Hill work closely with colleagues across the world including those at Syngenta CTL, which is located in Cheshire.

In 2003 the Jealott's Hill site celebrated its 75th anniversary and a special publication was produced that can be downloaded from this site.