WALA – building for the future

The new Wala laboratory building in Bad Boll. Photo © Karin Heinze

A great deal has been packed into WALA's new laboratory building – far more than just the very latest analysis and environmental technology. The organically structured glass building in Bad Boll is sending out a signal. The objective of this manufacturer of medicines and natural cosmetics is to build a bridge to scientific research in order to create a joint approach to solving important medical issues, to research phytoactive agents and to develop new ideas. The company thinks long-term and is investing in the future.

Picture: As well as incorporating many environmental features, special attention was paid to embedding the laboratory building in the landscape. Photo © Karin Heinze

Dr. Hauschka, the natural cosmetics brand of WALA, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. The company's medicinal products arm is already over 80 years old. With its approximately 900 anthroposophic medicinal products and 160 cosmetics products the company's turnover in 2016 came to 130 million euros. Accounting for ca. 70 per cent, it's the cosmetics arm that drives turnover. The Dr. Hauschka brand, with its special understanding of the biggest human organ – the skin – and its skincare concept, is sold in 40 countries across the world. The company management is very pleased with the way turnover has been developing.

Creating a public campus

CEO Dr. Johannes Stellmann asserts: “Profits mean we have a future.” Without a  successful business, WALA would not have been able to invest 30 million in its flagship building. Stellmann speaks about the scope that in 1986 the managing directors at that time, Dr. Heinz-Hartmut Vogel and Karl Kossmann, created when they founded a business foundation. “We embrace competition and regard it as a sustainable model, because we can think very long-term without subjecting ourselves to the pressure of shareholder value. The seeds we plant today will bear fruit later and the profits we generate have the sole purpose of supporting the company and all its employees.” Stellmann explains. He said  the new laboratory building was clear evidence of their creative impulse: “That four-storey building is all about enquiring and researching, plus of course quantifiable results, verifiable analyses and quality assurance.”

Photo © Wala : Wala CEO Dr. Johannes Stellmann.

Picture: The grounds surrounding the campus, with an abundance of greenery, indigenous plants and a lake is open to local people and visitors to Bad Boll/Eckwälden. Photo © Karin Heinze

They began thinking about this building ten years ago, when it became clear that the laboratory buildings in nearby Eckwälden would sooner or later no longer have the capacity they needed. So, in 2008 they organised a competition in which six prestigious architecture firms took part. Members of the jury were architects, landscape architects and town planners, the municipality Bad Boll, the company WALA Heilmittel GmbH and the WALA Foundation.

Photo © Wala : The new laboratory building in park-like surroundings.

The result was the creation of a practically new district for the health resort Bad Boll that is accessible to the public. Over the next 20 years they can continue building on the 6.5 hectare site whose overall design is based on the shape of cells. The first building, the laboratory, was completed in April and in May they were able to move in. However, the overall building plan for the campus has already been approved so that, as the need arises, it will not take long to get permission to start the next construction phase. A parallel development is a logistics centre in the nearby town of Zell that will become operational in the spring of 2018.

Photo © Wala: A generously proportioned staircase leads to the laboratories and offices.

Researching, testing and focusing on plant biographies

Every month, around 1000 batches of raw materials and finished products are examined. The laboratory building is designed for 180 employees and at the moment 120 are working there. Dr. Ulrich Riegert, the head of the quality control department, explains that the reason for the new building was not only the limited space in the old buildings but also the steadily increasing legal requirements and WALA's own very high quality standards for medicines and cosmetics. Commissioning other laboratories to carry out this kind of work is used by the firm only in very special cases, the reason being that they want to know the biography of raw materials ideally from the seed to the tube and the shelf of the retailer. “This knowledge and our experience are a huge asset,” explains Prof. Dr. Dietmar Kammerer, head of the Department for Analytical Development and Research. He points out that, although external laboratories supply results, they don't as a rule provide interpretation.

Photo © Karin Heinze: Staff in the laboratories have the very latest analysis technology for examining raw materials and ensuring the quality of medicines and cosmetics is maintained.

Working together to find scientific solutions

15 years ago, WALA Heilmittel GmbH chose to go in the direction of interdisciplinary research. “We embraced orthodox medicine so that we too could carry out clinical research and also to seek solutions to current urgent problems like resistance to antibiotics,” says Dr. Stellmann. In so doing, they don't want to distort their identity. “We remain committed to our vision, but we don't want to shut our minds to these issues coming from outside.” He adds that, given the convictions of the company, they regard this as their duty to society.  

Over the past few years there have been promising approaches to interdisciplinary research but, as Prof. Dr. Florian Stintzing (Photo © Karin Heinze) – in charge of the Science Department at WALA – points out, with the new facilities a new chapter has been opened. They are recruiting PhD students and, while studying for a doctorate or master's degree, they are supervised in the firm. This means that questions about how plants are effective and their function in the body can be thoroughly investigated.

The results also provide material for discussing regulatory and legislative issues at EU level. An example is the productive cooperation between the company and Prof. Dr. Rolf Daniels from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Photo © Karin Heinze). A regular feature are the scientific colloquiums held several times a year in Bad Boll.

Prof. Dr. Florian Stintzing says that the exchange of experience serves, among other things, the purpose of analysing traditional indigenous medicinal plants and seeing them from new standpoints. The scientific team and the management are confident that the new WALA laboratory is setting an example and will send a powerful message to the world of science, and that the investment in the future will definitely prove its worth.

Pictures: There is already close cooperation between Prof. Dr. Florian Stintzing (above on right) and Prof. Dr. Rolf Daniels (below on left).

Video: Impressions from WALA gardens, the courtyard and the new laboratory building.