GLOCESTER – FM Global today announced that it will spend $38 million on an expansion of its research campus, a project that will include a new multimedia center and natural-hazards laboratory and an upgraded fire-technology laboratory.

The company expects the project to result in 7-percent growth in staff at the campus, which now has 108 employees. The expansion was spurred by a growing client list and the ever-changing globalization of businesses, FM Global said.

The 1,600-acre campus originally had been constructed in 2001 for $85 million. At that time, FM Global was a $1.7 billion company. Now, it is a $4.7 billion company, with a client base that includes one in every three Fortune 1000 companies.

“No one envisioned the recent dramatic growth in globalization and the resulting stress it has had on stretched supply chains around the world,” Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research Thomas Lawson said in a statement today. “As our clients’ businesses and needs continue to grow, FM Global’s research campus enhancements will enable us to enhance the quality of our research and testing so we can continue to provide the best loss-prevention advice to help keep clients operational, especially as property-related business losses increase in frequency and severity.”

To “allow for simultaneous testing, increased capacity and improved timeliness of solutions,” the new natural-hazards laboratory will total 70,000 square feet, about four times the size of the current facility, the company said. That will include a 100-square-foot earthquake simulator.

Upgrades to the fire-technology laboratory will include the addition of a 20,000-square-foot staging area and 6,400-square-foot movable ceiling – used to simulate varying warehouse sizes.

The new multimedia center will be 4,500 square feet and will include a 130-seat theater.

In December last year, FM Global announced it would build a $60 million headquarters in Johnston, a project now underway that is expected to be completed by July 2009. (READ MORE)

FM Global – a commercial and industrial property insurer with clients in more than 130 nations – is a $4.7 billion policyholder-owned mutual insurance company. It has 4,800 employees in 57 offices worldwide, including nearly 1,700 in southern New England at its headquarters in Johnston, research campus in Glocester and offices in Norwood and Waltham, Mass. Additional information is available at www.fmglobal.com.