Jean:    From a business plan, there are related issues, on of those being the retention of people. Is there a relationship between space and retention?

Victoria Buker:    By the time we find space that accommodates laboratories in Seattle, get it approved and build it out to fit our scientist's needs, 5 years have passed and we are out of space. Office space is not so bad because we can move faster. Space is our livelihood. A scientist says he needs a new piece of equipment that will help him find a new molecule and develop a new product. This new equipment is 2,000 pounds and needs a set of new utilities. I can't get the utilities connected by the time the equipment is shipped from Denmark. They see space as "my new tool, vital to the company, necessary to the next discovery'. There's nothing superfluous about it and managing that with all the other demands is difficult. We have a small facilities department with few resources. We are constantly chasing the needs of our users.

Jean:    What's the tool kit of the employee three years from now? Do they need to own space?

Victoria Buker:    Yes. I think you will always need to own space. I don't think the concept of space will ever become obsolete. The conversations in the hallway, the running into each other; these are things that we would miss. That's where a lot of our creativity comes from. A lot of our people are coming from an academic situation where a person will always have a home.