Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Boris Johnson officially opened the European headquarters of a global life sciences firm.

The Foreign Secretary opened the TraceLink offices at The Charter Building in the centre of Uxbridge with Hillingdon Council leader Ray Puddifoot.

TraceLink, headquarted in Massachusetts, USA provides tracing a tracking service for medicines in order to comply with complex multinational laws.

The European HQ is part of the company's £55m global expansion, backed by firms like Goldman Sachs Growth Equity. The move to Uxbridge will see the company double its workforce in London.

The company's office officially opened on Friday (September 15) in the former Coca Cola bottling plant building which has been coverted into high value office space in a joint venture by Landid and Brockton Capital.

Other businesses to take up office space in the building include flexible office space provider Spaces and tech startup Jazz Networks.

Mr Johnson said:"I am delighted to be here today to celebrate TraceLink's continued success and decision to add further investment and jobs into the UK.

"In 2015 the UK life sciences sector contributed £30.4 billion in UK GDP, supported 482,000 jobs and contributed £8.6 billion in taxes.

"TraceLink's decision to create substantial job growth and invest in its European headquarters adds yet further strength to the importance of the life sciences sector to the UK economy and is a real boost for the local communities.

The atrium of the Charter building used to be the courtyard when the building was Coca Cola's bottling base

"With an honorable mission to help the life sciences industry protect the global medicine supply, I am proud to have companies like TraceLink right here in Uxbridge to continue pushing the UK to the forefront of the global life sciences sector.

"The Government's drive to improve UK healthcare outcomes can only be helped by the ongoing success of the UK life sciences sector and companies like TraceLink continuing to innovate in order to tackle global healthcare challenges.”

The Charter building was completed earlier this year and offers companies impressive architecture and details

Leader of Hillingdon Council Raymond Puddifoot also welcomed the news.

“I am delighted that TraceLink has chosen to invest in Uxbridge" he said.

"New jobs bring increased stability and a real boost for the local economy, it’s great news for the area.”

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android.