Mmm, Necco wafers
Cambridge’s conversion continues, as workers prepare the Necco building for Novartis.
To convert the 1926 Necco candy factory into Novartis Pharma AG research labs, construction workers first had to deal with the building’s sticky past. During the decades when Necco cranked out its signature pink, purple, green, and yellow candy wafers, sugar spores burrowed into the pores of the building’s concrete walls. A gooey residue coated the basement floor, where six tanks once stored 30,000 gallons of corn syrup, molasses, and sugar. Small sugary patches remained in areas where mixing vats once held batches of chocolate.
Sugar and laboratory experiments don’t mix, though. So floor by floor, workers are power-washing away the remnants of sweeter days, with hot water and bleach.
