The Knowledge: Musson gears up for LSP expansion
THE boss of Liverpool Science Park is working on funding plans for the facility’s third building which he says is essential to the city’s economic development.
Chris Musson wants to add a 42,000 sq ft building, with a third of the space given over to commercial labs, at a cost of £8m.
“Without more labs Liverpool will forever lose companies,” says Musson who sees his role as central to nurturing the life sciences companies, and other hi-tech spin-outs that are considered central to the city’s “knowledge economy”.
“Merseybio said it has lost 19 companies over the last three or four years because there was nowhere for them to expand to.”
Merseybio, a University of Liverpool facility, is the city’s only source of commercial lab space with 10,000 sq ft. This compares to Manchester’s 250,000 sq ft.
Musson has already borrowed £650,000 from Liverpool City Council through the Public Works Loan Board to install 5,000 sq ft of labs at the science park’s second building, the IC2. The planned third site, which has planning permission, would have around 12,000 sq ft of lab space.
Despite public sector funding cuts and the council being forced to find savings of £141m by 2013 he is confident about raising the money required for the new building.
“The public sector will put in a chunk and I don’t anticipate any private sector support,” says Musson, who was reluctant to discuss the funding details. “But it will probably be a similar model to the way we paid for the changes to IC2.”
He adds: “The board understand this is a difficult time for public money, full stop. But if we’re serious about Liverpool’s knowledge economy this is a key part of it.” He hopes to have finalised the finances within the next few months.
The science park was established in 2000 by the council, Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Liverpool. The council holds 51% of the shares with the rest split by the two universities.
In contrast Manchester Science Parks was set up in the 1980s and its long track record of generating returns from property has left chief executive Jane Davies confident of raising £18m from institutional investors to double the size of its main campus over the next 10 years.
“At the point when you’ve got companies taking longer leases that’s when the private sector will want to be involved,” says Musson. “MSP has a far longer track record.”
As well as labs the science park has given over 1,500 sq ft of hot desking space to graduate entrepreneurs charging them £18 a week. It also has a “soft landing” facility offering foreign firms free space for three months to encourage inward investment.
