£20m lab redevelopment opens at Bruntwood SciTech’s Alderley Park
A £20m lab redevelopment has been completed by Bruntwood SciTech at its Alderley Park site, providing 86,000 sq ft of facilities.
The scheme is part of its £247m masterplan.
The lab investment has seen the redevelopment of existing lab spaces to create high-specification biology and chemistry containment level two (CL2) laboratory suites. Key design features include write-up, breakout and presentation spaces specifically designed to further inspire collaboration between companies and colleagues, enabling the natural collision of ideas.
Driving the Alderley Park master development plans is Bruntwood SciTech, a joint venture between Manchester investor and developer Bruntwood and Legal & General.
Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership has provided £4m to the redevelopment scheme, further cementing Alderley Park as one of the UK’s leading science and technology campuses. Today’s announcement forms part of the park’s longer term masterplan, with plans currently being proposed for an additional 200,000 sq ft of lab space and office space for technology businesses.
Businesses taking advantage of the new facilities are expected to come from specialist areas such as drug discovery and development, oncology, infectious diseases, advanced therapy medicinal products and diagnostics.
The park’s offering is bolstered by access to specialist scientific services as well as Bruntwood SciTech’s wider network of innovators and business support programmes, including the Alderley Park Accelerator which supports start-up and scale-up companies to establish and grow through mentoring, funding support and advice when entering new markets.
Alderley Park is already home to more than 250 companies. Its business community includes the likes of Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Institute team and Sai Life Sciences, as well as SMEs like BivictriX and ApconiX, providers of specialist services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics sectors.
Kath Mackay, director of life sciences, Bruntwood SciTech, said: “The life sciences sector is witnessing rapid and continued growth in the North West and the creation of these pioneering workspaces speaks to that demand.
“Our newly redeveloped laboratories are a step change from traditional lab environments as the industry sees a shift towards an ecosystem of workspace that offers opportunities for young, innovative companies to collaborate alongside sectoral leaders. Alderley Park’s latest injection of high quality biology and chemistry labs will further facilitate this.”
Philip Cox, chief executive of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “We are continuing to grow and enhance Cheshire and Warrington’s reputation in the life sciences sector and Alderley Park is a key part of our ambitions.
“We recently launched the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura, allowing us to invest in innovative companies in the region. Alongside key developments within Alderley Park’s Mereside life science campus this means that life sciences will continue to flourish in Cheshire and Warrington and the wider region.”
Fairhursts Design Group acted as lead architect on the project and oversaw the bespoke refurbishment of the reception area. Alderley Park’s new biology and chemistry laboratory suites range from 2,5000 sq ft to 11,200k sq ft. Phase one of the project (36,000 sq ft) has now completed, with phase two (50,000 sq ft) due to complete in August 2022.
