Work starts on Liverpool Science Park labs

WORK is set to start on a project to install 5,000 sq ft of high-tech labs at Liverpool Science Park this week after a planning application to extend the park was given the go-ahead.

The laboratories will be built within the new ic2 building at Brownlow Hill, which is close to the University of Liverpool and its established MerseyBIO incubator, which is currently operating at capacity.

Liverpool Science Park, which is a joint venture between the university, the city Council and Liverpool John Moores University, said that the new laboratory space will comprise five 1,000 sq ft labs custom-built to mirror MerseyBIO’s offering.

Liverpool Science Park CEO Chris Musson said: “These laboratories enable us to diversity our offer and support the full range of organisations that make up Liverpool’s commercial knowledge economy.

The project will cost £660,000 to complete and the laboratories are expected to open in Spring 2011.

“We are meeting the market demand for bespoke purpose-built laboratory space and sending a clear message to the life sciences sector that Liverpool is open for business. We are delighted that, in these difficult financial times, our partners are backing our commercial judgment, taking Liverpool Science Park another step closer to becoming self-sustainable.”

The firm said that life sciences is a major contributor to the city’s economy, employing more than 4,000 people and generating turnover of around £250m a year.

Professor Michael Brown CBE, vice chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University and chairman of Liverpool Science Park, said: “Liverpool excels in the field of life sciences and these new laboratories will provide the perfect environment for this sector to continue to flourish.”

The new labs support longer-term proposals to create a third building at site. In October, Liverpool Science Park received detailed planning approval for innovation centre 3 (ic3), which will increase the size of the park’s facilities by 42,000 sq ft.