Redevelopment to help accelerate next generation of medical breakthroughs

A senior NHS leader said redevelopment of Leeds’s historic Old Medical School into a Health Tech Innovation Hub will create a “world class” facility in a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for Leeds and the wider region.

Professor Phil Wood, chief executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the project would cement Leeds as a leading centre for researchers, businesses and clinicians to devise the next generation of medical breakthroughs.

The Old Medical School, which was completed in 1894, will be transformed as part of the Leeds Innovation Village project.

From left, Deb Hetherington, trust chair Dame Linda Pollard and Professor Phil Wood

The 75,000 sq ft Grade II*-listed building will be designed to support health tech innovation activity at the trust, building on the success of the Innovation Pop-Up.

It will bring together start-ups, established industry players, academic institutions, and community organisations under one roof.

The facility will include co-working spaces, meeting rooms, event areas, offices and laboratories, serving as a catalyst for collaboration to advance scientific research into practical healthcare solutions, driving economic growth and improving patient care.

The Innovation Village is a key neighbourhood within the city’s £2bn Leeds Innovation Arc and one of the flagship projects of the £160m West Yorkshire Investment Zone.

Despite delays to the new hospital development, plans for the Innovation Village will proceed with construction on the Old Medical School expected to start later this year.

The project is projected to generate £13bn in economic growth and create around 4,000 jobs. Redevelopment of the Old Medical School represents the first phase of the initiative.

Professor Wood, speaking at an event hosted at the Old Medical School during the West Yorkshire Innovation Festival, added work carried out at the hub once it becomes operational would help shape the design and functionality of future healthcare facilities at the planned new hospital at Leeds General Infirmary.

Deb Hetherington, director of Innovation Ecosystems at developer Scarborough Group International (SGI), said: “Scarborough Group absolutely understands that the bricks and mortar are by no means the most important element to creating high-performance innovation ecosystems.

“We will build world-class facilities here – dry labs, wet labs, offices, incubator space, collaboration space and beyond. We’ll also design spaces where innovative businesses will come together around the water cooler.

“Modern innovation is about open innovation rather than the old model of isolated science parks with big walls hiding secrets.”

Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, highlighted the hub as one of the flagship projects in the West Yorkshire Investment Zone that will “highly benefit the West Yorkshire region”.

She emphasised innovation is essential for regional growth, saying: “If growth is the exam question, then innovation surely is the answer, because you can’t keep doing what you’ve already done if you want to grow the economy.”