Johnson welcomes £850m investment into Cambridge lab space

An £850 million investment in lab space in the UK is expected to give the life sciences industry a major boost.

Blackstone portfolio company BioMed Realty has acquired over 40 acres of land in Cambridge and is planning on delivering approximately 800,000 square feet of additional high-quality purpose-built lab space. The real state provider acquired Cambridge International Technology Park (CITP), a 15-acre site on Fulbourn Road, from Abstract, and a 27-acre land plot at Granta Park from The Welding Institute (TWI).

The acquisition will see BioMed double its current life sciences real estate in Cambridge and support the creation of up to 2,700 new jobs.

The UK’s life sciences sector generates an estimated turnover of £80 billion every year and supports 250,000 jobs.

In response to the acquisitions, prime minister Boris Johnson said: “This investment is hugely welcome news for Cambridge and the UK as a whole. The city was home to some of the country’s greatest scientific discoveries and I’m confident that the support of Blackstone’s BioMed Realty will mean there are many more to come.

“The jobs created by this investment are exactly the kind we want to see more of in the UK – high-skilled and future-facing, reflecting what the UK does best.”

Bill Kane, president, East Coast & UK Market at BioMed Realty, said: “State-of-the-art life science facilities are a critical component to the speed at which scientific research is accelerating. BioMed is proud to meet the needs of this truly dynamic industry, helping companies to incubate, scale up and grow. These new developments at CITP and Granta Park will provide much needed life science space for existing and new companies, further advancing Cambridge as a global home for research while supporting the local economy.”

The two new sites by BioMed are intended to help meet the growing demand for space among technology, science and knowledge-based companies to create vaccines, develop new treatments and help respond to major global health challenges.

In Cambridge, there has been little lab space available this year, meaning that start-ups and companies wanting to operate in the region may struggle to do so.

James Seppala, head of Real Estate in Europe at Blackstone, said: “Life sciences remains one of Blackstone’s highest conviction investment themes. Together with BioMed Realty, we are committed to growing this area of investment for the long-term and providing the high-quality space that is needed to bring life-saving products and therapies to market and ensure the UK’s future success as a global leader in vaccine and drug development”.