Life Science Research & Development Hub Gets Green Light
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Planning permission has been granted for a new life sciences research and development hub in Cambridgeshire.
Life science marketers may soon be helping to sell products developed by Alchemy, a facility being established by Gen Two, a London-based real estate and investment firm.
Plans to develop the 125,000 sq ft facility at Fowlmere were granted unanimously by planners at South Cambridgeshire Council, the Cambridge Independent reports.
The application included the demolition of existing buildings as well as the construction of new ones, and now the application has passed, Gen Two hopes to commence building work early in 2024 and have the facility up and running in 2025, with eight laboratory suites on site ranging from 10,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft.
Co-founder of Gen Two Ariel Levy said: “In the Cambridge life sciences ecosystem there is unquestionably a need for additional fit-for-purpose and adaptable R&D scale-up space, which we are proud to have secured planning consent for.”
His colleague Adrain Sterling outlined the vision for the firm in the sector, stating: “We’ve spent the past few years assembling an experienced team of experts with a vision to build an institutional grade portfolio of life sciences real estate assets in Cambridge, Oxford and Leeds.”
The location of these facilities in key parts of the UK where the life sciences are so prominent means it can be reasonably assumed the new labs will be in use very quickly once they become available.
While the UK is striving to be a superpower in life sciences, it is doing so in a fast-growing global market.
In one of the latest pieces of research on the market, Future Market Insights has projected that the life sciences and medical instruments market is set for compound annual growth of 5.3 per cent over the full period from 2022 to 2032, highlighting how much potential there is for researchers at Fowlmere and elsewhere to tap into.