Work has started on the first wholly speculative development of new multi-let laboratory and office space at Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the UK, which is specifically targeting a range of growing biotech and life science businesses.
The new building will form part of the campus’ growing ecosystem of clinical, academic, and commercial excellence and will provide a range of laboratory and office space.
Cambridge Biomedical Centre is co-located with the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and is home to hospitals such as Addenbrookes and Royal Papworth as well as facilities for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
Prospective tenants will be based with the nation’s leading scientific minds in reach, as the campus also includes other leaders in healthcare innovation and discovery such as the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, colloquially known as the “Nobel Prize factory”, Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Institute and the corporate and research headquarters for AstraZeneca and Abcam.
The development is being overseen by real estate group Prologis, which has recently committed £1.65 million to support public arts and community activities at Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Prologis says that a high level of interest in the site means that it has already begun the design for multiple follow-on buildings for both speculative and pre-let development.
Andrew Blevins, Head of Life Sciences at Prologis UK, said: “Opportunities to lease life sciences property of this calibre that allows established and up and coming research-led businesses to, quite literally, brush shoulders with big pharma, leading academics, research scientists and experts in clinical medicine, is unprecedented in this country. We already have a strong pipeline of customer interest and are expecting more to come.”
Kristin-Anne Rutter, Executive Director of Cambridge University Health Partners added: “In Cambridge, our mission is simple – to improve lives by bringing together the academic and foundational institutions, the NHS and industry to improve health through breakthrough discoveries that are rapidly tested and scaled to deliver benefit to the world. To facilitate this we need to create the spaces where people can serendipitously meet and purposively come together to collaborate to develop ideas particularly around the prevention and early diagnosis of diseases and how we tackle global health inequality. 1000 Discovery Drive will be an important part of this process on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It will offer future tenants not just the best facilities but encourage people to talk, listen and work together in a place which is already home to over 20,000 people dedicated to making a difference.”
