Harwell Science and Innovation Campus has secured £300m of financing to help it build out 440,000 sq ft of new laboratory, advanced manufacturing and office space at the campus over the next two years.
The new developments include 220,000 sq ft of advanced manufacturing space at the Tech Foundry and the Linear Accelerator Building, L^B (pictured) – a laboratory building for starting and scaling science organisations.
The finance facility, which has been provided by a consortium comprising Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Axa, was secured by the campus public-private partnership – a joint venture between Brookfield, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
Tim Bestwick, chair of the Harwell Campus joint venture and chief technology officer at UKAEA, said: “This £300m finance facility will allow Harwell to continue to expand and offer exciting science, tech and innovation organisations the high-quality accommodation they need to thrive and grow. We’re delighted with how Harwell Campus has been evolving – based on world-leading science and innovation capabilities and now a major hub for innovation alongside world-leading research. Harwell is a great example of a highly successful public-private partnership, and we look forward to continuing to build this very special place.”
Jim Stretton, CFO and COO at Harwell Campus, added: “The new finance facility will be transformative for the campus. There is a chronic shortage of high calibre lab and R&D space across Oxfordshire which is holding incredible companies back. The new developments this facility will fund will accelerate our ability to effectively support our thriving innovation ecosystem.”
George Freeman MP, minister for science, research and innovation, said: “This major private sector investment in Harwell Campus – one of the UK’s leading clusters of scientists and companies in space and life science – is a sign of how our £20bn per year public R&D is catalysing major co-investment in clusters up and down the country. From Glasgow Satellite City to Teesside Hydrogen. And from Norwich AgriTech to the Solent MarineTech cluster and South Wales Semiconductors.
“A new generation of growth infrastructure funds like Brookfield & Northern Gritstone are now providing major growth capital, helping to accelerate our high growth clusters to drive levelling up and grow our innovation economy.”
The 700-acre Harwell Campus site is home to cutting edge facilities such as the Diamond Light Source Synchrotron, the National Quantum Computing Centre and the Rosalind Franklin Institute.
