Life Sciences Real Estate #11

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GERMANY - GRÄFELING

Work continues at Aventin Real Estate's new Life Science Center, a research and development building with 9,200 sq m (99,000 sq ft) of above-ground floor space. By mid-2024, the companies Crelux and HP Health Solutions Germany will relocate there, moving from the Innovation Center Biotechnology in Martinsried which is about three kilometres (two miles) away. Crelux and its sister company from the USA leased the top four floors of the new building while the ground and the first upper floor were rented to HP Health Solutions. The research building is being built on the approximately 4,200 sq m (45,200 sq ft) site to a design by GSP Architects. The community of Gräfelfing, located southwest of Munich, and its neighbouring community Planegg-Martinsried, have become a significant life science cluster.

GERMANY - NONNENWALD

Last year the biotech company Roche announced plans to build a new diagnostic production centre in Penzberg, referred to as BCMP. With permissions now in place, the €600 million (£516 million) construction can start in the summer of this year. According to Roche, the new production center for the diagnostics division is to be up to 35 metres (115 feet) high. The building will have two basements, five full floors, and a technology center on the roof. The total gross floor area will be about 23,000 sq m (247,000 sq ft). The centre is scheduled to be completed and operational by the end of 2027.

IRELAND - CORK

University College Cork and the Tyndall Institute have been granted planning permission to redevelop the Distillery Fields site at Cork’s North Mall into a new purpose-built research facility. The proposed development will ultimately cater for 250 postgraduate students and 750 staff. The university said the planned research centre would allow Tyndall to rapidly transition from research into prototyping and manufacturing of various technologies. The buildings will range in height from four to six storeys and will include laboratories, offices, catering and stores.

IRELAND - DUBLIN

A new €100 million (£86 million) “medicine accelerator” campus is planned for Cherrywood in south Dublin. The campus, extending to 130,000 sq ft (12,100 sq m), is home to pharma research and development business APC and its sister manufacturing firm VLE Therapeutics. It is described as the largest research and development site in the country. APC and VLE work with pharma and biotech businesses to develop and manufacture medicines and bring them to market.

PORTUGAL - PORTO

Danish medical device company Coloplast will invest in a new manufacturing site in Portugal. The planned 30,000 sq m (323,000 sq ft) manufacturing site will cost €100 million (£86 million) and is due to become operational in 2026. The site will be located in Felgueiras, approximately 50 kilometres (32 miles) northeast of Porto. See today's article on Portugal for more details.

UK - CAMBRIDGE

British biotech company Constructive Bio is relocating to Gen Two’s Recodery development in Whittlesford, Cambridge. The firm will move from its existing 2,000 sq ft (186 sq m) workspace into an 11,000 sq ft (1,022 sq m) new-build lab facility. It has signed a 10-year lease, with a five-year break, at a rent of £45 per sq ft pa (€47 psm per mth).

UK - LONDON

ISG the construction engineers have secured the first major phase of plans to redevelop London’s Regent Quarter near King’s Cross into a life sciences-led campus. Phase one will see Jahn Court switch from commercial office to laboratory grade space. Work is getting underway on the first phase of the refurbishment and redevelopment plans which is estimated to be worth around £70m (€81 million). This first phase is due to be completed in Q4 2025 paving the way for future works to start on the seven-phase, 10-year masterplan for the estate. The scheme is owned by the Nan Fung Group and managed by Nan Fung Life Sciences Real Estate, Endurance Land, and The Mills Fabrica.

UK - OXFORD

Harwell Science and Innovation Campus has announced the next phase of R&D Buildings – the Tech Foundry Scheme. The first phase of the scheme is under construction and will deliver over 76,000 sq ft (7,061 sq m) shell accommodation across two buildings, and over 150,000 sq ft (13,967 sq m) when fully fitted to CAT A. The units are designed with flexibility in mind to allow for bespoke fit out of laboratories, clean rooms, engineering workshop and offices.

UK - OXFORD

Mission Street and BGO have obtained permission from Oxford City Council for the next phase of their life sciences scheme in central Oxford. To be called Fabrica, the project aims to provide 180,000 sq ft (16,700 sq m) of laboratory, office and collaboration space in the west end of the city. Designed by architecture firm NBBJ, the commercial sciences scheme comprises five floors of fully flexible wet laboratories and offices.