Approval set for £160m Liverpool investment zone projects
A Sci-Tech Daresbury expansion and a new robotics-focussed lab at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine make up part of the first wave of life science programmes seeking funding.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is set to approve Friday the spending of £26.5m of investment zone cash. The money would then be distributed among seven different projects geared towards promoting life sciences in the region – whether that’s through constructing new facilities, supporting existing businesses, or training up future talent.
The investment zone, a government initiative, benefits from £160m over the course of 10 years. Liverpool’s investment zone is focussed on life sciences.
Most of the £26.5m being requested comes from the Liverpool School of Tropic Medicine, which is seeking £10m, and Sci-Tech Daresbury, which wants £9.5m.
The Sci-Tech Daresbury application focusses on using the cash to support the building of £83,000 sq ft of labs and offices at the Halton science and innovation campus’s Violet development. The £9.5m requested is just part of the £24m needed for the scheme, which was approved in December.
This second phase of Violet comprises two buildings: V4 and V5. V4 is set to provide 23,000 sq ft of dedicated office space for companies working in healthcare, tech, sustainability, and advanced engineering. V5 will be a 60,000 sq ft lab building.
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine-led Infection Innovation Consortium is behind the £10m request for investment zone funds.
This would be used to construct a secure laboratory with robotics and AI software equipped, capable of handling dangerous pathogens. The group already has £10m from the Wolfson Foundation and RED/UKRI for the £21m scheme.
The other five projects include a health tech business incubator, a microbiome and infectious disease innovation hub, an embedded skills development programme, a future innovators scheme, and enhanced manufacturing facilities for pharmaceutical company TriRX.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram spoke about how he sees the life science projects fitting in with the region’s wider economy.
“I truly believe that innovation will be the fuel that powers our economy forward and by establishing ourselves as a hotbed of innovation and new technology, we will be ready to attract many more highly skilled, well-paid jobs, businesses, and opportunities from around the world,” Rotheram said.
He also said: “We are already home to world-leading clusters in life sciences, gaming, advanced computing, and infectious disease control – but I am never content with resting on our laurels.
“That is why we will invest 5% of local GVA in R&D by the end of the decade, nearly double the national target.”
The investment zone in Liverpool is expected to bring in £800m of investment, creating 8,000 jobs – according to the combined authority.
Great news for Daresbury and LSTM which means more activity in the London Rd area, where we also have major hospitals, a University, and hundreds of student flats. Isn`t it time the Mayor announced some substantial transport improvements around there. A bit of vision could see an initial tram network from The Spine building at Mount Vernon , down past the hospitals and the LSTM. along London Road and could terminate initially by the Steble Fountain which would be convenient for Lime Street Station. He keeps going
on about World Class this and that but its blindingly obvious the transport is 2nd class.
By Anonymous
Typical Rotherham rhetoric, bleeting on about local cluster success, while saying looking to the world, blah, blah… When will promoting, supporting and encouraging from our already fantastic local communities be the concentrated effort of the hundreds of millions for posterity? How can a microcosm thrive when it’s leadership, pulling the purse strings, is hell bent on macrocosm type bleeting?
By Yuri
I thought all Lpools money was going on a Primark version of HS2 for Manchester.
Nice to see a few quid over.
By Sid