Liverpool forges ahead with £60m Hemisphere labs

Having secured £13m from the government to deliver the 115,000 sq ft scheme last week, the city council is wasting no time in preparing the project for a start on site.

Liverpool City Council’s culture and economy scrutiny committee will meet next week to progress Hemisphere by signing off the sale of the land to Sciontec on a 150-year lease.

The city council will also draw down £1.5m from the aforementioned funding award to cover pre-development costs.

It is hoped construction of the 115,000 sq ft scheme could begin early next year and complete two years later.

Hemisphere, part of Paddington Village within the city’s Knowledge Quarter, will comprise both offices and lab space.

It was origninally planned as a pure office scheme but the city council pivoted to lab space in line when the area was designated a life sciences investment zone last year.

A planning amendment will be submitted in early summer 2024 to include 80,000 sq ft of laboratories, with the remainder being offices.

Hemisphere would be built on one of four remaining plots within the first phase of Paddington Village where a hotel, a car park, and the Spine office building, have already been delivered. Of the three remaining plots, two are earmarked for more labs and office space, while the other will provide homes.

A city council report sets out how the scheme will come forward.

A special purpose vehicle will be created to deliver the project and, as part of the funding structure, the SPV will need to raise equity, the report states.

The funding raise will be open to all four Sciontec shareholders – Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Liverpool, Liverpool City Council and Bruntwood SciTech.

However “it is anticipated that Bruntwood SciTech will provide the majority of the equity required…[and] Sciontec will secure the senior debt finance from one or more of the institutional funds that specialise in regeneration projects,” according to the report.