Bruntwood progresses £150m Citylabs campus
Bruntwood is targeting a 2017 start on site for the first phase of a £60m extension of its Citylabs concept at the Old St Mary’s Hospital on Oxford Road.
The development of Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0 will total 205,000 sq ft, and forms the first project under a strategic property partnership with Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, announced earlier this year at MIPIM.
Designed by architect Sheppard Robson, Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0 will provide high-spec office, laboratory and collaboration space on the CMFT campus on Corridor Manchester.
The development, a joint venture between Manchester Science Partnerships of which Bruntwood is the majority shareholder, and CMFT, will take the total developed on the site to 300,000 sq ft following the construction of the 95,000 sq ft Citylabs 1.0, which was fully let shortly after opening in 2014. Citylabs 1.0 was a refurbishment and extension of the former Royal Eye Hospital.
Once complete, the three-part Citylabs complex will have a development value of £150m.
The buildings will be targeted at health and medical technology companies, specifically those working in digital health, medical devices, diagnostics, precision medicines and biomaterials.
Bruntwood is working up a detailed planning application, and planning approval is expected by the end of the year.
The £25m Citylabs 2.0 will be made up of 90,000 sq ft of lab and office space and subject to planning permission being granted, construction work will begin in spring 2017, with completion expected in summer 2018.
At 112,000 sq ft, Citylabs 3.0 will include both the development of new buildings totalling 89,000 sq ft and integration with Old St Mary’s Hospital, which is a listed Victorian building, totalling 24,000 sq ft. Construction is planned to start in summer 2018 and is due to be completed in 2020.
The £35m project includes the restoration of a currently unused former chapel on the site, which is earmarked for a café and dining area with the potential for meeting room facilities, as well as external landscaping and the provision of new gardens.
Anticipated rents per sq ft for Citylabs 2.0 is £25.50 and for Citylabs 3.0 £27.50.
Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood and chairman of Manchester Science Partnerhips, said: “Our investment in Citylabs 1.0 has been a huge success and we are confident that Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0 will be similarly well received by businesses centred in bio-medical research and innovation.
“Manchester’s excellent connectivity, universities and talent pool, combined with its spirit of enterprise means the city is well placed to thrive in the coming years and we are determined to be at the heart of this journey.”
