New tenants sign at Alderley Park

AstraZeneca has announced the second wave of arrivals to the BioHub at its Alderley Park site in Cheshire who will take up space vacated by the pharmaceutical giant as it relocates to Cambridge.

The six organisations, Gentronix, Cyprotex Discovery, Bionow, OncoTherics, Integral Finance and The Research Network will join the existing tenants at the BioHub, which was set up by AstraZeneca as a collaborative R&D centre in which bioscience businesses can take advantage of Alderley Park's scientific heritage and research facilities.

The six companies will recruit around 40 staff in total. Four of the companies will initially use the campus on a part-time basis. In March, AstraZeneca said it was relocating 1,600 jobs to Camrbidge and keeping 700 non-research posts in Alderley Park.

The growth of the BioHub complements the work of the Alderley Park taskforce to capitalise and build on the existing local bioscience network and expertise, and to support the growth of the life-science business cluster in the North West region. The taskforce, which was established following AstraZeneca's announcement that its R&D facilities will be relocated to Cambridge by 2016, is working to help ensure Alderley Park sustains employment and investment opportunities to support the local economy into the future.

The taskforce, which brings together partners across local government, the University of Manchester and the Local Enterprise Partnership to ensure the discussions are locally-driven and focused on delivery, is currently assessing sustainable business models for the future of Alderley Park, and undertaking activity to encourage new investment, enterprise and employment opportunities into the area.

The Alderley Park BioHub was launched by AstraZeneca in May, with the arrival of RedX Anti-Infectives, Blueberry Therapeutics and Imagen Biotech.

The BioHub is being managed by BioCity, a leading bioscience incubator, on AstraZeneca's behalf. BioCity is acting as the interface between AstraZeneca and the BioHub tenants.

Cheshire East Council leader, Cllr Michael Jones, said: "When David Rutley MP and I met with AstraZeneca in the summer of 2013, we started the hub and we were confident that the offer was going to be unique.

"When AstraZeneca first announced that they were going to close and move to Cambridge, we came together to ensure that 700 jobs were retained through negotiations and we were in a position so that tenants could move in quickly.

"Cheshire East supports AstraZeneca in its move to Cambridge but we are aware that the idea of a unique life science and medical hub was always the right thing for Alderley Park.

"We anticipate that, through the energy of our North Cheshire Life Science Hub Group, that met only last Friday and led by David Rutley MP, AstraZeneca's Chris Doherty, and myself, there will be many more companies joining them and great things will happen at this site.

"This further underlines the fact that Cheshire East is the best place to live and work, and indeed this has been a good year for Cheshire East with the creation of many new jobs in the North, East and South of the borough. Cheshire East is most certainly enjoying an economic recovery and this news cements that position."