Plans submitted for life sciences centre

A consortium of universities and hospitals in Liverpool has submitted plans for the first phase of a 2m sq ft life sciences park.

The 70,000 sq ft Liverpool BioInnovation Centre will be the first building within the proposed BioCampus, aimed, the partners said, at "placing Liverpool alongside Boston and Singapore as a leading international centre for the life sciences."

The plans have been devised by Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The project has the backing of Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision and The Mersey Partnership.

Liverpool BioInnovation Centre will contain laboratory space where treatments and technologies can be tested and developed for the commercial market.

The Innovation Centre was designed by architects Nightingale Associates. Master-planning consultants for the Bio Campus and new Royal campus are Taylor Young.

Tony Bell, chief executive of Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Tony Bell explained: "This is an exciting and significant moment as the BioInnovation Centre is the catalyst that will enable us to realise the wider vision for the BIoCampus. The key to successful knowledge economies is being able to connect academic and specialist research assets to emerging technologies that have major market potential, which is the Silicon Valley model and it's something that the BioCampus has been designed to emulate.

"The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital will provide the opportunity to fully develop the BioCampus and the development will provide the ability to carry out research in clinical environments. This development can define what Liverpool's future economy is about and is key to regeneration."

There is an application pending approval for funding towards the centre from the European Regional Development Fund.

Subject to funding and planning approvals, work could start this year and be completed in early 2014.

The contractors to build the new campus for the Royal Liverpool University Hospital have yet to be announced. The hospital is expected to take 12 years to build.

The two shortlisted consortia are:

  • Horizon – a consortium of FCC, John Laing Investments and Interserve Investments with Sheppard Robson, John Cooper Architecture, and Spanish practices Aidhos Architects and Lamela Architects as architectural advisors
  • Carillion – architects NBBJ and HKS, with Uberior Infrastructure Investments, part of the Lloyds Banking Group

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Some quite ludicrous levels of hyperbole here. Many other places pitch themselves as a centre for bioscience industries but with much better existing infrastructure and private sector activity in this area than Liverpool.

By Band waggon

This is fantastic news, I am delighted this is happening in Liverpool. Hopefully Liverpool will one day be the centre for Biosciences

By Michael

For example Band waggon? It’s a growth area, so lots of places are gunning for it, same with renewables, but Liverpool does have a significant public and private base in this area: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novaritis, Unilever, National Blood Service, Eden, Vitaflo, Nutrcia, Baxter, Medimmune, Red-X etc etc.

By KT

KT – you rather confirm my point in that much of the presence of the biotechnology sector in Greater Merseyside is geared towards the lower value-added end such as biomanufacturing, thanks to a long standing, favourable grant regime and large scale public sector investments such as the National Biomanufactuing Centre. Not saying applied and basic research doesn’t take place but overall it is much the smaller component of the firms’ activities. Can’t blame public agencies for seeking to promote development higher up the value chain but name checking Boston and Singapore is a bit silly really, especially when so many other places in the UK are chasing the same industries and offer an already much better developed infrastructure and commercial environment than Greater Merseyside. What we are in danger of doing is merely shifting jobs around the region and the country at great expense to the public purse.

By Band waggon

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