Sci-Tech Daresbury seeks £7.5m to deliver Project Violet Phase Two

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will decide whether to provide a cash injection into the scheme, which would allow for the building of 83,000 sq ft of office, lab, and innovation space to start next summer.

Sci-Tech Daresbury is a joint venture between Langtree, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and Halton Council. Its campus off Keckwick Lane is home to more than 150 companies and a £30m Supercomputing Centre.

The £24m Project Violet Phase Two would see the delivery of two buildings: a 60,000 sq ft lab facility and a 23,000 sq ft office block. Planning permission for the phase was secured in December 2023, with the help of Spawforths, Arup, and Seven Architecture. Together, the buildings are expected to create approximately 250 jobs.

The lab building was awarded £9.5m in funding from LCRCA’s innovation zone pot last year. Now, Sci-Tech Daresbury is seeking £7.5m for to enable the delivery of the office part of the project.

The request follows the completion of the £17.8m Project Violet Phase One in 2022. This comprised three buildings totalling 43,000 sq ft. The buildings have now reached full occupancy with tenants that include Blackmagic Design and Geek+.

LCRCA will decide whether to approve the funding after it receives a full business case on the matter – but in the meantime, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram praised Sci-Tech Daresbury for its current success.

“Sci-Tech Daresbury is one of the jewels in our region’s innovation crown,” he said.

“It’s a place where world-leading research and cutting-edge businesses are helping to power our economy and put the Liverpool City Region on the global map for science and technology.

“That’s why we’re continuing to invest to create hundreds of high-quality jobs, attract new businesses and build the kind of thriving, forward-looking economy that gives local people the chance to succeed.”

The combined authority has another funding question to answer as well – whether to back a £900,000 Health and Life Sciences Proof of Concept Fund. This would go towards The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s £1.15m plan to encourage innovation in the tech sector by providing £270,000 a year to up to six consortiums for work on demonstrating concepts, accelerating research, and validating technologies.

Liverpool City Region was selected to hold a £160m life sciences innovation zone by central government. As an innovation zone, qualifying occupiers can receive full business rate relief for five years, exemption from Stamp Duty Land Tax, and relief from employers National Insurance contributions.

You can learn more about LCRCA’s plans for its innovation zone by attending Place North’s Life Sciences Update on 13 November, where programme lead John Willis will be speaking. Buy your ticket.