Science and Innovation Clusters Development Conference

Oxford Properties – Pierre-Etienne Accarier, Associate Director of Real Estate

Oxford Properties are a leading global real estate investor, asset manager and builder of businesses and teams. The build, buy and grow defined real estate operating businesses and manage over £64bn of assets across four continents. They entered the UK science property market in 2021 with a £45m acquisition at Cambridge Science Park and are working with Reef Group to deliver the £350 million Snowsfield Quarter science hub in London SE1. In total they are planning to deploy £1.2bn in the science sector across Europe over the next 5 years.

Harwell Campus and Innovation Clusters, UKRI-Science and Technology Facilities Council – Dr Barbara Ghinelli, Director

Barbara is responsible for the development of the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at UKRI- STFC. The campus is undergoing a major, multi-year expansion with 1.5m sq ft of commercial space, thousands of new homes a hotel and amenities set to be added by 2027. The next stage of the project – the 21,000 sq ft Zeta, a ‘mid-tech’ building which will allow further growth of the region’s energy, space, health and quantum computing companies. Barbara has established the cluster model deployed at both STFC’s Harwell and Daresbury Science & Innovation Campuses and oversees their development. She has led the creation of six thriving innovation clusters in Space, HealthTec, EnergyTec, Digital and a new in Quantum, across the two sites. These now include over 300 organisations collocated on the campuses.

MEPC Milton Park – Philip Campbell, Commercial Director

MEPC will be delivering a 2040 vision to evolve their site at Milton Park into a science cluster across 17 phases and Philip joins the event to delve into how their programme factors into wider placemaking objectives across the OxCam Arc as well as detailing future partnership opportunities for our delegates.

Harwell Science and Innovation Campus – David Williams, Commercial Director

The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is undergoing a significant expansion, with aims to make room for thousands more to join their innovation community through the development of cutting edge workspace, new labs and world-leading facilities. The campus are planning to add 1.5m sq ft of commercial space, new homes, hotel and amenities by 2027, as the next step of their wider 5m sq ft campus Masterplan.

Norwich Research Park – Roz Bird, Chief Executive, Anglia Innovation Partnership

Norwich Research Park is one of the largest single-site concentrations of research in food, genomics and health in Europe, bringing together four independent internationally-renowned research institutes: John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory. They have recently announced ambitious plans to develop 900,000 sq ft on land to house up to 300 companies over the next 15 years.

University of Warwick Science Park – Mark Tock, Chief Operating Officer

As one of the oldest science parks in the UK, the University of Warwick Science Park has provided a well-equipped environment for research and technology since 1982. The park was established by the University of Warwick, Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council and the West Midlands Enterprise Board and is now wholly owned by the University. Today the park operated across three sites, supporting hundreds of businesses. The park is looking to expand in the coming years and Mark joins us to share some intel into UWSP’s next chapter.

SC1 – Georgina Rizik, Executive Director

Founded by King’s Health Partners, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, and Lambeth and Southwark Councils, SC1 is a  new life science district in south central London which aims to transform healthcare, accelerate innovation, and tackle big problems in order to make a healthier future a reality. The £350m project will create significant new spaces for health and life sciences, increase employment opportunities, support new innovative business, develop cultural programmes, and build a world recognised home for life sciences innovation.

BioMed Realty – Orestis Tzortzoglou, Vice President, Development UK

Discovery Park – Jane Kennedy, Chief Business Officer

Discovery Park’s aim is to become a world leading science park over the next five years, driving improvements in healthcare through innovation and collaboration. The park was awarded the prestigious, Life Science Opportunity zone, by the UK Office for Life Sciences and attracted 53 new businesses over 2021. With a strong pipeline of enquiries, the park is looking to expand in the near future, and is in the process of preparing a strategy to maximise its growth. GrowUp Farms, one of the park’s occupiers, has recently secured a £100m green infrastructure investment from Generate Capital to fund the creation of a new vertical farm within Discovery Park.

UK Science Park Association – James Chaffer, Chief Executive

The UK Science Park Association (UKSPA) promotes, represents and supports a diverse network of members that includes science parks, research campuses, city-based innovation districts, technology and innovation centres across the UK. USKPA’s membership of managers, developers, investors and owner share the goal of creating growing and effective Innovation sector with the right facilities, infrastructure, services and business growth activities. James was appointed as Chief Executive of UKSPA in January 2022. Prior to this he served as Operations Director, at UNIP where he was responsible for 100,000 sq ft of office space for SMEs, technology start-ups and spin-outs.

Knowledge Quarter Liverpool – Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer

Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool) is a 450-acre innovation district which spans more than half of Liverpool City Centre. It is home to an array of world-leading assets including the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Liverpool Health Campus, Hope Street cultural hub and the new £1bn Paddington Village development which includes iconic new-build, The Spine. Paddington Village will soon be home to HEMISPHERE, which will be the LCR’s first operational net zero carbon office building. The KQ Liverpool board is brought together by a number of world-leading partners who through collaboration have helped shape the innovation district to its current position. The KQ Liverpool board brings together the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Bruntwood SciTech. Colin joins us to share insight into KQ Liverpool’s vision for the coming years.

Unity Campus – Jeanette Walker, Interim Director

Unity Campus is an exciting 260,000 sq ft urban innovation district in the heart of the Cambridgeshire countryside where global talent innovate, collaborate and exchange research. The campus was formerly an industrial estate that is currently undergoing a 5-phase transformation. Having completed their 63,000 sq ft The Works development in 2020, the park has now entered Phase 2 of its development. Phase 2 will see the delivery of 95,000 sq ft of lab-enabled space across three buildings, in response to market demand for agile, flexible science space. Jeanette joins us to share insight into phase 2 and the wider campus masterplan.

Peterborough Science and Technology Park – Stephen Rice, Director

The Whittlesey Science and Technology Park is a proposed science park on a former brickworks near Whittlesey, to the East of Peterborough. The site covers 170 acres with the park set to cover 40 acres with a further 84 acres dedicated to biodiversity enhancement and parkland. The site is envisaged as a hub for sustainable science and technology businesses and has the potential to create more than 1,000 jobs. Infrastructure works are expected to start in late 2023 ready to welcome the first tenants on site in 2024. Stephen will outline the plans for the park and how they are looking for prospective tenants to help shape their vision.

Barts Life Sciences – Grant Bourhill, Chief Executive

Barts Life Sciences is a joint venture between Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London which have come together to help accelerate the latest healthcare innovations from bench to bedside. Their vision is to deliver a new life science campus totalling up to 2 million sq ft that will provide a space for researchers, scientists and clinicians to work directly alongside businesses and entrepreneurs, creating the healthcare solutions of tomorrow. The new development will create up to 11,500 full-time jobs and will be a powerful incentive for attracting new start-ups and other innovative and dynamic enterprises. Revenue will be reinvested back into local healthcare, securing clinical and financial sustainability.

Exeter Science Park – Sally Basker, Chief Executive Officer

Exeter Science Park was developed to stimulate a knowledge-based economy in the South West, delivering skilled jobs, high productivity and economic growth. The science park has recently completed the development of a £5m net zero centre, supporting over 100 jobs. A £20m, 140-room zero carbon hotel is also underway at the science park. The project will also include landscaping, the integration of renewable energy, and the addition of 25 solar-powered electric vehicle charging points.

Mission Street – Artem Korolev, Managing Director

Mission Street are a specialist investor, operator and developer focused on the delivery of creative solutions for the Science and Innovation sector. They have a rapidly growing development portfolio, with in excess of 1,000,000 sq ft of committed projects in strategic locations within Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol. They recently announced a £100m innovation and R&D facility in Oxford which aims to ‘put science on show’ and integrate in to wider placemaking projects.

Plymouth Science Park – Ian McFadzen, Chief Executive Officer

Plymouth Science Park is now extending its influence and reach beyond its current 25 acre estate, to help drive innovation, stimulate knowledge transfer and align key sectors to innovate and collaborate. The City has recently been awarded Freeport status, a potential game changer for inward investment. Key stakeholders are pulling together to create and deliver a strategy that can maximise the combined potential of its freeport, science park, proposed marine innovation centre, support its defence supply chain, and grow its manufacturing base.  The freeport will stimulate a £60m capital works programmed across the science park’s 3 sites, bidding for £10m Levelling Up Funding for the £30m South Yard Innovation Centre, mobilising the innovation and skills services and activating the inward investment activity. There’s potentially more than £1 billion of investment scheduled to take place in Plymouth’s ports planned over the next 25 years – from MOD submarines refits, the continued development of Oceansgate, their designation as a Freeport.

Hethel Innovation – Alice Reeve, Chief Executive

Alice Reeve is CEO at Hethel Innovation. She is responsible for the strategic direction of the company, identifying new growth opportunities for the business as well as overseeing the operation of sites within Hethel Innovation’s community: Hethel Engineering Centre, Scottow Enterprise Park, and Broadland Food Innovation Centre. Alice has extensive knowledge in the set up and delivery of successful Innovation Sites, and was until recently, a Co-opted Director of UK Science Park Association (UKSPA). In this session, Alice will discuss the exciting growth taking place across the Hethel Innovation community from new incubators and the 100,000 sq ft expansion of existing centres to refurbishment of heritage assets.

Biorenewables Development Centre – Joe Ross, Director

The Biorenewable Development Company is an open-access R&D biorefinery centre, and a subsidiary of the University of York. Northstar, Simpson and the BDC is proposing the development of a 300,000 sq ft bio business park just off the A64. The masterplan could feature innovative sustainable technology, a nature reserve and an electric charging hub. Works will also include the improvement of surrounding infrastructure to serve new and existing businesses.

3PM – James Buckley-Walker, Partner

Bidwells – Emily Slupek, Partner

Emily Slupek is a Partner at Bidwells, working in the Building Consultancy team, with a focus on the science and tech research sector. Currently, she is working with Harwell Campus to deliver their first life sciences building at its Innovation Quarter. Prior to joining Bidwells, Emily spearheaded Buro Four’s Science & Technology division, helping clients to deliver complex projects. Emily was project lead on two schemes at Cambridge BioMedical Campus, as well as project director for the construction of two new laboratory buildings at Begbroke Science Park in Oxford. She also has experience in leading repurposing projects, as well as working with developers and funders to deliver large commercial offices and mixed-use developments. With significant experience across science and tech development, Emily is a recognised figure within the innovation sector, regularly moderating panels and chairing round table discussions to explore future trends within the sector.

Gleeds – Chair: Galvin Tarling, Global Head of Life Sciences

Having worked with global powerhouses such as BioMed Realty, Illumina, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline, Gleeds are one of the leading names globally when it comes to a partner to deliver on science and innovation development projects.

Galvin will be joining the panel as our expert chair – to navigate the conversation around this versatile, competitive and ever-growing market as he is joined by some of the UK’s leading developers and investors within this sector

Arup – Tim Fry, Project Director, Business Leader

Arup is a global collective of designers, advisors and experts dedicated to sustainable development, and to using imagination, technology and rigour to shape a better world. Arup projects range from major science campus facilities, to specialist laboratories, clean rooms and facility upgrades. We continue to develop and design leading science facilities throughout the world.

Built Environment Networking – Amanda Griffiths, Director

Amanda is one of the Co-Founder’s of Built Environment Networking – formed almost 10 years ago.

She’ll be hosting throughout the day, running the days proceedings and managing the interaction between our delegates and the speakers.

Mace Group – Chair: Paul Sharp, Director – Research, Life Sciences & Health

Mace is an international consultancy and construction company, experts in shaping the built environment and helping lead the way to a more connected, resilient and sustainable world. We have delivered new build construction, refurbishment and fit-out of laboratories and science spaces for science and innovation campuses across the UK, aligning the needs of park management, developers and users. Projects include AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre (DISC) on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Rosalind Franklin Institute at Harwell Science Park, Bioscience Catalyst development in Stevenage for GSK, plus multiple schemes for UCL (University College London) and the University of Oxford/Begbroke Science Park.

Buro Four – David Boles, Director

More information to follow.