New Partnership Creates UK’s Largest Science & Technology Property Platform

Bruntwood and Legal & General Capital have established a partnership to create the UK’s largest property platform dedicated to driving science and technology growth in regional cities.   The deal will see the two partners invest £360m ($472m) of capital, property and intellectual assets into a new company, Bruntwood SciTech, with a business plan supporting the creation of over 20,000 high value jobs.    The deal represents the largest investment made in science and technology property assets in Europe this year.    Bruntwood SciTech’s portfolio is already home to more than 500 science and technology businesses, ranging from digital start-ups to global life sciences companies. It is centred around flagship assets and development projects in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, and includes the internationally-recognised life science campus in Cheshire, Alderley Park.    The major life science asset within the portfolio, Alderley Park, is already the subject of a £160m ($210m) development vision. It is now home to 65 SMEs and 150 start-ups and is further focussed on forming, growing and scaling life science sector businesses.    Alderley Park has two venture funds on site, one of which, the £42m Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Science Fund has already invested in 25 businesses across pharmaceuticals, biotech, diagnostics, CROs and medical devices. It also serves as the headquarters of the Medicines Discovery Catapult, which is focussed on bringing new proven therapies to patients faster and more cost-effectively, and the AMR Centre, a leader in the UK’s response to the global health crisis posed by antibiotic resistance.     Bruntwood SciTech will also develop and be home to a new precision medicine campus within Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor Enterprise Zone. Leveraging its position on Europe’s largest clinical-academic campus the £60m expansion of Citylabs will be the heart of the new cluster and occupied by global diagnostics company QIAGEN. The expanded campus will also complement the pioneering work by industry and the NHS in Greater Manchester  to integrate electronic health data with genomic technology.   The new business will be chaired by Bruntwood Chief Executive Chris Oglesby. He commented: “Life science is central to the UK government’s Industrial Strategy - the first to get a sector deal and one with a track record of innovation that marks it out as world class. Life science already contributes more than £10.8 billion ($14 billion) a year to the UK economy... Bruntwood SciTech will be front and centre when it comes to pushing the sector forward”.  

Alderley Park, Cheshire, UK.