Manchester Science Partnerships has been awarded an £18.5 million loan for the pioneering Citylabs 2.0 development in the heart of Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor innovation district.
Building on the success of the Citylabs 1.0 biomedical centre of excellence, Citylabs 2.0 is a 92,000 sq ft state of the art laboratory and office facility set to be completed in 2019.
It is being developed for MSP by Bruntwood, its majority shareholder, and is a joint venture partnerships with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, offering easy access to clinical validations and trials.
“At Citylabs 2.0 we are committed to creating a world-leading hub for biomedical innovation and discovery and this funding from Evergreen 2 means we can soon begin construction work on the first stage of our plan to expand the campus in partnership with MFT,” said MSP managing director Tom Renn.
“The success of Citylabs 1.0 has underlined the strong demand from global biomedical and precision medicine companies to locate and grow in Greater Manchester.
“The city region’s £6 billion devolved healthcare budget, its world class universities, skilled talent pool and strong track record of academic, clinical and commercial partnerships has made us a gateway for healthcare entrepreneurs, which we are looking to support with this development.
“MSP provides so much more than inspiring workspaces; our long-standing partnerships in the city and our strong networks with academia and the NHS exist to ensure that our customers succeed. We are grateful for the support of our funding partners in moving Citylabs to the next phase.”
The development, alongside Citylabs 3.0, has high strategic importance to Greater Manchester and the wider North West and is part of a £60 million further expansion on Europe’s largest clinical-academic campus providing access to clinicians and patients.
It offers state-of the-art laboratory workspace for health and medical technology businesses, focusing on creating a UK hub for the rapid development innovations in predictive and preventative medicine.
The location of Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0 will enable health and medical technology companies to develop and co-create new therapeutic and diagnostic health products in collaboration with the NHS and academic research facilities.
The funding includes £12.5m from Evergreen 2, the first loan facility to be made from the new £45m fund which is supported by the 2014-20 European Regional Development Fund programme.
The balance was provided by the original North West Evergreen Fund, and will be used to finance the construction costs, professional fees and expenses of Citylabs 2.0.
The deal was announced during a presentation on the evolution of the Citylabs campus at the Manchester pavilion at MIPIM, the international real estate event in Cannes, France.