LIVERPOOL Science Park

LIVERPOOL Science Park could double in size if a planning application submitted yesterday is approved.

Neptune Developments, the property firm behind the scheme, hopes to win approval for the second phase of the project, which has so far attracted companies ranging from computer animators to drug developers.

The science park is a joint venture between Liverpool University, Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool City Council and is next door to Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

Neptune has requested permission to build a 38,750 sq ft office building and hopes to be on site by June next year.

Dr Sarah Tasker, chief executive of Liverpool Science Park, which is financially supported by the Northwest Development Agency and European Regional Development Objective One funding, said the project had proved a genuine success in the 11 months since it was opened.

"We're outperforming all our targets. Liverpool is one of the last regional cities in the UK to have its own science park and there was doubt about how successful it would be," she said.

"We opened in January 2006 and we needed five companies a year but we have over 20 companies so far.

"We're very strict about who we allow to base themselves here - we will only take knowledge-based companies."

The first phase, 1A, is a £9.4m, purpose-built incubator centre, which is specifically designed for small and medium-sized companies. The second phase, 1B, will enable existing ventures housed in the current phase to expand and will also provide space for new companies.

Dr Tasker said: "The companies we attract grow very rapidly and we need somewhere to put them.

"Part of the reason that companies come to us is to manage their growth. Hopefully some companies can move across and we can also attract companies from outside."

Around 50% of the existing companies in the science park come from outside Liverpool.

"We're hoping to have a further phase situated on Edge Lane," said Dr Tasker. "We want to secure private investment and we're demonstrating to investors that there is viability in this market, in Liverpool."

sophiefreeman@dailypost.co.uk

THE next step in Liverpool’s £20m Science Park will go before city planners on Tuesday. more

WEB development firm Mando Group is moving to the new Liverpool Science Park development.

The firm, created 10 years ago by former Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) students Matt Johnson and Ian Finch, employs 30 full-time staff and services a wide range of clients including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Health and Safety Executive, Liverpool Culture Company, Hill Dickinson and computer games giant Capcom.

The move from its current home in Wavertree Technology Park, reaffirms the founders’ connections with their former university. LJMU is a joint venture partner in the Science Park project. continues....

http://www.liverpoolsciencepark.co.u...s/lsp-logo.gif

innovation centre now open

Situated in the heart of the City Centre and close to both Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Liverpool, the Liverpool Science Park Innovation Centre (LSPIC) offers innovation-led businesses unrivalled facilities in a central location.

With access to the expertise of world-class research institutions on its doorstep, the LSPIC is perfect location for young research-based companies with intellectual property in the science, engineering, biotechnology and IT sectors.

www.liverpoolsciencepark.co.uk

Thanks Howie :PDT11

WORK started on the £8m second phase of Liverpool Science Park the day the first part was officially opened.

Business and civic leaders met at Innovation Centre next to the city’s Metropolitan Cathedral to see work get under way on the new 40,000 sq ft building.

Since opening in January, 2006 Liverpool Science Park has become the fastest grow-ing park of it’s type in the UK.

Innovation Centre I has seen 30 young companies move in to the building which enjoys close links with the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores Uni-versity. It also has specialist business support provided by Business Liverpool.

It will include 10,000 sq ft of laboratory space and enable existing businesses housed at LSP to expand, while provid-ing space for start-up firms.

It is estimated that, with the delivery of further phases, the park could support as many as 7,000 local jobs within the next ten years.

It should help the city meet the target of creating 74,000 jobs by 2017 to bring the total number to 300,000 as reported in the Daily Post on Saturday.

Innovation Centre II will offer specialist accommo-dation and services for young businesses with new ideas and intellectual property in the fields of science and technology.

Last night council leader Councillor Warren Bradley said: “The big challenge for Liverpool is to sustain recent growth and create a success-ful, dynamic and prosperous economy with public and private interests at the core of this drive for improvement.

“This new phase for Liverpool Science Park helps to meet that challenge”
Professor Michael Brown, Vice-Chancellor of LJMU and chair of LSP, said: “New ideas that create new economic activity are required to secure the future of Liverpool.”

Neptune Developments will construct the new building, which is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

davidbartlett@dailypost.co.uk

The Science Park is the building for my new employment starting on Monday. Gonna get some pics of inside and from the roof too :PDT11

Taken from the top of the Science Park building:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgrP8f96Jlo

LIVERPOOL Science Park has won international acclaim at the Science Alliance conference held in Spain. Read