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