£28m BioInnovation Centre will attract 5,000 science jobs to Liverpool
EXCLUSIVE by David Bartlett, City Editor | Jan 13 2012 |
Proposed Liverpool BioInnovation Centre
PLANS for the first phase of a huge project which aims to turn Liverpool into a global centre for life sciences research has been submitted to the city council.
It is hoped the Liverpool BioInnovation Centre will start the influx of 5,000 scientists and technology experts to work on the fringe of the city centre.
Supporters of the scheme believe it is as vital to the future prosperity of the region as Peel’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters skyscraper scheme to regenerate the city’s northern docklands.
The £28m centre is designed to be the first step towards the creation of a “BioCampus” that could eventually place Liverpool alongside Boston and Singapore as a leading international centre for the Life Sciences. It will sit alongside the planned new £451m Royal Liverpool Hospital – on the old Royal site. The five-storey BioInnovation Centre is planned for a site just down the hill from the current Royal Liverpool Hospital at the junction of Prescot Road and Daulby Street.
It will create 70,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art commercial scale laboratory space – the equivalent of 23 tennis courts.
And it can be built before the new Royal is ready. If the BioInnovation centre wins planning permission, it is expected to open in 2014, two years ahead of the new hospital.
The BioCampus is being driven by a partnership between the Royal, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
The campus would reinforce the Royal’s links with the University of Liverpool and drug companies, encouraging innovation and investment.
It is estimated that the scientists who would work in the BioCampus would have an average salary of £70,000, providing a huge boost to the region’s economy.
Chief executive of the Royal, Tony Bell, said: “This is an exciting and significant moment as the BioInnovation Centre is the catalyst that will enable us to realise the wider vision for the BioCampus.
“The key to successful knowledge economies is being able to connect academic and specialist research assets to emerging technologies that have major market potential, which is the Silicon Valley model and it’s something that the BioCampus has been designed to emulate.
“The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital will provide the opportunity to fully develop the BioCampus and the development will provide the ability to carry out research in clinical environments.”
The city already plays a leading role in researching new treatments for diseases like HIV and cancer, but the campus could help small companies then trial and develop the drugs into finished products – keeping all the investment within the city and creating jobs.
Health bosses said it could lead to the discovery and development of breakthrough drugs to treat some of the world’s most devastating diseases.
It is hoped that up-and-coming pharmaceuticals company RedX Pharma, which is currently based in the nearby MerseyBio incubator base, will become the anchor tenant in the new building.
The company recently won £5.9m from the government’s regional growth fund.
A present many companies are successfully based at MerseyBio, but when they need more lab space are forced to leave Liverpool because of a lack of commercial scale space in the city.
Provexis is one such example, having announced they were quitting Liverpool in December.
RedX Pharma chief executive, Dr Neil Murray, said: “The BioCampus is the right development in the right place.
“Our success and growth is undoubtedly to do with where we are, the networks we are involved in, and the knowledge, expertise and innovation that is located within this area.
“This is a unique alignment of assets that can generate enormous prosperity and prestige for the city.”
Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson said there was a strong affinity between the project and the city’s own history. He said: “We are inventive and pioneering but we are also a compassionate and humanitarian city.
“The treatments and technologies pioneered here will create employment and prosperity for Liverpool, but will transform lives across the globe.
“This is a sector where Liverpool has, without doubt, a world-class offer and a unique competitive edge. In terms of scale, the economic potential of the BioCampus is on a par with Salford’s Media City, but, in terms of importance and human value, it’s on another level.”
The scheme’s backers hope it will be funded by a £14m grant from the European Regional Development Fund, with the project’s partners contributing the other £14m.
Work on the BioInnovation Centre could commence mid- 2012, with completion expected by the early part of 2014.
The following phases of the BioCampus project would be delivered in concert with the construction of the new Royal.
The whole BioCampus would have 2m sq ft and could be completed by 2025, providing employment for 5,000 people.
Source: Liverpool Daily Post
Plans submitted for life sciences centre
13 Jan 2012, 14:25
A consortium of universities and hospitals in Liverpool has submitted plans for the first phase of a 2m sq ft life sciences park.
The 70,000 sq ft Liverpool BioInnovation Centre will be the first building within the proposed BioCampus, aimed, the partners said, at "placing Liverpool alongside Boston and Singapore as a leading international centre for the life sciences."
The plans have been devised by Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The project has the backing of Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision and The Mersey Partnership.
Liverpool BioInnovation Centre will contain laboratory space where treatments and technologies can be tested and developed for the commercial market.
The Innovation Centre was designed by architects Nightingale Associates. Master-planning consultants for the Bio Campus and new Royal campus are Taylor Young.
Tony Bell, chief executive of Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Tony Bell explained: "This is an exciting and significant moment as the BioInnovation Centre is the catalyst that will enable us to realise the wider vision for the BIoCampus. The key to successful knowledge economies is being able to connect academic and specialist research assets to emerging technologies that have major market potential, which is the Silicon Valley model and it's something that the BioCampus has been designed to emulate.
"The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital will provide the opportunity to fully develop the BioCampus and the development will provide the ability to carry out research in clinical environments. This development can define what Liverpool's future economy is about and is key to regeneration."
There is an application pending approval for funding towards the centre from the European Regional Development Fund.
Subject to funding and planning approvals, work could start this year and be completed in early 2014.
The contractors to build the new campus for the Royal Liverpool University Hospital have yet to be announced. The hospital is expected to take 12 years to build.
The two shortlisted consortia are:
■ Horizon - a consortium of FCC, John Laing Investments and Interserve Investments with Sheppard Robson, John Cooper Architecture, and Spanish practices Aidhos Architects and Lamela Architects as architectural advisors
■ Carillion - architects NBBJ and HKS, with Uberior Infrastructure Investments, part of the Lloyds Banking Group
Source: Place North West
13 January 2012 Last updated at 14:34
Liverpool BioCampus could create 5,000 jobs
Plans for a new research centre which could create 5,000 jobs in Liverpool have been submitted to the city council.
The Liverpool BioInnovation Centre would be a global centre for life sciences
The £28m BioInnovation Centre is the first part of a "BioCampus" that is planned to place Liverpool as a leading international centre for life sciences.
The building will be by the Royal Liverpool Hospital on Prescot Road.
The centre is due to open in 2014, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust said.
Chief executive of the trust Tony Bell said: "The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital will provide the opportunity to fully develop the BioCampus and the development will provide the ability to carry out research in clinical environments.
"This development can define what Liverpool's future economy is about and is key to regeneration."
'World-class offer'
The five-storey BioInnovation Centre building is planned to be used as a place to test new treatments and technology.
Work is hoped to start in 2012, ahead of the Royal Liverpool Hospital move - with plans to create the the BioCampus on the site of the existing hospital by 2025.
The BioCampus is a partnership between the Liverpool Royal Hospital, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
City council leader Joe Anderson said: "This is a sector where Liverpool has, without doubt, a world-class offer and a unique competitive edge.
"In terms of scale, the economic potential of the BioCampus is on a par with Salford's Media City, but in terms of importance and human value it's on another level.
"There is a strong affinity between this project and Liverpool's own values and history. We are inventive and pioneering but we are also a compassionate and humanitarian city.
"The treatments and technologies pioneered here will create employment and prosperity for Liverpool, but will transform lives across the globe."
Source: BBC News
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