All 16 laboratories at the EpiCentre, Haverhill, have now been let, with demand remaining so high the remaining ground floor offices are set to be converted.
Building owners Jaynic, advised by Oxford Innovation, has decided to convert a further six rooms into dedicated laboratory space, with two rooms already pre-let.
The EpiCentre has attracted a number of start-up and scale-up life science businesses, including CodiKoat, Halo Labs, Biotix, TA Instruments, Analog and Amphista Therapeutics.
CodiKoat’s growth trajectory evidences the demand for space. The start-up, pioneering an anti-viral coating technology, has attracted the interest of the UK Government in fighting the pandemic and other viral infections. It originally took a single bench of the shared laboratory space but has expanded to take a dedicated laboratory facility of six benches as well as a large office to house its full team.
Nic Rumsey, managing director of Jaynic, said: “We are investing in more laboratory space because there has been a substantial upsurge in life science and biotech research and, of course, the Cambridgeshire area is at the leading edge of this trend.”
Centre manager Kelly Boosey, said: “The laboratory space provision has been a huge success at the EpiCentre, hence our desire to provide more space in the building for life science and biotech businesses, not only offering all-inclusive benches in shared space but also to support the next step of the customer journey by having some dedicated lab space on-site.”
The significant take up of space is in line with the Government’s thinking on the life science sector. Last year, UK life sciences companies raised a record-breaking total of £6.6 billion in the first 10 months of 2021, creating a solid foundation to support the Life Science Vision launched by the government last summer, with the target of making the UK the leading global hub for life sciences.
Image source: Jaynic
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