Less than three years after it was established, the life sciences-focused investment firm is building out a portfolio of labs and offices to help the UK industry meet its potential. Its team talks to Evelina Grecenko about its next London scheme.
“Everyone wants to be in Boston when it comes to life sciences,” says Rob Crane, head of construction at Lateral, a London-based investment firm focused on labs and offices. The US city offers the sector skyscrapers, digital connectivity and decades of expertise that hasn’t been replicated anywhere else in the world. Yet.
Crane and colleagues want Lateral to play a part in making the UK a “science superpower” – specifically by ensuring that the country has enough of the right real estate to attract companies to set up shop and then accommodate them as they grow. The developer is drafting plans for a scheme in Whitechapel, E1, which has the potential over time to develop into an east London life sciences cluster.
The half-acre site, next to the Royal London Hospital, was acquired in an off-market deal in March, with plans for the new scheme set to be submitted to the council by the end of this year. The area has been identified as an emerging life sciences location in the capital thanks to the hospital, which is one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK and forms part of Barts Health NHS Trust. The location also benefits from Queen Mary University’s 30,000 sq ft bio centre.
“We think we found a really good story,” says Crane. “Whitechapel has a sound structure, with health providers and education institutes connected with each other.”
It’s about reaching out into the community. It’s about making your building, your cluster, a part of the local identity
Rob Beacroft, Lateral
Doing it for the kids
Lateral is looking to build between 120,000 and 140,000 sq ft of ready-to-go lab space in Whitechapel to attract small companies from the medtech and biotech sectors, with an expectation that big pharma will follow as the cluster develops.
The plans are also expected to include incubator space ranging from 750 to 1,500 sq ft on the ground and first floors, while the floors above, totalling 20,000 sq ft each, will be split into three fully fitted spaces. Higher floors will be left as a shell to respond accordingly to market requirements, but the Lateral team is open to further fit-outs across the rest of the building if tenants snap up space ahead of completion.
Lateral is also hunting for other sites in the area that could be turned into student accommodation, co-living space or affordable homes. The team believes that a residential element will help the university spin-outs to flourish organically in commercial space.
Rob Beacroft, who co-founded Lateral in 2020, says: “It’s about reaching out into the community. It’s about making your building, your cluster, a part of the local identity.
“There’s a lot we can do on social aspects in the most deprived borough in London. There’s a lot we can do to inspire kids to become the scientists, technologists and engineers of the future. It’s a big focus for us to be able to do this.”
Tussle for the tallest
Developments in Whitechapel follow a successful trial of ready-to-go lab space at Cambridge’s Mortlock House (see main photo), which Lateral bought in June alongside the £250m Amazon Property Fund. The 31,248 sq ft building was turned around and let to Nuclera on a 10-year lease within the month.
“It’s a novel way of attracting the right occupier,” Beacroft says. “We take the headache of real estate away from them, whether it’s fitting out, facilities management or the operation of the building. That has worked really well.”
Beacroft added that the company is likely to market Mortlock House for sale during the first half of next year.
Lateral is set to add more ready-to-go labs to its Whitechapel scheme, along with offices and amenity spaces. The company is actively bidding on 1.1m sq ft of space in the area, with 300,000 to 400,000 sq ft identified for life sciences real estate.
Robert Crawley, co-founder of Lateral and a former head of acquisitions at CLS Holdings, says: “We are always out looking for new opportunities. We have a very extensive network of contacts, both leasing and acquisition agency, and landowners. That has enabled us to build up the pipeline of deals to bid on more than £300m in the past 12 months. At the moment it’s slightly higher than that. And of that, more than half is off-market.”
Crawley notes that Lateral faces competition. Kadans Science Partner and Canary Wharf Group are developing life sciences space just one stop away on the Elizabeth Line. The joint venture aims to create Europe’s largest commercial lab, spanning 22 floors. In response, Lateral wants to bring forward an even taller lab building.
Beacroft added: “In reality, what will happen is we will join forces in the east London cluster. No doubt there will be a collaboration between the two sites as they come forward.”
While we have just a three-year track record, that’s more than the majority of our competitors in this space
Rob Beacroft, Lateral
Four white Robs
With the Whitechapel scheme set to grow and the company’s plans to create a £300m life sciences portfolio, Lateral is on the hunt for a chief investment officer to find a longer-term funding partner to share the company’s vision.
“We’re at that stage now where we’re being approached quite a lot by funders who are looking to access the market,” Beacroft says. “There are not many asset managers and development managers out there, certainly not a lot with our skillset and track record. And while we have just a three-year track record, that’s more than the majority of our competitors in this space.”
Lateral is looking for a project manager with experience in delivering complex lab space, clean room facilities, and gene and protein space.
The company is also looking to address “an industry-wide problem” during the recruitment process and diversify the team. So far, Lateral is managed by its co-founders, Crawley and Rob and Nicholas Beacroft, Crane and head of design Marcus Andren. 3PM Project Management partner Rob Burborough is a non-executive director.
“We have never had a single female CV come through to us,” Beacroft says. “That is disappointing in itself.
“That said, we’re talking to two women at the moment, so fingers crossed we might be able to have more than four white Robs in the team. We do recognise the irony of it.”
To send feedback, e-mail evelina.grecenko@eg.co.uk or tweet @Gre_Eve or @EGPropertyNews
