NHS Property Services has submitted revised plans for a life sciences cluster in Whitechapel, E1, that scale down the size of the hub by more than 100,000 sq ft.
Plans to regenerate the 3.4-acre site, known as the Whitechapel Road Life Sciences Cluster, were lodged with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets back in December 2021. The proposals seek to transform a series of outdated buildings and empty sites around the Royal London Hospital.
The plans had encompassed five sites containing seven buildings with a mix of refurbished, extended, retained and new-build structures.
The scheme was initially slated to deliver almost 1m sq ft of specialised laboratories and flexible offices, alongside new public realm, cafés and community spaces. However, the government body submitted a series of amendments to its existing planning application last week that reduced the total floor area of the proposed development from 975,000 sq ft to 872,000 sq ft.
The overall public realm and open space was increased from 139,000 sq ft to 144,000 sq ft.
The move comes as the statutory consultation process found the proposals were too dense for the site. It recommended reducing the desired amount of space through the exclusion of uses other than pure research and development space.
As such, notwithstanding the overall floor area loss, the proportion of wet labs within the proposed scheme has increased. This was achieved through changes made to the proposed facility on plot D1, which is now expected to comprise 45% labs and 55% offices, compared with the initial proposal to dedicate just 20% of space in the building to labs and the reminder to offices.
Minor changes were also made to the building on plot B3, which will now have a ratio of 51% labs to 49% offices, versus the initial 50-50 ratio.
The amended proposals also incorporate high-sustainability aspirations, targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating across all buildings in the scheme.
NHS Property Services plans to sell the sites with planning permission for life science buildings to a developer with the required experience to deliver the plans. Savills was appointed to market the opportunity in May last year.
The Department of Health and Social Care bought the site from Barts Health NHS Trust in July 2018, following the government’s stated ambition to unlock surplus NHS land and unleash investment in innovative life sciences.
The site is immediately adjacent to several major health, research and academic institutions, including the Royal London Hospital and Queen Mary University of London. The area also benefits from an existing life sciences ecosystem and strong vision for growth, coordinated by Barts Life Sciences, a partnership between Barts Health NHS Trust, Queen Mary and Barts Charity.
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