Bruntwood SciTech teams up with Imperial on £200m London lab facility

Imperial College London and Bruntwood SciTech have joined forces to create a £200m life sciences and deep tech innovation workspace in west London. The joint venture will deliver a new commercial innovation facility of at least 200,000 sq ft, as part of its ambitious £2bn WestTech Corridor expansion plans at White City. The new centre will be net zero carbon in construction and operation in its communal spaces. Bruntwood SciTech will also provide 100% renewable energy across all shared areas. The partners expect the new facilities to help unlock opportunities to commercialise research and development innovation and support highly skilled talent retention and job creation. Along with Imperial’s research and translation expertise, the facility will give access to Bruntwood SciTech’s specialist support including its network of academic, clinical, and innovation partners, talent, investment support, and growth programmes. Hugh Brady, president at Imperial, said: “This new facility will connect world-leading discovery research with incubators, accelerators, start-ups, scale-ups and industry, and be a place where researchers and entrepreneurs work together on the rapid translation of ideas. “It is an important investment in our vision for the Imperial WestTech Corridor, a new globally competitive deep tech innovation ecosystem in west London that will act as a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation at a local, regional and national level.” Construction is targeted to start in 2026. Once complete, the wider White City Deep Tech Campus will span 23 acres and offer 3.8m sq ft of academic, commercial, research and development, clinical, residential, retail and leisure space for more than 25,000 people to live, work, collaborate and innovate. Kath Mackay, chief scientific officer at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Having worked to become embedded in the knowledge economies of the UK’s regional cities and creating city-wide innovation ecosystems, it is now the time for us to expand into London. This new, joined-up approach between the capital and the UK’s fastest growing regional cities will enable businesses to harness the power of the collective and encourage companies of all sizes to consider the UK as their first choice for future investment.” Peter Kyle, science and technology secretary, added: “This partnership demonstrates the potential that can be unlocked when we combine the expertise of academics and researchers with the private sector. Working together, they can bring more advanced technologies from the lab to the market and turn more bright ideas into fully-fledged businesses.” Bruntwood SciTech was advised by JLL and Addleshaw Goddard; Imperial was advised by Eastdil Secured, CMS and Freshfields. Main photo © Jason Hawkes