Cambridge site up for grabs as potential new life sciences cluster

Coulson Building Group has appointed Carter Jonas to seek a new owner for its headquarters in Cambridge North.  Offers over £20m are being sought for the freehold.  The three-acre industrial site hits the market as a life sciences redevelopment opportunity, with the potential to deliver more than 200,000 sq ft of research and development facilities across six buildings, measuring from 20,000 sq ft to 45,000 sq ft each.  The existing site spans across the business centre, comprising labs and offices, William James House, a 59,317 sq ft purpose-built three-storey office building, and Old Masons Workshop, providing 40,000 sq ft workspace.  The buildings are currently let to 22 companies on short-term leases, at an average office rent of £27 per sq ft, expiring by Q1 next year.  The site forms part of the region’s northern fringe cluster comprising Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge Business Park, St Johns Innovation Park and Cambridge North, where Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council are jointly working on unlocking development sites for 8,000 homes and more than 2.9m sq ft of commercial space. William Rooke, head of Cambridge commercial agency and investment at Carter Jonas, said: “As lab demand in Cambridge continues to remain strong, attention is turning to the next phase of the life science cycle and the technologies which support the supply chain. The Coulson site sale is a rare opportunity for a developer to acquire a three-acre freehold site in the Cambridge northern park cluster, which could deliver labs, but would also be suitable for both high-tech manufacturing or research and development facility to support science and tech businesses in the immediate area and the wider cluster. “Recent planning consents for the Vitrum Building, Merlin Place and the Grafton Centre will start to pump prime new lab delivery in the city and the future owner of this site will benefit from the jobs and growth in this sector that these developments will start to bring with them.”