The board of charitable foundation Wellcome has approved up to £1bn investment into the first phase of expansion at its genome campus at Hinxton, Cambridgeshire.
The proposals for the 315-acre development site were given the green light by the South Cambridgeshire District Council in early 2021, with Urban & Civic named as the development partner.
The new development will add capacity for bioscience companies through the delivery of new lab space, homes and amenities. The new facilities are expected to suit a range of occupiers from start-ups and scale-ups to more mature organisations, growing and enhancing the existing scientific ecosystem.
This first phase will nearly double the built area of the existing campus, with 180,000 sq ft of new research space expected to be brought forward alongside a gym, swimming pool, shops and cafés.
The plans also include the construction of around 400 of the 1,500 total planned homes for people working on the site.
The buildings are scheduled to come off the ground in early 2026.
Paul Schreier, interim chief executive of Wellcome, said: “Our aim is for the quality of the development and the new amenities for people working on campus and living nearby to make this a destination for research organisations and innovative companies.”
Julia Gillard, chair of Wellcome, added: “Bringing researchers together to share ideas and inspire one another is one of the best ways to cultivate new discoveries.
“Growing the campus now will accelerate advances and change even more lives for the better around the world.”
Existing occupiers at Wellcome Genome Campus include the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute, and the BioData Innovation Centre, which houses a range of start-up companies.
To send feedback, e-mail evelina.grecenko@eg.co.uk or tweet @Gre_Eve or @EGPropertyNews
