Aviva Capital Partners and Socius have lodged proposals for a £1bn centre for cancer research and treatment in Sutton, south London.
The outline planning application spans 974,500 sq ft of research and laboratory space for life sciences companies, academic researchers and clinicians.
David Epstein, managing director at Aviva Capital Partners, said: “We’ve tried to integrate the sites and the community to bring everyone together. The buildings we’re going to deliver will bring in additional research capabilities that have a potential to multiply positive impact.”
The new facilities will range from smaller, flexible lab and incubator spaces for start-ups to large-scale facilities for matured sector occupiers, with the capacity to accommodate wet labs, good manufacturing practice facilities, specialist equipment, office and collaborative workspaces.
The scheme also includes learning labs, comprising classroom and educational spaces to inspire the next generation to pursue a career in science and technology, as well as amenities including restaurants and cafés, a crèche and affordable homes for 220 key workers.
The planning application follows the completion of a long lease acquisition from Sutton Council in January last year. The planning application is expected to be determined later this year.
The scheme will sit on a 12-acre site at the existing London Cancer Hub, alongside the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research.
Kristian Helin, chief executive and president at the ICR, said: “We have scientists, who are also clinicians, working between the ICR and the Royal Marsden. We take things from early discovery, drug development, into the clinic and back again and improve it. This is what makes this ecosystem amazing.
“So what are we missing here? We’re missing biotech companies. [Expansion] is an opportunity for us to get partners, interact with them and develop new drugs.”
Daniel May, director at developer Socius, said: “We are not creating the London Cancer Hub. It exists without us. We are here to advance it. It’s got all of the constituent parts, and I think the emphasis is on us to pull it all together.”
Aside from delivering the proposed expansion, the development partners will take over management of the Innovation Gateway building, an incubator space offering 6,300 sq ft of workspace and 3,500 sq ft of labs that opened in 2022. It has become home to precision oncology company Curesponse, techbio firm Eliptica, anti-cancer targets discovery specialist Vortex Biotech and healthtech company Vesynta.
May said: “That is very much our target audience for the first phase [totalling 375,500 sq ft] but then there are larger global HQ opportunities in the later phases that we think could help dial this up even further.”
Matt Smith, head of science and technology at DTRE, leasing agents at Innovation Gateway, told Estates Gazette: “It’s a unique ecosystem where life sciences companies can scale up fast… It bridges the bench-to-bedside journey like nowhere else, making it the launchpad for biotechs ready to grow and more established companies to co-locate in what will be one of Europe’s newest purpose-built science and innovation districts.”
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