Swiss pharma manufacturing firm Lonza is set to occupy space at Oxford’s first speculative “lab-ready” property, as it seeks to expand its footprint in the UK.
The Basel-based company is in negotiations to occupy 25,457 sq ft at the Iversen Building, located at the Oxford Science Park. The lease, for the top floor of the property, is for 10 years.
The premises would mark Lonza’s fourth location in the UK, adding to its facilities in Cambridge, Slough and Manchester.
Oxford Science Park is majority-owned by Magdalen College, alongside strategic partner GIC. The new development, measuring 88,953 sq ft, is scheduled for completion later this summer.
The project was designed by Perkins+Will to provide lab-ready facilities over the three upper floors as well as parking, loading and laboratory amenities at ground and first floor levels.
The Iversen Building is the first of two purpose-built laboratory and office buildings at the Oxford Science Park, with the Leggett Building offering a further 81,372 sq ft of space.
On completion, both buildings will feature terraced lawns and a central plaza, which will provide direct access to the proposed Oxford Science Park railway station.
Elsewhere, the Oxford Science Park was granted permission to deliver a further three buildings on site, totalling more than 400,000 sq ft of research and innovation space, spanning across plots 23 to 26. The first phase is due to complete by the end of 2024.
The expansion will also see the proposed Ellison Institute hub brought forward, after planning approval was secured in June.
The Oxford Science Park is already home to more than 100 businesses, ranging from start-ups based in the Magdalen Centre innovation hub to mature companies, including Blue Earth Diagnostics, OrganOx, OxSonics Therapeutics, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Oxgene, ProImmune, Oxford Science Enterprises, Evox Therapeutics, Exscientia and Intuitive Surgical.
All parties declined to comment.
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