Restore Harrow Green, which provides relocation and storage services for life sciences companies, has transformed its warehouse on Dales Manor Business Park in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, into a biological samples storage facility.
The company has adapted the 11,145 sq ft building, which is held on a 10-year lease running from 2020, for use as a human tissue bank.
Restore Harrow Green has initially installed 13 freezers at its Cambridge hub but is set to increase the number to up to 40. As well as upgrading the power supply and air conditioning to maintain temperatures of -20°C, the company has installed monitoring systems for both rooms and individual freezers.
Daniel Collins, head of operations for life sciences at Restore Harrow Green, said: “If there are any fluctuations or anything a bit unusual going on, it will sound an alarm and let us know that there is an issue and in which particular freezer, so we can go and sort that out.”
The move is designed to meet growing demand amid a shortage of available lab space across Cambridge and the wider region. The closest biobank is in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.
Collins said: “Rather than filling lab space with their own freezers, Cambridge-based life sciences businesses now have an option to take space in our biobank so we can store their cell samples for them safely.”
Restore Harrow Green expects the facility to be used by private companies as well as universities, the NHS and other public organisations. It has secured a research licence from the Human Tissue Authority to be able to store tissue on site.
Collins said: “It’s a sector that we are going to grow into due to a strong need for a specialist storage for samples in Cambridge. If it goes well, then we are looking at Oxford, London and Manchester.”
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