BLACKSTONE’S BIOMED TO INVEST £850 MILLION IN CAMBRIDGE LIFE SCIENCE PARK EXPANSION

The Two Proposed Sites Are Still Subject to Planning Consent

BioMed is the largets private owner of life science space in Cambridge. (CoStar)

By Bert Erik ten Cate

CoStar News

Blackstone Group plans to invest around £850 million in the 800,000 square feet expansion of laboratory space in Cambridge International Technology Park. 

The investment, through Blackstone's BioMed Realty company, creates up to 2,700 jobs.

BioMed, which owns an 870,000-square-feet life science portfolio, has acquired Cambridge International Technology Park, a 15-acre site on Fulbourn Road, from Abstract, and a 27-acre land plot at Granta Park from The Welding Institute. The proposed sites are still subject to planning consent.

The UK’s life sciences sector is a crucial part of the British economy, supporting 250,000 jobs and contributing more than £80 billion to GDP each year. As the largest life sciences market in the UK, Cambridge — the birthplace of stem cell research and artificial intelligence — is seen as an epicentre of research and innovation and is home to more labs than anywhere else in the UK.

“This investment is hugely welcome news for Cambridge and the UK as a whole," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "The city was home to some of the country’s greatest scientific discoveries and I’m confident that the support of Blackstone’s BioMed Realty will mean there are many more to come."

BioMed entered the Cambridge market in 2012 and has expanded to become the largest private owner of life science space in the city.

Mark Glatman's Abstract Securities completed the purchase of a second and adjoining site in Fulbourn Road Cambridge for its Cambridge International Technology Park scheme in February, increasing its total ownership to 15.26 acres of development land and enabling plans to be lodged for a 500,000-square-foot scheme in the red-hot Cambridge offices and laboratory market.

The plans were lodged by associated company Abstract (Cambridge). At the time it projected the completed development would have a value between £400 million and £500 million.

CoStar News revealed last year that Abstract had exchanged contracts to buy the first chunk — a 9.17 acre site — with Cambridge college Peterhouse, from the Wright’s Clock Land Charity, with plans to speculatively build around 300,000 square feet of office space.

Abstract is one of the most successful regional office developers in recent years with schemes in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Basingstoke and Croydon among others.  It has a reputation for picking up early-stage development opportunities in markets set for rapid improvement.

DTRE advised Blackstone

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