MSP to expand CityLabs in £60 million investment

Published: 25-Jul-2016

The new development will provide additional space to enable biomedical companies to grow and co-create new health products

Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP), a UK-based science and technology park operator, is to invest £60 million in a major expansion of Citylabs, its biomedical centre of excellence.

The development is a major vote of confidence for the Manchester city region and will create 750 jobs.

Citylabs 2.0 and Citylabs 3.0 will be located on the corner of Oxford Road and Hathersage Road, at the southern gateway to Europe's largest clinical-academic campus.

The new development will provide additional space to enable biomedical companies to grow and co-create new health products, in collaboration with Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) and academia.

Once completed and fully let the two additions could bring economic growth in excess of £100 million to the region.

Our investment will help create fresh ideas, partnerships and scientific discovery

Rowena Burns, Chief Executive of Manchester Science Partnerships, said: 'Manchester’s Innovation District will be strengthened further by the development of Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0.

'Our investment will help create fresh ideas, partnerships and scientific discovery. Above all, Manchester and the North West offer investors outstanding access to talent, knowledge and clinical facilities.'

Steve Mycio, Chairman of CMFT, added: 'By working together in this way with industry, the NHS can ensure health technologies are developed that deliver better outcomes more efficiently to meet current and future needs of our patients and healthcare providers.'

Citylabs 1.0, which opened in September 2014 after a £25m redevelopment, is on track to generate more than 400 new jobs and contribute an estimated £60 million a year to Manchester’s economy.

The investment for the new development will be made in two phases, subject to planning consent being received by the end of this year.

The £25m Citylabs 2.0 development will comprise 85,000ft2 of lab and office space and subject to planning permission being granted. Construction work will begin in spring 2017, with completion expected in summer 2018.

The £35m Citylabs 3.0 will include both the development of new buildings and integration with Old Saint Mary’s Hospital, an existing listed Victorian building, comprising 100,000ft2. Construction is planned to start in Summer 2018 and is due to be completed in 2020.

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