01 / The growing demand for laboratory space

Life sciences is the third most likely sector to see investment grow this year, according to the European Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2021 from the Urban Land Institute and PwC. From a UK perspective, several factors have brought this sector into the spotlight:

• There is a severe lack of supply, particularly in London, Cambridge and Oxford. This has been accentuated over the past year because of covid-19, which has meant scientific and medical businesses needing even more space, and that income in the sector is largely protected compared with, say, retail.
• UK plc needs to boost return on investment by attracting and retaining world-class talent across government, academia, universities, research institutes and technology organisations.
• The increased pace of digitalisation is driving up floorspace needs for scientific use. This greater focus on AI and digitalisation to analyse and predict outcomes from research, rather than the more traditional biological and chemical experimentation, also influences data infrastructure requirements.

The government has produced a 10-point UK research and development roadmap showing its increased commitment to R&D and the steps it will be taking to boost the UK’s innovation potential in every region.

In the most recent budget it committed to doubling funding for life sciences to 2.4% of GDP until 2027, as well as specific investment in animal health research and a new R&D facility specialising in critical security/defence.  

The spotlight is on life sciences as never before, as organisations from global pharmaceutical companies to the Department of Health, Public Health England, academia and science parks collaborate to develop vaccines and treatments for covid-19.

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