Insight 4
Infrastructure and innovation —
aligning the physical spaces with
intellectual property
For Sean Bradley, the life sciences construction boom presents challenges beyond design and delivery.
Location is critical. Being within a few blocks of King’s Cross offers clear advantages. Being slightly further out requires a more tailored approach," he explained.
Beyond Greater London, he cited examples of other success stories.
Kent Science Park is home to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, and one of the largest communities of ambitious agritech, biotech and biopharma businesses – and still only an hour from London St Pancras International.”
The site is set in 65 acres of grounds in the heart of Kent, and features a biotech incubator made up of high specification labs, office and coworking spaces across 47 buildings.
Across the UK, energy infrastructure is a pressing concern. Ellie Junod highlighted that UBS had to fund a major substation in Stevenage.
We can’t place the burden of national power upgrades on developers,” she said. “AI and ML will only increase energy demand. We need a national infrastructure strategy.”
George Freeman said the industry’s energy requirements are poorly understood – along with its carbon impact.
Pharma is twice as carbon intensive as aviation,” he added.
This reality, he added, presents a global opportunity for UK construction and its supply chain, where there is genuine expertise in reducing the whole life carbon of buildings.
Sean Bradley discussed Morgan Sindall’s CarboniCa tool, which tracks carbon across a building’s lifecycle, and spoke of a sea change in design and project management across the built environment to reduce or mitigate carbon impacts.
