Cambridge must still push to attract life science investment and occupiers. It has a great blend of these businesses, clusters and dedicated parks, as well as access to world leading academia, good transport links and healthcare in the form of major hospitals. Other towns and cities across the Golden Triangle, the UK and globally are raising their game in providing these businesses similar facilities and communities, so Cambridge must continue to stay on the front foot to continue attracting, investing and staying at the forefront of the sector
The purpose of the Life Science community is preserving life, and they will not do that at the detriment of the planet. Alignment of carbon measurement across projects, as well as greater knowledge and application of the metrics they output, will unlock consistent progression in the sector. We must respond to the more socially conscious occupier, and the knowledge already within the built environment sector makes us well placed to drive this within Life Sciences developments. Applying Intelligent Solutions to projects can be a catalyst for carbon success, both in a new build or repurposing setting.
Collaboration breeds innovation – campuses now want to break out of the wire and bring in a more holistic eco-system that includes softer social and collaboration spaces. Affordable housing close by is also vital because many start-ups have low employee numbers, working long hours, so they need to live close to their work. It means that place-making and integration with wider regeneration, over and above just the labs, is absolutely key for sustainable Life Science development and eco-systems.
Ensure that people love where they work, creating a destination that ensures they continue to grow within your location and masterplan. It’s about delivering that wow factor, bringing it back to designing for the science that will be there, and meeting the desire to deliver places people love to be and want to stay. There is a clear need to create value beyond the build for tenant retention and to nurture and retain Life Science skills.
Don’t pin all your colours to one mast – build in space adaptability with clear routes for start-ups to grow. Design needs to reflect the life-cycle of the tenants, that often start small but grow quickly, with employment, production and technology scaling at pace. This high-quality space must deliver longevity, agility and leading technology, and an underpinning ability to reinvent itself to meet current and future demands.
Any development’s mission plan should be grounded with connectivity wins – location to station, commute times and housing affordability are all factors influencing success. There is a huge shift towards urban innovation districts that provide ‘real’ rather than ‘curated’ communities.
Diversification of skills is fundamentally reshaping the needs from buildings – it’s the built environments responsibility to be able to identify and serve these niches when, and before, they appear. Particularly around MedTech where technologies are influencing the space and subsequently the spaces needed. An education upskill for industry is needed to drive further improvement as well as strategic input into curriculum design and delivery to inform and meet future skills needed in Life Science, sustainable and future technologies as well as digital capabilities.
