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Success assured in BioCity Nottingham’s new Laurus Building

01/10/2008

BioCity Nottingham stamped its authority as the UK’s fastest growing bioscience incubator when the new Laurus Building was officially opened by the Deputy Chairman of East Midlands Development Agency (emda), the Vice-Chancellors of Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham and the Minister for the East Midlands.
L-R: Prof Neil Gorman, Trent University; Steve Brown, Deputy Chairman of emda; Phil Hope, East Midlands Minister; Barry Stickings, Chairman of EM Innovation; Professor David Greenaway, University of Nottingham

An award-winning addition to the iconic bioscience campus, Laurus provides 48,000 sq ft grow-on office and laboratory facilities for companies seeking to expand and take advantage of Nottingham’s pre-eminent status as a Science City.

Demand for accommodation in the five-storey state-of-the-art building on Nottingham’s Pennyfoot Street is strong. Early tenants include Sygnature Chemical Services Limited and patent attorney Adamson Jones. Launched just three years ago, Sygnature Chemicals has grown from 3 to 26 employees and now requires 10, 500 sq ft of space. They attribute their success to the environment of BioCity. Adamson Jones is also expanding to handle the increasing demand for IP, patent  and legal advice from the City’s bioscience and healthcare sectors.

“The companies at BioCity are thriving and growing fast”, says BioCity Chief Executive Dr Glenn Crocker who has overseen the rapid development of the site since its launch in 2002. “To keep pace with demand we are opening the Laurus Building ahead of schedule and will need to develop further on open land around the campus in the coming years.”

The new facility, designed by Nottingham architects Maber Associates, is a collaborative venture between the two Universities, the East Midlands Development Agency, BioCity Nottingham and the European Regional Development  Fund (ERDF).

Steve Brown, Deputy Chairman of East Midlands Development Agency which funded the development of the Laurus building at BioCity, said: “BioCity is an invaluable asset for the healthcare and bioscience sector in our region. The East Midlands and Nottingham in particular, is building an outstanding international reputation as a centre of excellence in this field and BioCity is at the very heart of this.

“East Midlands Development Agency recognises the importance of the healthcare and bioscience industry to the regional economy, this is why we have invested £4 million in the development and refurbishment of this facility, providing much needed space for growing businesses on the BioCity site.

“These are the very businesses that have the potential to become the stars of the future, creating jobs and wealth, and helping the East Midlands to become an even more innovative and flourishing region."

Nottingham Trent University Vice-Chancellor and Chair of Nottingham Science City Development Board, Professor Neil Gorman, said: “This is an exciting and significant development in BioCity’s growth. Since BASF gifted its extensive laboratory facilities to Nottingham Trent University in 2001 to enable the creation of BioCity, we have seen it emerge into one of the most successful bioscience business incubators in Europe.

“It is very rewarding to see the university’s involvement helping to raise our profile as a Science City and also to be able to contribute substantially to Nottingham’s Eastside regeneration.”

Professor David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor-designate of The University of Nottingham said: "BioCity plays a part in helping the city to retain world-class research skills, and in helping to realise the commercial potential of research undertaken by scientists and engineers at both Nottingham's universities. With the potential for more than 150 new jobs in the Laurus Building, we look forward to seeing Nottingham going from strength to strength as one of the UK's key Science Cities."

The Laurus Building's official opening took place on 1st October following BioCity’s Annual Lecture. This year’s lecture, ‘30 years of IVF – the medical and scientific challenges at the edge of ethical and moral dilemmas’, was  delivered by Professor Harry Moore and Dr Simon Fishel PhD.


BioCity media contact:
Louise Third, Integra Communications
T: 0115 906 1377
E: louise@integra.gb.com

Notes:

About BioCity

BioCity Nottingham Ltd was launched in September 2003. The company develops and operates bioscience and healthcare related incubation and innovation facilities. The first facility was opened in Nottingham in September 2003 and Phase 3, in the form of grow-on space, opens in October. BioCity Nottingham is currently home to 60 fast-growing companies, including R&D and business support services.

BioCity was founded by Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham and East Midlands Development Agency. The site the company is developing in Nottingham was originally gifted to Nottingham Trent University by BASF plc.
http://www.biocity.co.uk

About emda

East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.

Working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations the aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) ‘A Flourishing Region’, which sets out regional priorities until 2020.

The RES, coordinated by emda, highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and builds on the previous two strategies; ‘Prosperity Through People’ and ‘Destination 2010’.

In early 2007 the National Audit Office announced emda had received the highest possible grade of 'performing strongly' in an independent assessment of our work - scoring 22 out of 24.
 http://www.emda.org.uk

About Nottingham Trent University

Nottingham Trent University is one of the UK’s most successful universities for graduate employment. More than 97.7% of students are employed or progress into postgraduate education within six months of graduating.

Nottingham Trent was recently rated as the top new university in the UK in the Good University Guide, published in association with The Independent. This was based on nine measures including job prospects, student satisfaction, research assessment and spending on facilities.  Nottingham Trent has seen the largest growth in demand for its undergraduate degree courses of any UK university .

The university’s School of Science and Technology is one of the few universities in the UK which cover all of the core sciences alongside innovative science and technology fields including computing and technology, forensics, sport and biomedical sciences.

State-of-the-art facilities enhance the quality of students’ education and push the boundaries of research. The university’s science teaching is consistently rated excellent by the Quality Assurance Agency and Higher Education Funding Council for England.  The School of Science and Technology has attracted more than £20million of external funding in support of its research, and research specialisms include – inter alia - work in cancer and regenerative medicine, airport security, and display technology.
http://www.ntu.ac.uk

About The University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 70 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THE) World University Rankings.

It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia.
 
Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation - School of Pharmacy).
 
Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk