Mission Street and BentallGreenOak begin construction begins to transform The Press in Foxton into life science facility
Construction has begun on delivering a 100,000 sq ft life science facility in Foxton.
The Press is being created by Mission Street, a specialist investor, developer and operator for the science and innovation sector, and BentallGreenOak (BGO), the real estate investment firm.
They aim to transform the 7.8-acre site into a science and innovation campus by sensitively repositioning the former printing press and combining it with a state-of-the-art new build.
The first phase, in which the former Burlington Press will be refurbished, will create 16,000 square feet of fully-fitted lab and office space across two units and due for completion in the third quarter of 2023,
Mission Street, which is sponsoring CEO of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards, says it will be one of just a handful of life sciences schemes due to complete this year.
Phase two - the delivery of a new 65,000 sq ft building - is due to complete in summer 2024.
Artem Korolev, founder and CEO of Mission Street, said: “As part of our plans for The Press, we are bringing much-needed purpose-built life science space online quickly into market that is suffering from an acute shortage of stock.
“Britain’s life sciences sector is at an inflection point, and to fully realise the potential of our world-leading research and discovery, we must focus on providing the facilities that will enable our burgeoning R&D ecosystem to scale and commercialise.
“Our plans for the Press have been developed through extensive and overwhelmingly positive engagement with the local community and key stakeholders. We now look forward to delivering a design-led scheme that will be an attractive addition to the Cambridge ecosystem, and continuing to engage with some incredibly exciting occupiers in supporting their growth.”
The site will have direct rail links to Cambridge Central station, Cambridge Biomedical Campus via Cambridge South from 2025, and King’s Cross
Market data tracked by Mission Street suggests there is demand for more than one million sq ft of lab space in Cambridge, yet only 10,000 sq ft is available.
The Mission Steet-BGO joint venture has a development pipeline of over one million square feet of lab and office space in strategic locations.
It has been previously announced that the joint venture has acquired a 23-acre site to the east of central Cambridge, where it plans to create an urban science and innovation district to serve the region’s promising start-ups and scale-ups.
