Repurposing Spaces to Labs: Out-of-Town or City Centre?

As the Oxford-Cambridge Arc grapples with a shortage of lab space, the spotlight has turned to repurposing other commercial premises into workspaces suitable for science.

Despite economic uncertainty, the Oxford and Cambridge office and laboratory clusters have seen science and technology companies continue to commit to new space. Our Summer 2023 Databook reports show that knowledge industries were responsible for 93% of lettings in Oxford, and 85% in Cambridge, with prime rents continuing to increase. Both universities have continued to spin-out new businesses, despite the slowdown in venture capital funding.

As our survey with YouGov shows, though, location is a key consideration for businesses operating in labs – not least to attract the right employees for their companies to thrive.

In this article, drawing upon discussions at our recent Bidwells Bitesize seminar, we’ve identified five key considerations for repurposing to labs through the lens of two interesting case study schemes – a completed industrial-to-lab conversion for Sherlock Biosciences, and retail-to-lab conversion at the Grafton Centre, which hopes to be operational in 2027.

What are the tenant’s priorities?

The Sherlock Biosciences project at Buckingway Business Park, Cambridge, certainly bucked the trend of many recent repurposing projects – unlike the popular office-to-lab conversion, this was out-of-town industrial-to-lab project with ISO8 GMP cleanroom facilities, supporting R&D and QA labs, office, and warehouse packaging functions all under one roof.

The client (then trading as ‘Sense Biodetection’) had outgrown its workspace, and needed an operational site for bringing their COVID product to market.

In many cases, being embedded in the centre of a cluster, close to collaborators and attractive amenities is desirable for knowledge-sharing and retaining talent. However, in the case of Sherlock Biosciences, the practicalities of creating a suitable cleanroom far outweighed the importance of location.

In contrast to the requirements of the more mature business of Sherlock Biosciences, in Cambridge City Centre, Pioneer Group are embarking on a transformation of the landmark Grafton Centre shopping mall, to provide much-needed lab space for a spread of occupiers to include start-ups, spin-outs and smaller science businesses as well as the more regular medium and larger sized businesses.

Pioneer Group were looking for a somewhere to build such a hub in the heart of the city – where they believe employees, of all levels and skill sets, would benefit from the local amenities, the connectivity, and which would be accessible by public transport, a bike ride away from home, or walking distance.

The Grafton Centre, once a prominent shopping destination in Cambridge, faced a shift in its fortunes with the rise of online shopping, the impact of COVID as well the general over supply of retail space that exists in the UK. Recognising the urgent need for lab space in Cambridge, and armed with a vision for the future, Pioneer hope to provide cutting-edge laboratories for companies needing to be in the hub of the Cambridge cluster, for attracting young talent, cross-fertilisation of ideas, and collaboration with like-minded businesses.

Smaller companies seeking <5,000 sq ft, typically seek to move into a fully fitted-out lab space where they can ‘hit the ground running’, while more mature businesses lean towards shell & core, enabling them to customise the internal space to suit their specific operations and equipment needs.

A large mezzanine area provides additional space for R&D labs and workshop areas below it. This generous warehouse space facilitated the design of modular cleanrooms.

“The first-floor area is also able to accommodate smaller quality control labs, which Sherlock Biosciences needed to be located as far away from the cleanrooms and the R&D labs as possible,”
Dean Powell, COEL

At the Grafton Centre, being a former shopping centre has provided some convenient advantages. Pre-existing air change systems are already integrated into the building, and different parts of the building have their own servicing, which is useful for a multi-occupancy lab project.

Unlike typical office-to-lab conversions, the Grafton won’t have all the M&E in the roof. The possibility for a roof terrace in the city centre is far more valuable, so they’ve cleverly found pockets of space to double stack the plant.

The project also aims to be as close to net zero carbon as possible by avoiding unnecessary demolition and excavations, reusing the ground floor slab and existing piles to reduce environmental impact, using renewable energy sources, recycling grey water, and installing PV panels on the roof.

"We’re thinking ahead about the amount of waste water and throw-away plastics generated from scientists, so we’re trying to see whether we can do something to help solve that problem.”
Subjit Jassy, Pioneer Group.

Can you turn a ‘building’ into a ‘place’?

City centre locations like the Grafton offer access to amenities, placemaking opportunities, and a sense of community, which may be more challenging to replicate in out-of-town industrial spaces.

There is a space in the middle of the scheme which, typically, would be square footage deemed an opportunity to develop and rent out. However, Pioneer are adopting a different approach - leaving the area open multi function flexible space that could be used as: a collaboration space for occupiers, an event space for occupiers, for schools, colleges and universities to see the latest innovations as well as welcoming the community to foster a shared sense of excitement and pride in the work of our Cambridge scientists, and encouraging people to witness the cutting-edge innovations happening right on their doorstep.

The case studies of Sherlock Biosciences at Buckingway Business Park and the Grafton Centre in Central Cambridge may show very different approaches, but each caters to their market; the priorities of tenants will be different, depending on their operations, culture and their maturity as a business. Balancing practicality, sustainability, and local engagement is crucial for successful, forward-thinking projects.