Bruntwood SciTech, a Joint Venture partnership between Bruntwood and Legal & General, are investing over £250m into a ten-year masterplan to redevelop Melbourn Science Park in Cambridge and to include a village green for the local community to share.
Plans have been submitted to create 390,000 sq ft of world class laboratory and office workspace for approximately 75 life science and tech businesses, including new coworking space for startup businesses, along with improvements to the facilities and amenities on the campus for both businesses based there and the local Melbourn community.
Jamie Clyde, Director, Southern Region and Innovation Services at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Our major investment into Melbourn Science Park reaffirms our long term commitment to support the growth of Cambridgeshire's life science and tech cluster, connecting businesses to our UK network of over 500 existing sector specialist companies of all sizes.
“We are building on the Park’s proud history as a centre for scientific innovation. Our vision for the campus is to be a world class and globally recognised hub where research, commercialisation and corporate innovation come together to improve human lives and healthcare. It will be a unique place to innovate, collaborate, grow businesses and socialise while promoting inclusivity and wellbeing for those who work on the campus and the wider local community."
The proposals include refurbishments of three existing buildings alongside six new builds which will offer coworking, leased, and managed lab and office space, plus a co-working hub with shared events space, gastropub and boutique hotel, village green, extensive landscaping and improved transport provision.
The Park will be 100% electric and 600 sqm of solar panels will be installed across the Park’s roof space. Blue-green roofs will be installed on five of the new buildings, with an approximate size of almost 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools, to ensure water drainage is sustainable and to support the campus’ biodiversity.
Further improvements will see an increase of up to 30% in the Park’s biodiversity net gain, supported by an additional 275 trees being planted to form woodland and extended green areas.
The masterplan’s first phase of redevelopment is anticipated to begin in winter 2023 and reach completion in spring 2026.
