Imperial and Bruntwood SciTech join forces for White City innovation centre

Imperial is achieving a major step-up in life sciences capacity at its White City Deep Tech Campus through a new joint venture with Bruntwood SciTech.

• Imperial, the leading global science university, is achieving a major step-up in its life sciences capacity at its White City Deep Tech Campus through a major new joint venture with Bruntwood SciTech.
• With more than £200m investment from Bruntwood SciTech, the UK’s largest property platform dedicated to growing the nation’s knowledge economy, the facility will connect Imperial’s world-class research community with deep tech and life sciences businesses.    
• An important investment in the Imperial WestTech Corridor, a new globally competitive deep tech innovation ecosystem across West London, today’s announcement has been welcomed by the UK Government for its power to ‘unlock new job opportunities and strengthen our economy’.  
• Marks Bruntwood SciTech’s first move into the London market, connecting its existing portfolio of innovation-led campuses and workspaces across the Golden Triangle and high growth regional cities. 

Imperial College London and Bruntwood SciTech have today announced a new partnership and unveiled a major new life sciences and deep tech innovation centre in West London in a significant new investment in the Imperial WestTech Corridor – a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation.

"This new facility will connect world-leading discovery research with incubators, accelerators, startups, scaleups and industry, and be a place where researchers and entrepreneurs work together on the rapid translation of ideas to impact." Professor Hugh Brady President of Imperial College London

The new innovation facility in London’s White City, which was welcomed by the UK Government’s Minister for Science Lord Patrick Vallance during London Life Sciences Week, will deliver world-class labs and workspaces where deep tech startups, scaleups and global businesses can co-locate, collaborate, and grow with Imperial’s world-leading academics, clinicians and researchers.

Backed by a £200 million investment from Bruntwood SciTech - a joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Manchester Pension Fund - the partnership will deliver a new commercial innovation facility of at least 200,000 sq ft, marking a major milestone leap forward in the creation of an internationally significant innovation ecosystem in London’s White City and a huge boost to the UK’s science and technology sector.  Specialist infrastructure will unlock opportunities to commercialise R&D innovation and support highly skilled talent retention and job creation.

Located within the established ecosystem at Imperial’s White City Deep Tech Campus and the growing network of the Imperial WestTech Corridor, it will connect businesses with over 110 early-stage companies and world-leading academics, researchers, and clinicians.

Along with Imperial’s research and translation expertise, it will give access to Bruntwood SciTech’s specialist support including its network of academic, clinical, and innovation partners, highly skilled talent, investment support, and growth programmes.

Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle said: “This partnership demonstrates the potential that can be unlocked when we combine the expertise of world-leading academics and researchers with the private sector. Working together, they can bring more advanced technologies from the lab to the market and turn more bright ideas into fully-fledged businesses.

“The innovation hub will be a great addition to Imperial’s White City Campus, which I have seen first-hand, with state-of-the art facilities that will cement the UK’s place as a top destination for businesses to grow. With the best resources, the researchers here will unlock new job opportunities and strengthen our economy, building on the investments showcased at the International Investment Summit.”

"This partnership demonstrates the potential that can be unlocked when we combine the expertise of world-leading academics and researchers with the private sector." Peter Kyle Science and Technology Secretary

Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Having the opportunity to partner with Imperial to deliver the next phase of their world-leading science and technology campus is a tremendous accolade. It is also testament to our work over the last year to deliver on our commitments to driving forward the UK’s innovation economy through our existing work in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Cambridge and buoyed by momentum from our half a billion pounds investment, coupled with the strength of our ongoing partnerships with leading educational and public sector institutions.

“The White City Campus is a hugely ambitious project that will help propel the UK to the forefront of innovation. Having worked to become deeply embedded in the knowledge economies of the UK’s leading regional cities and creating successful city-wide innovation ecosystems, it is now the perfect time for us to expand into London. This new, joined up approach between the capital and the UK’s fastest growing regional cities will enable businesses to harness the power of the collective and encourage companies of all sizes to consider the UK as their first choice for future investment.”

Professor Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College London said: “This new facility will connect world-leading discovery research with incubators, accelerators, startups, scaleups and industry, and be a place where researchers and entrepreneurs work together on the rapid translation of ideas to impact.

“It is an important investment in our vision for the Imperial WestTech Corridor, a new globally competitive deep tech innovation ecosystem in West London that will act as a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation at a local, regional, and national level.”

Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, said: “This landmark £200 million investment from Bruntwood SciTech in the White City Innovation District is another huge vote of confidence in our transformative science, technology, engineering, maths, medicine and media (STEM³) industrial strategy.

“Bruntwood SciTech has a formidable track record in delivering key technology infrastructure projects. Their team includes dedicated science officers with a deep understanding of the UK’s research, academic and government sectors and their infrastructure needs.

“Since launching our unique Industrial Strategy with Imperial College London in 2017, H&F has attracted more than £6 billion of investment. To provide context, that’s more than all the rest of West London combined. We set out to bring our residents and their children the best new STEM jobs in the industries of the future. This investment is another indication that our strategy is working - and we’re just getting started."

The new partnership demonstrates how institutional capital can deliver a ‘big bang’ of investment to unlock economic growth for the UK. The announcement comes one year after Bruntwood SciTech expanded to include the UK’s largest local government pension fund, Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), with an additional £500 million investment into the science, technology, and innovation sectors. Through partnerships with leading institutions like Imperial, the joint venture continues to provide a route for long-term, patient capital to play a crucial role in the growth of the domestic innovation sector.

​​I​n line with Bruntwood SciTech and Imperial’s sustainability commitments, the new centre will be net zero carbon in construction and operation in its communal spaces. Bruntwood SciTech will also provide 100% renewable energy across all shared areas in keeping with its entire 4.8m sq ft portfolio. Construction is anticipated to commence in 2026.

Creating a symbiotic innovation ecosystem between London and regional cities

Bruntwood SciTech is the UK’s largest property platform dedicated to growing the nation’s innovation economy. It currently has £314 million of investment underway in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Liverpool, and is bringing to market 1.45m sq ft of state-of-the-art workspace for innovative businesses; from startups through to global HQs.

"Having the opportunity to partner with Imperial to deliver the next phase of their world-leading science and technology campus is a tremendous accolade." Chris Oglesby CEO of Bruntwood SciTech

Through its UK-wide ecosystem, the joint venture supports an established community of 1,100 life science, tech and innovation-led businesses across nine campuses and 31 city centre innovation hubs in fast growing regional cities. By partnering with Imperial, it will now create a singular ecosystem of UK innovation connecting its regional centres of excellence in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds and Cambridge into the capital.

Bruntwood SciTech was selected by Imperial based on the strength of its existing partnerships between research, academia, the NHS and the private sector, and its success in forming city-wide innovation ecosystems. It has a proven track record in providing opportunities for businesses to gain greater support and scale faster, furthering the economic growth and impact of the R&D, science, technology and innovation sector on cities.

Imperial’s White City Deep Tech Campus

The new Bruntwood SciTech partnership follows the completion of the first phase of Imperial’s White City Deep Tech Campus, which provides leading-edge research facilities for academics alongside world-class space and support for early-stage companies. With 1.5 million sq ft of research, office and lab space, and student accommodation already occupied, more than 5,000 staff, students, businesses and organisations are based at the White City Deep Tech Campus and are working together in areas such as AI, medtech, engineering biology, chemistry and climate science.

The campus is now home to the Molecular Sciences Research Hub, a custom-built facility for the Department of Chemistry; the Sir Michael Uren Hub, a centre for biomedical engineering research; the School of Public Health; and the I-HUB, which supports the commercialisation of scientific research with lab and office space for knowledge-intensive companies. White City Deep Tech Campus is also home to Scale Space, a joint venture with Blenheim Chalcot, which offers workspace, labs and networks for high-growth businesses and scale-ups.

White City Deep Tech Campus is part of the White City Innovation District and is located alongside the historic former BBC Television Centre and White City Place.

The new innovation centre will ultimately form part of Imperial’s £2 billion investment commitment at the campus, of which a third has already been delivered. Once complete, White City Deep Tech Campus will span 23 acres and offer 3.8 million sq ft of academic, commercial, R&D, clinical, residential, retail and leisure space for more than 25,000 people to live, work, collaborate and innovate.

Bruntwood SciTech was advised by JLL and Addleshaw Goddard, while Imperial was advised by Eastdil Secured, CMS and Freshfields.

Main image credit: Jason Hawkes.