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£2.5m of Government funding to accelerate delivery of Incubator at Discovery Park
Sandwich, Kent, August 4 2020 – Discovery Park, the Life Sciences Opportunity Zone for ambitious and growing life sciences companies, has been awarded £2.5m towards accelerated delivery of its Incubator facility by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP). The grant, which comes from SELEP’s £85m share of the Government’s new Getting Building Fund, will be used to create flexible laboratory, write-up and office space for innovative SMEs. Discovery Park’s investors are committing £3m to this development, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.
A masterplan has been created for the Incubator space and initial design works completed. The 50,000 sq ft of laboratory and write-up space will be created on two floors of the East Block of the Park’s Building 500. The new Incubator facility will be suitable for all types of start-ups and early stage companies, including drug discovery, cell and gene therapy, digital health, manufacturing and medtech firms. As the incubator companies develop they will be able to expand into the grow-on space available, playing an important role in the development of the innovation community at Discovery Park.
The Government’s new £900 million Getting Building Fund has been created to invest in local infrastructure projects to drive economic growth in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Discovery Park estimates that the Incubator project will lead to 250 jobs, with an additional 6251 created elsewhere in the economy.
Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, said, ‘The Getting Building Fund grant will accelerate the delivery of Discovery Park's Incubator space, which will provide laboratories and offices for innovative life sciences companies in a collaborative environment. Rapid turnaround of this facility will enable us to meet the demand we are experiencing here for life sciences space. As a UK Life Sciences Opportunity Zone, we are pleased to play a role in driving local economic growth, and would like to thank SELEP for its support of our ambition to build a world class and world leading science park where companies can start up and grow. Discovery Park is also very appreciative of the support it has received from Dover District Council and Kent & Medway Economic Partnership.’
--ENDS-
1 Job creation ratio from https://www.abpi.org.uk/media/1371/the_economic_contribution_of_the_uk_life_sciences_industry.pdf
For more information please contact:
Emma Palmer Foster, Communications
+44 (0)7880 787185
[email protected]
Editor’s Notes
ABOUT DISCOVERY PARK (WWW.DISCOVERY-PARK.CO.UK)
Discovery Park has grown to be a thriving part of the South East’s life science community over the past seven years as a multi-business science campus. The site offers high quality laboratory, office and manufacturing facilities, the space and support to expand, access to local finance, and a strong local scientific talent pool. It was named recently one of six prestigious UK Life Sciences Opportunity Zones by the UK Government, and is developing its vision for a Manufacturing Village.
The growing tenant community includes Pfizer, which built the site’s reputation as a centre for drug discovery and discovered some of the most famous drugs in the world here. Other tenants include Algaecytes, Canterbury Christ Church University, Concept Life Sciences, Firza, Genea Biomedx, LGC, LifeCells, Mylan, Salvensis and Wren Healthcare. Discovery Park is home to 160+ companies employing 3,500 employees in total. With easy connections to London, Europe and the world Discovery Park is a great place to build and grow your biotech, medtech or pharma business. Discover more via our website: – www.discovery-park.co.uk email: [email protected] or call: 01304 614060. You can also follow us on social media @Discovery Park_
A masterplan has been created for the Incubator space and initial design works completed. The 50,000 sq ft of laboratory and write-up space will be created on two floors of the East Block of the Park’s Building 500. The new Incubator facility will be suitable for all types of start-ups and early stage companies, including drug discovery, cell and gene therapy, digital health, manufacturing and medtech firms. As the incubator companies develop they will be able to expand into the grow-on space available, playing an important role in the development of the innovation community at Discovery Park.
The Government’s new £900 million Getting Building Fund has been created to invest in local infrastructure projects to drive economic growth in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Discovery Park estimates that the Incubator project will lead to 250 jobs, with an additional 6251 created elsewhere in the economy.
Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, said, ‘The Getting Building Fund grant will accelerate the delivery of Discovery Park's Incubator space, which will provide laboratories and offices for innovative life sciences companies in a collaborative environment. Rapid turnaround of this facility will enable us to meet the demand we are experiencing here for life sciences space. As a UK Life Sciences Opportunity Zone, we are pleased to play a role in driving local economic growth, and would like to thank SELEP for its support of our ambition to build a world class and world leading science park where companies can start up and grow. Discovery Park is also very appreciative of the support it has received from Dover District Council and Kent & Medway Economic Partnership.’
--ENDS-
1 Job creation ratio from https://www.abpi.org.uk/media/1371/the_economic_contribution_of_the_uk_life_sciences_industry.pdf
For more information please contact:
Emma Palmer Foster, Communications
+44 (0)7880 787185
[email protected]
Editor’s Notes
ABOUT DISCOVERY PARK (WWW.DISCOVERY-PARK.CO.UK)
Discovery Park has grown to be a thriving part of the South East’s life science community over the past seven years as a multi-business science campus. The site offers high quality laboratory, office and manufacturing facilities, the space and support to expand, access to local finance, and a strong local scientific talent pool. It was named recently one of six prestigious UK Life Sciences Opportunity Zones by the UK Government, and is developing its vision for a Manufacturing Village.
The growing tenant community includes Pfizer, which built the site’s reputation as a centre for drug discovery and discovered some of the most famous drugs in the world here. Other tenants include Algaecytes, Canterbury Christ Church University, Concept Life Sciences, Firza, Genea Biomedx, LGC, LifeCells, Mylan, Salvensis and Wren Healthcare. Discovery Park is home to 160+ companies employing 3,500 employees in total. With easy connections to London, Europe and the world Discovery Park is a great place to build and grow your biotech, medtech or pharma business. Discover more via our website: – www.discovery-park.co.uk email: [email protected] or call: 01304 614060. You can also follow us on social media @Discovery Park_