Life sciences throw developers a lifeline

摘要

The UK as a science superpower: that's the ambition prime minister Boris Johnson set out in a growth plan for the life sciences sector, published this summer. Even allowing for Johnsonian hyperbole, this is a sector that has for some years been on the up, having been backed by the government in its 2017 industrial strategy. And globally the sector is attracting huge interest from investors, aware of its prominence and resilience through the pandemic. That has pushed a niche sector associated with universities, research institutes and pharmaceutical majors into the property mainstream, with property agents even warning of a shortage oflaboratory space. As aresult, aprop-erty industry that has seen portfolios and projects plunged into uncertainty by the pandemic is now looking to life sciences as a lifesaver for development, and in repurposing everything from shopping centres to office blocks. Historically, public and private sector clients have taken quite different approaches to life sciences, with the former bringing the same rigour they apply to science itself. 'In higher education there can be very particular demands in what clients are seeking to achieve and a lot of conflicting demands, particularly around how a facility will operate,' explains James Eades, partner with Nicholas Hare Architects. 'Client teams are generally multi-headed, building users are similarly diverse - and a lot of the work is in urban centres and on challenging sites and in and around existing buildings.'