A £40m BioHub project, which aims to double the size of north east Scotland’s life sciences company cluster, will move into its main construction phase in the new year.
The 69,000 sq ft development on the Foresterhill Health Campus in Aberdeen will provide a dedicated laboratory, collaboration and office accommodation for established and growing life sciences businesses, start-ups and spin-outs
Site enabling works for BioHub are continuing and delivery of the main construction contract is set to run through 2021, the project said.
BioHub aims to accelerate commercialisation in the sector to address modern health challenges - including the Coronavirus - improving patient outcomes and changing how healthcare is delivered.
It is one of the industry innovation projects supported by the Aberdeen City Region Deal, a partnership between the UK Government, Scottish Government, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Opportunity North East (ONE).
The UK Government and Scottish Government are co-funding £20m of capital funding for BioHub via the City Deal.
ONE is the lead partner for the project and has committed £3.6m from its budget to operate the BioHub and deliver specialist support programmes. A new company, BioAberdeen, has been formed to deliver BioHub.
In August, the City Deal joint committee agreed to provide £2m of repayable funding to the project from within the existing programme budget. The City Deal partners and stakeholders will seek additional funding for the project.
Scotland's life sciences sector currently employs more than 41,000 people across 770 organisations with an annual turnover of £6.5bn.
Councillor Jenny Laing, chair of the City Deal joint committee and co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, said: “Our objectives include doubling the number of companies in life sciences in the city region by 2027 and providing digital solutions, which have the potential to transform the sector through rapid advances in research, diagnosis and treatment of health conditions, as well better outcomes for patients, clinicians and researchers.”
Stephen Logan, chair of the ONE Life Sciences sector board and BioAberdeen, added: “Innovative businesses will be supported to translate research into therapies, technology and applications faster – anchoring high-value life sciences activity and new jobs in north east Scotland.”
