Established in 2003, it was one of the first Bioscience incubators offering state-of-the-art laboratories and commercial office space to let/rent, alongside business support and services to early stage companies in the life sciences sector. The 91% survival rate of companies at BioCity in Nottingham tangibly demonstrates one of the benefits to a company of being located within the BioCity network.
BioCity Discovery Building
A hop, skip and a jump from Nottingham city centre, this former Boots R&D centre has been transformed into floors of flexible lab and office space perfect for life science start-ups. The site is made up of four buildings all with their own personality and quirks.
The newest addition ‘Discovery’, is donned with an award-winning sculpture, which lights up the night sky using live activity from the surface of the sun, taken from NASA satellites. The building is BioCity’s first purpose-built space for laboratories and offices, which will support more than 700 new bioscience jobs over the next 30 years.
Built in 2017, this £30m building, based on Lower Parliament Street has helped to keep one of Nottingham’s most successful drug discovery companies in the city. BioCity needed to find space for Sygnature Discovery, the UK's largest independent provider of integrated drug discovery resource and expertise, which had outgrown its existing space. The five-storey bioscience hub is now home in part to Sygnature, which has created more than 180 jobs since it was founded in Nottingham by Dr Simon Hirst with just five scientists 12 years ago.
Discovery is illuminated by a sculpture that uses live activity from the surface of the sun. Designed by Wolfgang Buttress, the artwork - named "Corona", meaning a coloured halo or electrical glow - lights up at day and night, and has transformed the view for people travelling in and out from the southern entrance to the city. It also acts as an energy-efficient sunscreen for the five-storey structure.
This development in the bioscience sector has been supported by Nottingham’s economic Growth Plan, which identifies life sciences as a high growth sector; life sciences and healthcare sectors currently account for 55,000 jobs across 1,400 firms in the Nottingham city region. This success is attributed in part to the success of BioCity, which was identified as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies in the Financial Times FT 1000 report 2017. Nottingham is also home to leading international brands such as Alliance Boots and Reckitt Benckiser.
The scheme’s architect is prominent Nottingham practice CPMG who, along with developer Willmott Dixon, have created a striking building that provides the city's bioscience cluster with a public face.
BioCity Group
BioCity is a life science incubator providing a home to the curious, to the radicals and the pioneers going toe-to-toe with the healthcare challenges that affect us all, globally.To the businesses based at their UK campuses, they are a cheerleader, a critical friend and a collaborator – so much more than a life science incubator.
BioCity’s approach is holistic. Built upon a genuine understanding of the realities of starting a new business to create the right environment for businesses with ambition. They invest in creating the best environment so their companies can focus on the nitty gritty.
The cluster effect of BioCity builds large communities of people, creating opportunities not typically available to start-ups and small businesses. Even the smallest firms can be part of, and do, something big. They put their companies centre stage with shared press opportunities, pitching, exhibiting and speaking engagements with industry partners.
Attracting and keeping hold of talented staff is made easier thanks to quality perks like in-house coffee shops, exercise classes, social events and discounts at local gyms and restaurants.
Over a twelve-year period, companies based at BioCity Nottingham had a 91% survival rate, incomparable with the average survival rate of not just start-up businesses, but those based at other science parks and life science incubators. These companies not only survive, they flourish and receive headline grabbing exits, which for BioCity-based companies means profitable buyouts, mergers and acquisitions.
These successes are also felt outside the lab. Regions surrounding these ever-increasingly successful clusters benefit from their positive socio-economic impact; university talent remains, new jobs are created and inward investment follows.
Contact BioCity here
BioCity Nottingham, Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham NG1 1GF