 Harwell Oxford
Location
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0RL
Contact Details
Contact: Megan Morys
Tel: 01235 742103 Fax: 01235 832497
Email: megan.morys@goodman.com
Website: www.harwelloxford.com
A World-leading Location for Science, Technology and Business
 Harwell Oxford has a 60 year history of excellence in science and technology. Today it is being developed as a world-leading location for science, technology and business and a hub for technology transfer and innovation.
Extending to some 300 hectares, Harwell Oxford is home to a large and diverse range of science and technology-based organisations, including research institutes, commercial companies and a range of rapidly growing start-ups.
Together with its unrivalled scientific facilities and services, Harwell Oxford provides a supportive environment for innovation with extensive development potential for organisations and inward investors looking to become part of a globally significant community.
Partners
Global property group Goodman, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and Science and Technology Facilities Council formed a Joint Venture to establish Harwell Oxford as one of the world's principal locations for scientific, academic and business collaboration. The joint venture approach enables it to benefit from public sector access to global scientific communities, research programmes and facilities alongside Goodman's commercial development expertise.
HRH The Duke of York is Royal Patron of Harwell Oxford and as an ambassador, endorses it as a global location for inward investment.
The Campus
Harwell Oxford, which lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in southern Oxfordshire, is a vibrant and growing community of science and technology based innovation and enterprise. Over 4,500 people work on the campus in some 150 organisations.
Offering good access by road (A34/M4) and rail (Didcot Parkway), and within easy reach of the key regional centres of Oxford, Newbury and Reading, the site is well located for knowledge-based industry.
Based in the heart of 'Science Vale UK', an area of economic growth in south Oxfordshire, Harwell Oxford is in an area now specifically identified in economic development and spatial planning policy for growth based on science, technology and education.
Objectives
 The vision for Harwell Oxford extends far beyond the provision of scientific facilities, services and workspace accommodation. It is to enhance a community of like-minded individuals working together, in all areas of science, technology and business.
Future investment at Harwell Oxford will encompass fundamental scientific research and the development of property, facilities and local infrastructure. The provision of housing, retail and leisure amenities will support the on-site population and expansive landscaped open spaces will be integrated to create the biggest specialist community of its kind anywhere in the UK.
A minimum of 100,000 square metres of laboratory, high technology industrial and office accommodation has been masterplanned for development. Up to 5,000 high value knowledge-based jobs are expected to be created.
Facilities
Harwell Oxford offers a wide range of facilities including: - Science facilities: on-site are the Diamond x-ray synchrotron, the Isis neutron source and the Vulcan ultra-high power laser, each one of these being one of the leading science facilities in the world. There is an extensive space science facility, including vacuum chamber and vibration testing, and ground station capabilities. Other facilities on site include precision workshop capabilities, micro nano fabrication facilities, cryogenics engineering, microelectronics design, phenotyping and biolaboratories.
- Innovation Support and Networking Opportunities: Harwell Oxford provides innovation support, general networking opportunities (including Business Breakfasts and cross-campus informal networking), special interest groups for high tech industries and business support programmes including a business mentor scheme. Major campus organisations co-ordinate their activities through the Technology and Communications forums.
- General Amenities: on-site are a range of support facilities including restaurants, cafes, day nursery, meeting and conference rooms, shops, bank, post office and overnight accommodation.
- Park/Building/Accommodation services: on-site is a team which helps to provide a first-class working environment and allow businesses to focus on their core activities.
Accommodation
Goodman has extensive experience working with organisations to develop and manage property solutions giving them the scope to offer businesses flexible options for companies locating to Harwell. There are two Innovation Centres located on the campus:
- The Harwell Oxford Innovation Centre (HIC) has just over 25,000 square feet of office space and the facilities and infrastructure to support over 60 companies. www.oxin.co.uk/centre/harwell
- The European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) is a new intensive incubation space providing business, scientific and financial support to up to 10 companies each year.
- Further accommodation is available in multi-let or individual buildings and extensive opportunities exist for bespoke development.
Major Organisations
Major organisations located at Harwell Oxford include: - The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is one of Europe's largest multidisciplinary research organisations supporting scientists and engineers world-wide. The council operates world-class, large-scale research facilities, including The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), and manages international research projects in support of a broad cross-section of the UK research community.
- The Diamond Light Source (DLS) is a new scientific facility in South Oxfordshire which produces x-ray, infrared and ultra-violet beams of exceptional brightness. The synchrotron light is increasingly being exploited by new communities for research and commercial applications in areas such as bioscience, pharmaceutical research, geological and environmental studies.
- MRC Harwell is a major genetics centre and is home to the MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit and the Mary Lyon Centre.
- The Health Protection Agency (HPA) centre houses the UK Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards and advises on protection from radiation, and chemical hazards and poisons.
- Joint Academic NETwork (JANET) is the UK's education and research network and one of the world leaders in this field.
- European Space Agency (ESA) has an established facility at Harwell Oxford – a first for the UK. The ESA facility capitalises on the country's world-leading expertise in space science and technology. The ESA facility is expected to be a key element of a much wider vision for the future of the UK's fast-growing space economy, through the creation of an International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell Oxford.
- The International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) is a public-private initiative at Harwell Oxford led by STFC. ISIC creates a critical mass of space-related activities and capabilities by linking existing distributed pockets of expertise across universities, industries, national facilities, government and international agencies. ISIC focuses on three key activities: understanding and countering climate change, ensuring the security of space system, and services and exploiting and visualizing the data generated by Earth Observation satellites. In the future ISIC will expand these activities to include robotics and exploration, novel power sources and integrated applications.
- Harwell Healthcare Technologies Group is a special interest group which brings together companies and organisations interested in healthcare technologies, built around the expertise in imaging, instrumentation, diagnostics, medical devices and functional genomics available on the campus. It draws its membership from the academic organisations and businesses on the campus, and those in the wider Harwell Oxford network.
Campus Community
Harwell Oxford has a vibrant campus community, including a dozen sports clubs, lunchtime language classes, training opportunities, charity fundraising efforts and social events. |
