Motherlabs, ARC’s accelerator space is already over 60 percent occupied, only two months after it launched and is experiencing an unprecedented no. of enquiries for lab space from science, technology, and innovation businesses.
Sania Therapeutics, a seed stage gene therapy business developing treatments for people with neurological disorders, Epsilogen a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer and GENinCode which specialises in genetic risk assessment and prediction of cardiovascular disease, have all taken space in the brand new, Containment Level 2 lab spaces, ranging from 670 sq. ft to 1,600 sq. ft in size.
With a flexible, short lease structure, the fully managed private labs and write up spaces with shared facilities and dedicated lab manager, have been designed to help Motherlabs’ members grow sustainably, innovate and move ideas from concept, to lab, to commercialisation at pace.
Daniel Pagella, ARC’s Senior Director said: “Science plays a huge role in our everyday lives and is vital in tackling the global challenges that we face from the pandemic to the climate emergency. Providing the right space and ecosystem, and reducing barriers to growth, is key to unleashing the transformative potential of our world class science and innovation base.”
Dr Andrew Murray, CEO and Co-founder of Sania Therapeutics added: “A major bottleneck in the London biotechnology space is the supply of high-quality laboratories. Motherlabs addresses that problem and more by not only providing space, but also the services, shared facilities and general collaborative environment that allows biotech companies to develop. We are excited to be part of Motherlabs and Sania looks forward to growing alongside them.”
ARC has ambitious plans to grow Motherlabs, rolling the business out across its 1.6 million sq. ft cluster network, including at Harwell, and Oxford, in order to ease the demand supply imbalance for lab space across the burgeoning life sciences sector.
The latest report by The Centre for Entrepreneurs’ (CFE) identified that there are currently more than 400 incubators and 300 accelerators to help organisations grow and thrive around the UK, which is almost double the amount than those found in the last comparable report, published by NESTA in 2017.
With demand for high-quality, strategically located lab-enabled space outstripping supply, ARC has plans for further growth across the U.K. and Europe and is in active discussions on several potential new sites. ARC has five million sq. ft of development potential across the UK’s Golden Triangle, with three million sq. ft planned at the 700-acre Harwell site and a further 750,000 sq. ft in Oxford.
