- With planned investment of over £800m, the Cluster brings together Barts Health NHS Trust and private investors to unite clinical excellence and commercial innovation.
- Science Minister Lord Vallance said: “we have ambitious goals for making the UK Europe’s leader when it comes to life sciences’ sector-led investment in R&D, access to scale-up finance, and pulling in foreign direct investment. This new Cluster will make a valuable contribution to those efforts.”
The Barts Life Science Cluster, a landmark partnership designed to transform healthcare and deliver inclusive economic growth, has officially launched in Whitechapel, East London.
The initiative brings together Barts Health NHS and private investors BGO, H.I.G. Capital and Lateral in a first-of-its-kind collaboration. The c. 25-acre Cluster aims to unite clinical excellence and commercial innovation, supported by various academic linkages, to deliver improved patient outcomes and economic opportunity.
The Cluster will provide the Life Sciences industry with unparalleled access to existing clinical and research infrastructure, a diverse patient population, world-class clinical expertise, a large scale proprietary clinical database and real-world testing environments. This unique adjacency will enable innovators in MedTech, AI, digital health and therapeutics to move rapidly from research and development to prototype and practice.
Lord Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation said:
“When our £150 billion life sciences sector succeeds, the whole nation’s health and wealth are better for it. That’s why this sector is central to our modern Industrial Strategy, and plans to unlock economic growth across the UK.
Through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we have ambitious goals for making the UK Europe’s leader when it comes to life sciences’ sector-led investment in R&D, access to scale-up finance, and pulling in foreign direct investment. This new Cluster will make a valuable contribution to those efforts, as well as underlining Whitechapel as a key destination for business and innovation.”
The Cluster aims to create a truly clinical-led environment for innovation, centred around the Royal London Hospital, a nationally leading site for trauma and clinical trials, alongside the capability to incorporate the wider strengths of Barts Health, such as Europe’s largest heart centre at St Bartholomew’s hospital. Proximity to frontline clinicians enables collaboration throughout the product lifecycle — from early development to real-world demonstration and deployment.
The Cluster is supported by several academic partners, including the adjacent Queen Mary University of London, a leading Russell Group institution, who are ranked 14th globally for research quality and in the top 5 in the world for medical citations. They already boast several research centres of excellence in cancer, genomics, cardiovascular, inflammation and precision healthcare.
This unique setting allows start-ups and global corporates alike to co-develop next-generation technologies, from AI-driven solutions to novel medical hardware, alongside one of the UK’s largest and leading teaching hospitals. By building innovation into the fabric of clinical workflows, the Cluster ensures new technologies are designed to integrate seamlessly into care delivery, helping to smooth the path to adoption and maximise patient impact.
Shane DeGaris, Group CEO of Barts Health NHS Trust, commented:
“At Barts Health we see first-hand the challenges and opportunities in delivering healthcare at scale. The Barts Life Science Cluster allows us to bring together our clinicians, patients, industry, and academic partners in new ways — accelerating innovation, creating jobs for East London, and above all improving outcomes for the communities we serve. This is a landmark moment for Barts and for UK life sciences.”
This approach is already bearing fruit. Barts Health has partnered with the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI), the UK’s leading health technology trade body, to create new pathways for medtech innovators to work hand-in-hand with clinicians at Barts Health. This will help patients benefit sooner from cutting-edge technologies, while giving industry real-world insight into adoption and impact.
The private-sector Cluster Partners are set to invest over £800m to deliver new development within the Cluster, comprising commercial workspace, affordable workspace, key worker and affordable housing, alongside extensive community facilities.
Anchored by approximately 1 million sq ft of new, best-in-class space, this initiative will establish London’s most dynamic health innovation district, purpose-designed for MedTech, AI, digital health and therapeutics. It will set a new standard for future-ready lab and innovation environments, creating a magnet for talent, capital and high-growth occupiers.
Once operational, this 25-acre district will comprise 5 million sq ft of innovation, workspace, academic and clinical facilities, supporting thousands of new jobs and generating more than £0.75bn in GVA. Adjacent to the new Tower Hamlets Town Hall and beside Whitechapel station, it will become one of London’s most connected and compelling destinations for the life sciences sector.
