Council-owned science park Sciontech in Liverpool has signed a £12 million deal with UK property provider Bruntwood SciTech, to encourage growth within the city’s science and technology sector.
Bruntwood SciTech has bought a 25 percent share in Sciontech, with the bumper investment expected to boost the Liverpool’s science and technology spin-outs, start-ups and SMEs.
The Sciontec science park comes under the umbrella of the city-wide cultural project KQ (Knowledge Quarter) Liverpool, an organisation currently overseeing a two-billion-pound development programme in the city.
Liverpool Science Park, located in Merseyside, currently provides more than 120,000 square feet of office and commercial laboratory space in the knowledge quarter.
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According to a spokesperson for KQ Liverpool: “With the current buildings [in the science park] running at 90 percent occupancy, we intend to work with the LSP management team to deliver a business case for a fourth innovations centre, with a specific focus on digital technology and healthcare”.
Bruntwood SciTech, formed in 2018, invests in science and technology businesses throughout the UK. Its portfolio exceeds 600 businesses across the industry.
The deal was overseen and advised by law firm DLA Piper, liability partnership UK LLP, investment firm CBRE and tax consultant RSM UK during the bidding process and shares transaction.
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Professor Dame Janet Beer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and Chair of Sciontec Liverpool, said: “Sciontec Liverpool, now with Bruntwood SciTech as an investor, demonstrates that private and public partnership works. It has commitment, momentum, capacity and delivery potential but more importantly, it is unique to Liverpool, yet now part of a much bigger national picture.
“Our strengths in fighting infection and disease, digital health, personalised medicine and civic data, materials chemistry, robotics, big data and artificial intelligence will be even more relevant as we move to the recovery phase which will follow the current crisis”.
Liverpool Science Park has also recently taken over the Facilities Management for Liverpool based IoT technology developer Sensor City, as the first step in creating a shared service platform across all of Liverpool’s science and tech assets.
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