A contractor has been appointed to develop a multi-million pound laboratory and workspace development in the heart of the city’s Knowledge Quarter.
HEMISPHERE One is a £61m, 117,190 net sq ft development which will be located at Paddington Village, Liverpool City Council’s flagship development site in the city’s Knowledge Quarter innovation district.
HEMISPHERE One is part of a two-phase project, alongside HEMISPHERE Two, that will ultimately offer a combined net total 216,693 sq ft of chemistry labs, data labs, bio labs and innovation labs, alongside incubator space, grow-on and commercial lab space.
Procurement for HEMISPHERE Two will be managed via a separate tender process at a later date.
Morgan Sindall will support Sciontec in refining the technical design and allow for smooth transition into the construction phase of the project, which is expected to start on site in the Autumn.
The appointment follows a competitive tender process coordinated through the North West Construction Hub High Value Framework. Morgan Sindall previously delivered The Spine, a 160,000 sq ft commercial building which is home to the Royal College of Physicians, adjacent to the site of HEMISPHERE One.
Sciontec, a partnership between Liverpool City Council, University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and Bruntwood SciTech, has already reached outline letting agreements prior to work commencing at HEMISPHERE One. Earlier this year, HEMISPHERE One was allocated a £13m funding package from the Government to support completion of the project.
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Sciontec, said: “We are bringing HEMISPHERE One and Two forward to satisfy the rocketing demand for high-quality lab space in Liverpool city centre and support delivery of the city region’s Innovation Zone ambitions.
“The appointment of a trusted and experienced main contractor in Morgan Sindall allows us to now confidently move ahead with finalising the designs and commencing shell and core work over the coming months.
“While we are advancing with pre-let agreements, we also hope that this latest step forward will offer confidence to the wider market and future innovation occupiers that Liverpool can deliver excellent new developments at scale.”
The Paddington Village development was enabled with the help of a £12m Liverpool City Region Combined Authority grant to pay for infrastructure work, including demolition and bringing services to the central 8.4 acres of the 30-acre site.
HEMISPHERE One is set to also receive up to £13m from the UK Government as a result of the Liverpool Strategic Futures Panel and a £1.5m allocation from the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Innovation Zone, part of the Government’s Investment Zone programme.
Worthington Owen and Avison Young have been appointed as agents for HEMISPHERE One.
