Harwell Science and Innovation Campus has secured £300m of financing to help it expand and build out a new laboratory, advanced manufacturing, and office space.

Bosses have said this investment will help aid a "chronic shortage" of research space in the area. 

The finance was secured by the campus public-private partnership – a joint venture between Brookfield, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

Over the next two years Harwell will use the additional funding secured to build 440,000 sq ft of new laboratory and research buildings across the campus.

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This will include Tech Foundry, 220,000 sq. ft of Advanced Manufacturing space, and the Linear Accelerator Building, a landmark laboratory building for starting and scaling science organisations, alongside a number of further developments across the campus.

Tim Bestwick, chairman of the Harwell Campus Joint Venture and Chief Technology Officer at UKAEA, said: "This £300m finance facility will allow Harwell to continue to expand and offer exciting science, tech and innovation organisations the high-quality accommodation they need to thrive and grow.

"We’re delighted with how Harwell Campus has been evolving - based on world-leading science and innovation capabilities and now a major hub for innovation alongside world-leading research.

"Harwell is a great example of a highly successful public-private partnership, and we look forward to continuing to build this very special place."

The investment and development facility has been provided by a consortium comprising Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Axa.

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Jim Stretton, chief financial officer at Harwell Campus, said: “The new finance facility will be transformative for the campus.

"There is a chronic shortage of high-calibre lab and research and development space across Oxfordshire which is holding incredible companies back.

"The new developments this facility will fund will accelerate our ability to effectively support our thriving innovation ecosystem.”

Herald Series: Harwell Campus

Harwell Campus is a 700-acre site and home to cutting edge facilities such as the Diamond Light Source Synchrotron, the National Quantum Computing Centre and the Rosalind Franklin Institute.  

The UK government has invested over £3bn in scientific facilities at Harwell.

The campus has close links to Oxford University and other leading universities across the UK.

It is operated on a cluster basis, promoting collaboration across the Space, Health Tech, Energy Tech and Quantum Computing sectors.

George Freeman MP, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, said: “This major private sector investment in Harwell Campus - one of the UK’s leading clusters of scientists and companies in space and life science - is a sign of how our £20 billion per year public research and development is catalysing major co-investment in clusters up and down the country."

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

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