A SCIENCE park in Oxfordshire which is home to 6,000 workers has been 50 per cent bought by a global investment corporation.

Brookfield Asset Management has bought a 50 per cent stake in Harwell Campus.

The 700-acre park near Didcot is home to about 200 science and technology organisations, including £2 billion of the UK’s 'open access national laboratories' shared by scientists from across the UK and abroad.

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Among the most famous facilities is the Diamond Light Source particle accelerator.

It is also home to many companies in the UK space sector.

Brookfield has acquired the 50 per cent stake in the park formerly owned by U and I Group and Harwell Oxford Partners Ltd.

Campus director Angus Horner said having Brookfield as one of the owners would 'accelerate the expansion and development of the campus'.

He went on: "Harwell will always be a place of vital importance to the UK.

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"Right now on campus many organisations including the Diamond Light Source, Public Health England and the new Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre are immersed in critical work on the Covid-19 virus."

With a heritage going back 78 years, Harwell campus is now a 50-50 public and private venture.

William Cooper, co-founder of Harwell Oxford Partners Ltd said: "Brookfield has come onboard with a shared understanding of the value in science real estate as an asset class and a mutual vision to stimulate the global science and tech sectors."

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Zachary Vaughan, 'head of Europe' at Brookfield Asset Management’s Real Estate Group said: "This acquisition marks an important addition to our portfolio and represents a positive first step into the science and innovation real estate space in Europe.

"We very much look forward to working with our joint venture partner, HM Government, to jointly accelerate the growth of Harwell Campus and to expand its presence as a globally important location for science research and breakthrough technologies."