Scale Space

• Avacta Group plc has relocated its Therapeutics division to Scale Space White City from Cambridge taking 8,800 sq ft of ‘ready to occupy’ lab modules.
• Impli, Good Dog Food, PhycoWorks and Eden Bio have taken 4 additional units (5,900 sq ft), with leases starting in May 2022. 
• Demand for lab space in London outstrips supply fourfold, according to MedCity, with Scale Space now providing 32,000 sq ft in White City – a 50% increase on its provision in the past 12 months.
• A further 50,000 sq ft of space optimised for lab fitout at Scale Space is currently nearing completion, due to start tenant fit-out in late Q2 2022.
• To visit Scale Space White City or arrange interviews email scalespace@kallaway.com 

Scale Space, the workspace provider dedicated to scaleups, announces five new lifesciences tenants set to occupy 14,700 of the total 16,900 sq ft ‘ready to occupy’ lab space in the White City Innovation District.

• Avacta Group plc, a clinical stage oncology drug company, has relocated its Therapeutics division from Cambridge and occupied 8,800 sq ft
• The following 4 companies have each taken a module
•  Impli – implantable healthcare company
•  Good Dog Food – creating sustainable food for pets  
• Phyco Works – unlocking the potential of algae through AI
•  Eden Bio - building a strain engineering platform to help companies increase protein yield 

Scale Space currently has 2,200 sq ft of ‘ready to occupy’ lab space available to let (each module is 1,100 sq ft).

How Scale Space is addressing London’s lab space shortage

Affordability and availability of lab space is holding back the growth potential for early stage life sciences businesses with traditional lab space models not fit for purpose for these businesses because of the time and expense required to create a lab from scratch.

Scale Space’s ‘ready to occupy’ labs are available on more flexible1-2 year leases, rather than traditional 5 year + contracts. The option of smaller labs and shorter leases is important and preferable for scaleups as rapid growth can quickly change company size and space requirements. Scale Space White City was also identified as a good solution for Series A+ companies, in the MedCity report ‘London lifesciences real estate demand report’ launched in October 2021. A further 50,000 sq ft of space optimised for lab fitout was announced at Scale Space early in 2021 and is currently nearing completion, due to start tenant fit-out in late Q2 2022.

Michael Holmes, CEO of Scale Space says: “Scale Space is responding to the current lab shortage in London by providing fitted lab solutions for scaling businesses. Life sciences is a booming sector and London has the talent to support it, but the lack of available and cost-effective infrastructure is stifling growth. Our “ready to occupy labs” are a turnkey solution which appeals to scaleups on the hunt for lab space and unable to invest in costly fitouts. The level of interest we are already seeing for this product tells us that demand is significant.”

Scale Space believes the delivery of ‘ready to occupy’ lab space will strengthen White City Innovation District’s attractiveness as London’s leading destination for life science scaleups to locate and become successful high growth businesses. Proximity to the talent and facilities of Imperial College London, and the ability to sit alongside other leading life sciences scaleups and more established businesses such as Novartis should make White City the ideal destination for this booming sector.

The announcement follows a burst of leasing activity at Scale Space to leading life sciences businesses including Puraffinity, DNAe and CTLS in 2021.

The White City Innovation District is already home to pioneering and global brands including Novartis, Blenheim Chalcot, L’Oreal and Yoox Net-A-Porter. 

NEW TENANT QUOTES

Neil Bell, Chief Development Officer, Avacta Therapeutics said, “We selected White City and Scale Space as our new location for Avacta Therapeutics headquarters because we wanted to integrate our research and development teams into a single, vibrant and pioneering setting where our people could thrive and be immersed in an innovative ecosystem.  As a growing oncology focused R&D organisation we were attracted by the opportunities afforded by White City and Scale Space location, including access to laboratory-ready facilities, world-class talent, leading infrastructure and communication links, and the increased potential to fast-track our innovative cancer therapies through to patients.”

Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch, CEO & Founder, Impli said, “We chose Scale Space White City because it is such an exciting innovation hub with lots of likeminded players and a strong support network. We believe that this can help us accelerate and deliver impactful innovations to the market. The ecosystem will enable us to reach a broad network of opportunities and will also enable knowledge transfer to happen at a much faster rate. This positions us to attract the resources and skills needed to deliver on our vision in implantable healthcare. What attracted us to choose the lab space model is the advanced facilities with the opportunity to expand this in the future.”

Chris Reynolds, CEO & Founder, Eden Bio said, “Scale Space offers us cutting-edge labs right in the heart of a growing scientific ecosystem in West London. The resources available allow us to punch well above our weight in terms of what we will be able to achieve. As a seed stage biotech startup, Scale Space is perfect for our needs. We’re hugely excited to be moving into an environment with so much potential.”

ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING QUOTES: 

Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business, said: “Scale Space’s investment in new lab space is excellent news for London. Our world-class life sciences ecosystem will be further boosted by this facility, which will give innovative companies space to grow and thrive. The Mayor of London co-funds MedCity, whose recent study on R&D real estate emphasises the need for new, flexible scale-up space like this to be provided for London’s life sciences sector to thrive.”

Laura Citron, CEO at London & Partners, London’s business growth and destination agency said: “The investment into new lab spaces in the White City Innovation District is fantastic news for London’s thriving life sciences sector. The city is home to some of the world’s most innovative life sciences companies, researchers and world class universities and the new labs will provide additional infrastructure and support for scaling businesses to grow in London and beyond.”

Neelam Patel, CEO, MedCity said: “We welcome Scale Space creating this additional much-needed R&D space in an area of high innovation in White City. As our Demand Report confirmed in October, space where life science start-ups can scale and collaborate is critical to growth of the sector. Coinciding with recent data from London & Partners and Dealroom on the record increase in health tech investment into the UK capital, this timely expansion is of huge importance to the London ecosystem.”

Dr Simon Hepworth, Director of Enterprise, Imperial College London said: “It’s fantastic to see Scale Space is creating more commercial lab space for early-stage life sciences companies across the White City Innovation District. This is another important step to enable entrepreneurs and startups to develop their businesses, as well as providing partnership opportunities with our world-leading experts at Imperial and global companies that have their UK headquarters based locally. 

Cllr Andrew Jones, Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, said: “The White City innovation district forms part of our Industrial Strategy in partnership with Imperial College London to make the borough a global beacon for innovation and growth and a leading place for tech, creative businesses, education and research. We’ll continue to work with developers to maximise affordable workspace and co-working opportunities to attract the best and the brightest in the tech, digital and creative industries to Hammersmith & Fulham. We want to make Hammersmith & Fulham the best place to live, work and play in Europe.”

 

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MEDIA ENQUIRIES

 
Please contact Kallaway on: Email: scalespace@kallaway.comTelephone:  07827812813 High resolution images of Scale Space: http://bit.ly/scale_space_Images   Video: Three-minute overview of the ideas and purpose behind Scale Space from Scale Space’s creators Manoj Badale, Co-Founder, Blenheim Chalcot, Mark Sanders, Executive Chairman, Scale Space and Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean Imperial College Business School. http://bit.ly/Scale_Space_Video    

NOTES TO EDITORS

Scale Space (www.scalespace.co.uk)

Scale Space created by Blenheim Chalcot, the UK’s leading digital venture builder is an entirely new concept that brings Blenheim Chalcot’s expertise together with world leading universities to create a new community for scaleups to help them grow faster and stronger. Blenheim Chalcot has partnered with Imperial College London to launch Scale Space’s first physical site on the White City Innovation District, London. 

Scale Space is a growth community, connecting businesses together for mutual benefit, knowledge sharing and to help them draw on the specific skills and expertise within Blenheim Chalcot and its university partners. This is delivered via a structured range of services accessed within the buildings or online. 

Scale Space White City initially opened in July 2020 and has already expanded with a third phase opening in June 2022. It is now home to more than 20 businesses and over 1,000 people working in those innovative, high growth companies. 

Scale Space has a further location in Nottingham.

 

Imperial College London (http://www.imperial.ac.uk)

Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 20,000 students and 8,000 staff are working to solve to the biggest challenges in science, medicine, engineering and business. 

Imperial is the world’s fifth most international university, according to Times Higher Education, with academic ties to more than 150 countries. Reuters named the College as the UK's most innovative university because of its exceptional entrepreneurial culture and ties to industry. 

 

Blenheim Chalcot (https://www.blenheimchalcot.com)

Founded and run by entrepreneurs, Blenheim Chalcot is the UK’s leading venture builder. Working alongside company founders, Blenheim Chalcot supports its ventures from startup to scale to exit, giving them access to the global networks and services they need to grow.

This support is bolstered by the innovative partnerships Blenheim Chalcot forges with big businesses. Its digital expertise helps its ventures be more agile, while its partners' global scope helps them scale faster. 

Blenheim Chalcot has built over 40 businesses in a variety of sectors, including technology, financial services, education, travel, software, sport and media. Working with entrepreneurs and co-founders, it continues to create and build businesses in these sectors, often from the ground up.

 

White City Innovation District

The White City innovation district forms part of Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Industrial Strategy in partnership with Imperial College London to make the borough a global beacon for innovation and growth and a leading place for tech, creative businesses, education and research.   

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