BIOHUB TO RUN NEW ALDERLEY PARK RESEARCH FACILITY

Nottingham-based BioCity, a life sciences incubation business, has been appointed by AstraZeneca to establish a new centre for bioscience companies at Alderley Park in Cheshire. 



The BioHub, will initially provide 36,000 sq ft of high-end laboratory and office facilities for early-stage and growing firms engaged in innovative drug discovery and development. 


The move is a boost for the Cheshire economy which is still coming to terms with the news that AstraZeneca is moving its R&D from Alderley Park to Cambridgeshire over the next two years, and with it nearly 2,000 high-value jobs.



The first BioHub tenants to move to the site include Blueberry Therapeutics, Imagen Biotech and Redx Anti-Infectives, a subsidiary of Liverpool-based Redx Pharma.



BioCity said its management team has worked with AstraZeneca since late 2012 to look into the feasibility of creating a specialist centre for the next generation of life science companies. 



It means BioCity will have a presence in three of the main UK life science research centres having established BioCity Nottingham in 2003 and BioCity Scotland in 2012. 



Firms based at the centre will have access to AstraZeneca`s restaurants, meeting rooms and conference facilities and will be able to rent specialist technical equipment and services. 



Dr Glenn Crocker, chief executive of BioCity Nottingham, said: