The UK’s first Life Sciences Opportunities Zone praised at ministerial visit

The Rt Hon Lord Henley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) endorsed the UK’s first Life Sciences Opportunities Zone during a visit to Charnwood Campus, Loughborough on Friday 1 June.

Lord Henley met with The Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough, LLEP Board Member Dr Nik Kotecha CEO of Morningside Pharmaceuticals, and representatives from Charnwood Campus to celebrate the Life Sciences sector, which according to latest figures is valued at £150 million in gross value added (GVA) and employs 3,600 across 130 businesses in the Leicester and Leicestershire area.

The Life Sciences Opportunities Zone (LSOZ) aims to create an environment to inspire discovery, encourage collaboration, accelerate business growth, and help contribute to the Midlands and the UK’s continued growth at the cutting edge of the Life Science industry.

Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough said:

I was delighted to work with the Charnwood Campus team and LLEP on their bid to become the UK’s first Life Sciences Opportunity Zone. The campus is at the forefront of collaboration between academia, industry and public bodies with a focus on delivering breakthroughs in the medical technology and biopharma sectors. It undoubtedly will become a significant benefit to both our regional economy and global medical innovation.”

LSOZ consists of world-class laboratories and specialist manufacturing facilities and is home to top bioscience, pharmaceutical, med-tech companies such as Almac, 3M and ARM Holdings.

Alan Armstrong, CEO of the Almac Group said:

Over the last 24 months, Almac has invested considerably in all our sites, including our Charnwood facility, to expand upon, and complement, the existing services offered from our Northern Ireland, European, North American and Asian bases. We are proud to be an integral part of the LSOZ and continue to experience the benefits of being located within the surrounding life science community. We look forward with anticipation to continued growth on this site and the mutual opportunities we all may avail of as more organisations choose to relocate or expand, on the Charnwood campus.”

The Leicester and Leicestershire Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) sets out an ambitious growth plan for the city and county over the next 20 years. It recognises Life Sciences – Medical Technologies, which employs around 600,000 people across the Midlands, as a key sector that will drive long-term productivity.

As part of the ministerial visit, a roundtable discussion about the sector took place to discuss its strengths, weaknesses, and how it can continue to contribute to the local economy.

In addition to its LSOZ status, Charnwood Campus is one part of the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone, which offers a range of benefits for businesses who locate to the site including rates relief, simplified planning and improved infrastructure.

Gosia Khrais, Commercial and Marketing Director said:

We recognised early on that Enterprise Zone and Life Sciences Opportunity Zone designations would help us create a unique proposition that could benefit companies on the site and accelerate Charnwood Campus development.

We are one year in and our expectations are starting to materialise. All our Life Sciences Opportunity Zone projects are gaining momentum with a potential to scale every single one of them up. Westminster visits like the one today, not only put us in a spotlight but also the sectors we are driving – pharmaceutical, biotech, medical technologies, healthcare and high tech.”

Further information about the Life Sciences Opportunity Zone here . Find out more about the Leicestershire Enterprise Zones here.