Prologis has completed a letting to German pharmaceuticals giant BioNTech for an 80,000-square-foot cutting-edge life sciences facility in Cambridge.
In 2020, BioNTech and Pfizer created the first authorised COVID-19 vaccine that was also the first mRNA vaccine.
BioNTech signed a deal with the UK government to test potential vaccines for cancer and other diseases last year. At the time it said a nemorandum of understanding had been signed to speed up clinical trials for personalised mRNA immunotherapies with the aim of providing personalised cancer therapies for up to 10,000 patients by the end of 2030. That formed part of a multi-year collaboration focused on three pillars – cancer immunotherapies based on mRNA or other drug classes, infectious disease vaccines, and investments into expanding BioNTech’s footprint in the UK as one of the company’s key markets.
It confirmed then it would invest in a UK research and development hub at an undisclosed site in Cambridge with an expected capacity of more than 70 scientists and would strengthen its UK footprint by setting up a regional headquarter in London to house employees in global and regional supporting functions such as legal.
The group has now taken the majority of the 102,000-square-foot 1000 Discovery Drive Dame Mary Archer Way on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The entire building has been leased, with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust having recently taken space to open a histopathology (tissue disease) facility on the remaining 23,000-square-foot top floor.
Industrial real estate giant Prologis began speculative development of the laboratory in 2022, targeting biotech and life science businesses. Situated on the southern edge of the campus, the five-storey building forms part of a clinical, academic and commercial ecosystem for life sciences.
The building forms part of Prologis’ PARKlife investment drive into urban life science workspaces. In 2021 Prologis UK committed £450 million of investment to the delivery of expansion plans at the campus, with the aim of providing an additional 400,000 square feet of commercial research and development laboratory and offices to meet the needs of the UK’s life sciences and biotech industries.
As well as being co-located with the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, the campus is home to leading hospitals such as Addenbrooke's and Royal Papworth as well as facilities for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The building includes a café and open-source community centre.
Savills, Creative Places and Bidwells advise Prologis.