Rapidly growing Swiss biopharmaceuticals group Lonza is closing in on a deal to buy the former British Gas site at Thames Valley Park to develop a circa 500,000-square-foot offices, laboratory and industrial development, CoStar News understands.
The group, advised by Cushman & Wakefield, launched a feasibility study for an office, laboratory and factory relocation early last year. It is based in a 210,000-square-foot multi-product manufacturing and development facility at 228 Bath Road in Slough and uses the site to produce ingredients for start-up biotech and large pharmaceutical companies. It has 1,300 employees working at the site with the team growing rapidly.
Earlier this year CoStar News revealed Lonza was looking at two Reading options, Mapletree's 1.4 million square foot Green Park campus fronting the M4 and the former BG Group site at Thames Valley Park, the 80-acre campus that is also home to Microsoft and Oracle.
Aound 800 jobs were transferred from British Gas’s former corporate head office at Thames Valley Park to London in 2015 after the company's takeover by Shell.
Market sources said it is now focusing on a land deal for the BG site. The owner of the building is a private Middle Eastern investor advised by asset manager Berkeley Estate Asset Management.
Cushman & Wakefield declined to comment.