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Pushing UK commercial property to greater flexibility in lab space delivery will be integral for both Pharma and R&D to flourish

A post Covid outcome will deliver a different landscape for Pharma in this country and this will be reflected in commercial property developments. Historically, the two worlds have held opposing views.

Commercial property developers and investors perceive cost and delay in building multi-purpose space versus the growing need for flexibility in design from the Pharma world.

Seize the Opportunity

But if more lab space is to be built the UK commercial property sector must seize the opportunity to create. So, the delivery of buildings that work for both the end user and the property investor.

In addition, we can all see part of our recent strength has been world class R&D to deliver a Covid beating UK vaccine. The UK now appreciates the necessity of home-grown Pharma and R&D. The power of research, UK manufacturing and a sophisticated supply chain.

Vaccines aside, the trend for Pharma however is a global demand for precision medicine. Equally important is the medical model which is all about the customisation of healthcare, with medical treatments or products being tailored to the individual. At the core of this concept is the understanding that we are all different.

Embrace The Future Now

Therefore, commercial property must embrace these future lab design requirements as speeding up innovation has become critical to making R&D viable.

As detailed in international property agents JLL’s ‘Journey to the next-gen lab report‘, R&D real estate is already aware of the trend. So to become highly flexible and multi-purpose is growing in importance. Moreover, embedding this flexible philosophy into the very design and planning of any scheme will provide the right outcomes for the Pharma and R&D sectors.

Nowhere is this blueprint for the flexible delivery of lab and R&D space more possible than at Gravity, a new commercial property development based in the West of England.

One of the largest proposed developments in the UK, Gravity totals 616-acres and is designed to offer not only sustainable and clean commercial space but flexible hub campus settings so that knowledge sharing can happen.

Also, the new development site means businesses looking to own their own property can quickly design legislative sustainable requirements into the very heart of the structure. Equally important is the ability to design to harness technology to meet their immediate needs and provide flexibility for future plans.

Flexible Design Encourages Knowledge Sharing

Needless to say, flexible design also encourages knowledge-sharing, which is increasingly vital for engaging the next generation of scientists and researchers.

The vaccine era has seen this knowledge-sharing in action on an international scale to secure rapid vaccine delivery and the next generation of scientists welcome this and see it as particularly relevant for future Pharma and R&D.

The very best US innovation districts have seen exponential growth since the 1970s due to the emphasis they place on knowledge-sharing.

Consequently, many of today’s science students demonstrate a strong desire to share ideas with their peers and prefer spaces where they can learn as teams, rather than in isolation.

The Talent Pool Has Its Say

So, making labs attractive to these students will be fundamental for companies looking to attract the best and brightest talent. Developers should also look to make this an easier process for firms by basing themselves near world class universities and colleges.

The Gravity scheme is therefore located near four leading universities and a world-class engineering college. Acutely aware of what business is searching for right now in the UK, the nearby regional talent pool was an important factor in the choice of location for the scheme.

UK plc’s ability to attract international investment into life sciences will be largely dependent on our understanding of what investors and occupiers want from lab space. Recent UK Government announcements confirmed a further 15% investment into R&D. Gravity is creating a campus which will seed these business needs.

The Challenge for Commercial Property

The challenge for commercial property to deliver space that accommodates flexibility and understands the inherent needs that Pharma and R&D require to flourish here, and simultaneously compete on the world stage, is being met at Gravity.

Gravity is now talking to occupiers about their future commercial property needs in this exciting and unique proposition to help Pharma and R&D happen in a sustainable and collaborative environment with all the commercial advantages of excellent infrastructure too.

UK manufacturing has been struggling for years now.

Before November 2019, when, unknowingly to the western world, coronavirus was spreading across a number of Chinese cities, British factories were already suffering from continuous falls in output and orders as Brexit uncertainty made many firms question their future on these shores.

Car manufacturers were the most high profile to announce either closures or plans to scale back their operations in the UK. But decline was seen across the board, from aerospace to pharmaceuticals.

And then Covid-19 hit. While Brexit uncertainty was bad for business, it would have been a short-term blip most likely. The economic implications of lockdown for manufacturing could be generational.

Research published last April by the Centre for Progressive Policy, a think tank, claimed that manufacturing would bear the economic brunt of Covid-19 due to factories having to abruptly shut up shop in line with the government’s social distancing guidelines.

The study found that the decline in economic output from this could be a staggering 50 percent over the second quarter of this year.

In its latest purchasing managers index (PMI), IHS Markit/CIPS revealed that the manufacturing sector, although more optimistic than this time last year, is still being hit by significant supply chain issues, Covid-19 disruptions, stalling exports, input shortages and rising cost pressures.

The survey revealed that, although business optimism had hit a nine-month high, buoyed by the successful vaccine roll-out programme, there is still near-stagnant production in the sector, widespread shipping delays and confusion following the end of the Brexit transition period.

To make matters worse, this is not just the UK suffering. The pandemic is strangling the entire global economy. When China – the world’s manufacturing hub – began imposing strict lockdown measures, factory production was put on hold and global supply chains crippled.

But, with every challenge comes an opportunity – and that is how we must view the pandemic if we are to thrive as a country and as an economy. Clearly, there is likely to be more demand for localised production as many countries will be wary of relying on global supply chains given that the system has been exposed as incredibly fragile.

Fundamentally, that gives us the chance to reboot manufacturing in this country,

To begin with, policymakers must commit to increasing funding to help speed up the development of advanced manufacturing facilities. Innovation campuses, such as our 635-acre Gravity site in Somerset, will hold the key to attracting the world’s most forward-thinking companies to Britain.

These facilities must place a huge importance on giving start-ups and unicorns the ability to share knowledge. This will help manufacturers in the robotics, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and research & development (R&D) sectors optimise their offerings and increase productivity.

The government must also commit to making the sector more resilient.

Of course, greater resilience comes at a price. And in the current pandemic-fuelled recession, manufacturers are not likely to invest for long-term resilience when facing short-term existential threats.

This is where the state can and should step up. Investing in collaborative R&D is a catalyst for innovation. Even the most R&D intensive manufacturers preferentially invest only when a product is close to commercialization, where the likelihood of a positive return is greatest. Closing the “valley of death” – the gap between basic R&D and commercialization – will require governmental support to leverage private sector funding.

Ultimately, a more resilient, self-efficient manufacturing sector would help Britain become less reliant on the same global supply chains that have been made redundant over the last few weeks. But for Britain to achieve Industry 4.0, investment and long-term guidance will be critical.

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Covid-19 could be the catalyst to resurrect UK manufacturing

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