Breakthrough Properties, a leading global developer of life sciences real estate backed by a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, has announced the acquisition of the 1.7-acre Trinity House site in Oxford, England, one of the leading academic and innovation clusters in the world.
Located at the gateway of the 88-acre Oxford Business Park, Trinity House presents Breakthrough with a unique opportunity to create a purpose-built, Class A office and lab environment within one of the UK’s fastest growing life sciences clusters. Anchored by Oxford University, which is consistently ranked among the top collegiate institutions in the world, the Oxford research cluster is one of the leading markets in biomedical and life sciences development.
“Oxford has long enjoyed the highest caliber academic research and talent driving innovation and discovery. What has been lacking is the life science infrastructure and ecosystems to properly support that growth,” said Dan Belldegrun, CEO of Breakthrough Properties. “We are thrilled by this opportunity to deliver a best-in-class, purpose-built research and development center to support innovators within Oxford’s thriving life sciences cluster.”
Tishman Speyer Senior Managing Director, Head of Europe, Bernard Penaud added, “The local life sciences industry has experienced incredible and rapidly-accelerating growth, as evidenced by the record £4.5 billion raised by the UK biotech companies in 2021 alone. It is vital that the development community keep pace with this growth by producing the types of innovative, high-quality and customer-centric life science environments that Breakthrough will create at Oxford Business Park.”
The Oxford life science cluster is currently home to such leading UK firms as Oxford Biomedica, Immunocore and Adaptimmune. The area features several amenities and close proximity to nearby fitness centers and hotel lodging. The district is also located within convenient commuting distance from Oxford train station.
Thomas Renn, Breakthrough Properties Vice President, Acquisitions and Development, Europe said, “Trinity House represents a great opportunity for us to move quickly to bring the Breakthrough platform to the Golden Triangle, where there is a significant need for high quality lab provision to meet the growth of the cluster. We are eager to connect with scientific innovators and life science companies who align with our vision for the Oxford ecosystem and would value access to best-in-class research space, the Scientific Advisory Board and the broader Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital network.”
The Trinity House acquisition further adds to Breakthrough’s growing pipeline of ground-up development projects, which also includes “The 105 by Breakthrough,” a 263,500-square-foot life sciences facility in Boston that is fully leased to CRISPR Therapeutics, and “Torrey View by Breakthrough,” a 10-acre campus in San Diego that is substantially preleased to BD Biosciences.
