Successful completion at health innovation campus

Manchester’s world-class health innovation and precision medicine campus took a step forward today as Citylabs 2.0 reached practical completion.

Despite the added challenges caused by the pandemic, as main contractor we completed work on the 92,000 sq ft development with minimal disruption.

The campus will form part of a new national hub for precision medicine and data analytical businesses, accelerating innovation and translating brilliant research into new healthcare diagnostics and treatments.

The development is a joint venture between Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), the UK's largest NHS provider Trust, and Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP). It forms part of a £95m expansion to MFT’s Oxford Road hospital campus - Citylabs 1.0, which is already home to a thriving cluster of diagnostics, medtech, digital health and genomics businesses.

The practical completion of Citylabs 2.0 represents another step forward for Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor innovation district, one of the North of England’s most important commercial areas.

Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Citylabs 2.0 will create and support up to 1,500 jobs – adding almost £150m to Manchester’s economy over the next decade.

Global life sciences and diagnostics company QIAGEN will occupy the whole of Citylabs 2.0 for its Global Centre of Excellence for Precision Medicine.

Tom Renn, managing director of MSP and Bruntwood SciTech - Manchester, said: “Despite the current challenges we’re pleased to have reached practical completion at Citylabs 2.0 with minimal delay and can now swiftly progress QIAGEN’s fit out. I’d like to thank all of the teams who have worked on Citylabs 2.0 for their ability to quickly adapt at the beginning of the pandemic to enable construction to continue, with a fantastic end result.”

Sir Robert McAlpine Contracts Manager, Paul Quinn, said: “Today’s completion is testament to the whole team’s collaborative approach, and I’d like to say thank you to each and every person involved for pulling together to deliver this world-class facility safely and on time. The added challenges brought by Covid-19 only served to highlight the expertise, creativity and adaptability of those who have worked so hard to arrive at this point. Sir Robert McAlpine is delighted to be involved in the creation of a campus that will help support Manchester’s future economy and allow the city to stake a claim as a leading hub for this increasingly important field of science.”