Bristol & Bath Science Park opens
Science Minister David Willetts with glass sculpture of virus 'Smallpox' at the opening of the Science Park
The long awaited £300m Bristol & Bath Science Park has opened with the first companies moving in.
Formumetrics – a scientific consultancy that helps formulate new and improved products – BPE Solicitors, YFM Equity Partners and Science City Bristol are the first to move into the new offices. “The Science Park will be a great place to work and do business,” said Dr Keith Bean, managing director at Formumetrics. “On the first morning we bumped into another tenant over coffee that happens to work with the same client base as us and as a result we have already found ways to work together in the future. We know our business will thrive here.
Apitope, a company which focuses on the discovery and development of treatments for autoimmune and allergic diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Graves’ disease, will be moving into the Innovation Centre in October.
Partner companies to the new National Composites Centre are also beginning to come on site and this will expand the scientific and business community.
A significant number of the 250 companies in YFM’s portfolio are from the science and technology sector, many of whom are based in the South West. They include DNA diagnostics company Atlas Genetics, which raised £16.5m earlier this summer, and Gnodal, which has developed high performance computer network equipment.
The Forum in the Science Park
BPE Solicitors is a rapidly expanding law firm with offices in Cheltenham and London. It has a national reputation for corporate finance, technology funding, intellectual property and commercial property work. It has a dedicated science and technology arm and acts for all the UK’s major influencing and grant awarding bodies in the science and technology sector. It will give fortnightly ‘vitamin briefings’ – bite-sized briefings on a changing area of law – in the Park’s social space, the Forum.
The Science Park is one of three buildings to open at the Park this month. The other two are The Forum and the Expansion Space. The Forum will act as the social and collaborative hub of the park, providing a space for businesses to meet and share ideas. The 11,000 sq ft building will be open to the wider community and will feature a high quality café and networking space. The Expansion Space will provide another 25,000 sq ft of space for developing businesses. It is ideal for companies that need flexible terms as well as the support of a lively business community.
These buildings are the focal point of the Bristol & Bath Science Park and represent the first phase of development at the 59-acre Park that aims to create 6,000 high tech jobs. The site was opened by the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts.
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