Biomedical Campus unveils plans for potential multi-occupancy building

18/05/11

At the first ever meeting of its kind, senior members of the Cambridge academic, biotechnology and clinical communities met at a private dinner hosted  by Jeanette Walker, Project Director of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus to discuss the future of drug discovery and development in Cambridge.

The 75 guests included the CEOs of thirty Cambridge-based drug discovery companies , the Chief Executives of Addenbrooke’s and Papworth Hospitals, the Directors of both the LMB and the CRUK Cambridge Research Institute as well as a host of senior members of the University of Cambridge and clinicians from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

A series of presentations was followed by a lively and wide-ranging discussion chaired by Sir Keith Peters, Chairman of Cambridge University Health Partners. The discussion took place over dinner served in the canteen of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology which has played host to a long list of illustrious diners over the years including the nine Nobel Laureates associated with the Laboratory.

Walker said the main theme arising from the discussion was the need for the academic, biotechnology and clinical communities to work more closely together.  “The Campus development offers a unique platform for us to start cross-fertilising ideas from these three groups and to explore different and hopefully better ways of discovering and developing drugs in the future. I think we were all encouraged by the willingness of everyone around the table to engage in further dialogue and to adopt a more joined-up approach”.

At a larger meeting held yesterday evening, also organised by the Biomedical Campus team and attended by 200 people from all walks of the Cambridge technology cluster, Liberty Property Trust and Countryside Properties unveiled plans for a potential new building on the Campus. Andrew Blevins, Managing Director of Liberty commented “Clearly in the current economic climate we need to secure a significant level of pre-lets before starting to build. Nevertheless we are interested in hearing from anyone with both short and long-term property requirements at this early stage in the development so we can factor these into our plans. The land now available at the Campus offers the opportunity to co-locate organisations with multi-disciplinary expertise such as biotech, medical, ICT, engineering, imaging, sensors and nanotechnology on one site alongside the clinical end-users. This involves not just a physical co-location but creating an environment in which collaborations and partnerships can take place routinely and face-to-face rather than by email or long-distance. This will facilitate more effective interactions resulting in the development of products and services for which there is an identified market”.

For more information, email jeanette@cambridge-biomedical.com