Oxford launches incubator lab and life sciences focused serviced offices at iconic art deco Victoria House with 14 occupiers

LONDON

Oxford Properties Group (“Oxford”) and Pioneer Group (“Pioneer”) announce the successful launch of the incubator laboratory space and serviced offices offering at the iconic Art Deco Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square, London, with 14 firms already moved in and a strong pipeline of additional lettings currently being negotiated. Oxford is a leading global real estate investor, developer and manager, while Pioneer is the UK’s first nationwide company to combine the development and operation of laboratories and life sciences ecosystems with venture building.

This is the latest planned phase of the transformation of Victoria House into a state-of-the-art life sciences hub. The entire project is due to complete in Q4 this year, with a total of 220,000 sq ft of Grade A wet lab-enabled life sciences space. The project includes approximately 91,000 sq ft of speculative turnkey labs, 70% of which will be delivered this summer. 

Five initial incubator occupiers have already moved into the premium incubator laboratory space on the building’s 24,000 sq ft seventh floor, with the sixth due to move in during July. Two of these occupiers, Aavantgarde Bio and Caerulus Genomics have also taken space in Victoria House’s serviced office space alongside seven other occupiers.

Other incubator occupiers include Xterna, Curecraft, Emles Bioventures and Implexis, bringing together a wide range of disciplines with specialisms including research areas such as gene and tumour cancer therapies, therapeutic proteins and health-tech innovation. The incubator space includes state-of-the-art equipment and tailored facilities, shared instrumentation, a cell culture suite, utility room and cold storage, all of which are enabling knowledge-sharing and scientific innovation.

Victoria House is the first building of its kind to have serviced offices and co-working spaces dedicated for life sciences occupiers, with c. 27,000 sq ft of lettable space on the fourth floor. Oxford and Pioneer identified a clear gap in the market for serviced office spaces as part of the broader mix of lab and other uses in the building. This offering has become a vital element for achieving the goal of creating a diverse ecosystem of life science related businesses at Victoria House to foster innovation and collaboration.

Nine companies operating in sectors related to or supporting the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors, including through technology and AI, have already moved in and occupy 121 of the 220 co-working desks. These include: Forcefield, Precision Life, Deep Mirror, Warn and Co; M:M Bio, Melio Bio and Neurocentrx.

All these businesses join Victoria House’s anchor tenant, the BioIndustry Association (“BIA”), which located its global headquarters within the project following the completion of the first phase of development.

Victoria House is designed to appeal to a wide range of life sciences occupiers ranging from start-ups in designated incubator spaces, to larger pharmaceutical companies and corporates as well as firms supporting the life sciences industry more broadly. There is strong demand for this type of space in London where there is a lab vacancy rate of approximately 1% and an ecosystem of close to 1,500 life sciences companies. This ecosystem is served by deep talent pool with numerous educational, medical and research establishments supported by excellent access to venture capital and follow on funding[1].

All Victoria House occupiers have access to amenity, meeting and retail spaces that provide an exceptional employee experience including heritage meeting rooms, an eighth-floor club lounge and a roof terrace overlooking central London.

Antara Woodring, Vice President, Life Sciences at Oxford Properties, commented: “Our North Star for Victoria House has always been the creation and curation of a dynamic ecosystem comprising life sciences organisations of all sizes and maturities within one beautiful and inspiring vertical campus. Located in the vibrant heart of London, the project benefits from transport connections that are incomparable in this sector and enable excellent national and international collaboration. At our incubator space, we have created a multi-facetted environment for life sciences companies, where they can also benefit from Pioneer’s operational expertise, science network, as well as dedicated lab managers and concierge. The appeal of this offering is borne out by the calibre and breadth of business we have already attracted as well as those we are progressing discussions with.

“The serviced office space we have successfully launched in this carefully phased project is unique within London’s current life sciences offering. To us it is a vital element in ensuring we have as broad a base of mutually supportive businesses working in proximity to each other as possible. Welcoming these firms to the Victoria House community comes ahead of the launch turnkey lab spaces this summer, with the completion of the transformation of this historic property following later in the year.”

Miranda Knaggs, Corporate Development Director of Pioneer Group, added: “We are proud to be a leader and first mover in the catalysation, growth and evolution of the London commercial life science ecosystem and cluster, where we have amplified the value of our real estate through our strategic venture activity and guidance, thought leadership and ecosystem-building programmes as well as our innovative property offerings.

“Biotech entrepreneurs often need to commit to multiyear leases, large footprints and expensive lab build-outs when they aren't even sure they have a viable product yet. The flexibility of our incubator and

serviced office offerings are filling a gap in the market and the latest phase of our business plan is playing out better than expected.”

Caerulus, a gene sequencing company that reduces the error rate and cost of long read single cell sequencing, is a spin out from the University of Oxford, while Deep Mirror AI, which aims to improve R&D efficiency to make drugs and drug discovery more accessible, was founded by a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge in 2019.

[1] JLL - 2024 EMEA Life Sciences Industry & Real Estate Perspective