The Life Sciences industry is comprised of companies and organisations that research, develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals, biotechnology-based food and medicines, medical devices, biomedical technologies, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food processing, and other products that improve the lives of organisms. It is vast, fast-growing, and something we should all be aware of because it is, literally, changing the lives of London and Londoners.
Did you know that the number of London-based life sciences companies has grown at 7.1% year-on-year on average since 2018, making it the highest area of growth in the UK?
Or that three out of six UK-founded “unicorn” life sciences companies -- those that reached a valuation of $1 billion or more without being listed on the stock market -- were founded in London since 2020, with the UK producing more unicorn companies than any other European country in the same period?
And that London-based research and development is on the rise, with an 8.4% year-on-year growth in the number of sites, and 14.1% year-on-year increase in employment on average for the past five years?
According to Grow London -- part of London & Partners, the business and destination agency that works with the Mayor of London to promote London as a leading city for business, events, and visitors -- there is nowhere else in Europe that has the same concentration of leading universities and specialist research institutions, specialist hospitals, talent and access to finance as London, and these factors make London a globally attractive destination for life science.
Why is this relevant to planners? Because London’s growth is life sciences is having a significant impact on local places across the capital. Indeed as the above graphic from MedCity shows, the industry is clustering across London in defined hubs, changing the landscape of localities in multiple ways.
While organisations in financial services, London’s longstanding engine of growth, have traditionally clustered in the City of London and Canary Wharf, Life Science hubs are developing across the capital, from Whitechapel to White City, London Bridge to Kings Cross, and many places in between.
This is driving demand for sites to develop campuses, laboratories, commercial centres and housing across London, and will impact the development of housing and places for years to come. “Life sciences is a growth area, it’s not something that’s been in the local plan for 10 or 15 years. It’s kind of a windfall new sector”, says a spokesperson for British Land, which is master planning development at Canada Water linked to growth in life sciences.
How will the growth in life sciences and its geographic spread across London impact our neighbourhoods and local economies? I will be hosting an evening at the London Society to discuss this. Dr Angela Kukola CEO of MedCity will present an overview of the life sciences landscape across London drawing from her organisation’s leadership role in bringing life
sciences entrepreneurs together and supporting their business growth through networking and access to expertise and opportunities. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Billy Choi who leads architects Allies & Morrison in its development of the Whitechapel life science cluster and Chris Brown , founder of Igloo Regeneration, who represents the local community around London Bridge and is working to shape the proposed Snowfields Quarter Life Sciences development.
Please join us for this London Society event on September 25. You can learn more and register here.
Clare Delmar
Listen to Locals
10 September 2024
