When you think of industrial space, very rarely do men in white coats spring to mind. Instead you imagine vast manufacturing facilities or stacks of boxes as far as the eye can see. However, with office rents becoming increasingly unaffordable in prime locations, start-up companies with substantial space requirements in the life science and research and development (R&D) sectors have now found a viable alternative.

Consequently, mid-tech industrial space has started to evolve particularly in strong knowledge based locations such as Cambridge, where firms are desperate to find affordable, flexible accommodation that they can reconfigure in any way they see fit.

A successful example of this is Royal London and XLB Property’s Enterprise scheme at Cambridge Research Park, pictured above. Once a traditional business park, the new Enterprise scheme offers 64,000 sq ft of flexible research and production space across nine units, with four now let exclusively to R&D occupiers.

When designed from scratch, careful consideration needs to be given to the setting and layout of mid–tech schemes, which differentiate themselves by often sitting within an established office or science park that already benefits from good transport links and strong amenity provision.

However, this alone is not enough. To be desirable, the quality of construction, cladding, glazing and internal finishes must be comparable to a contemporary office building. Additionally, occupiers quite often have high power demands along with requirements to store external plant, chemical or gas canisters.

These units typically incorporate a 10 to 20 per cent office fit-out (as opposed to traditional industrial units with 5 to 10 per cent), but this is often designed to be easily expanded, with window apertures and services, to allow for the type of flexibility these businesses need.

Flexibility aside, there are also significant financial drivers to tempt traditional office and laboratory occupiers to this kind of space. At present, rents for office accommodation on the long established Cambridge Science Park now exceed £33 per sq ft, therefore it is no surprise that Enterprise, which was only completed in 2018, is already more than half full at £12.50 per sq ft.

What’s more, once business rates and service charge savings are factored in, the potential to go big on the fit-out is a very attractive prospect for many SME and mid-tech firms, especially as government grant assistance is also often available.

Other mid-tech locations around the city have also emerged, including LaSalle Investment Management’s central Cambridge scheme, The Paddocks, which has undergone a recent transformation.

Originally earmarked for redevelopment, the site now comprises 143,000 sq ft of office and industrial accommodation, much of which has been refurbished by the landlord in the past few years to appeal to R&D companies. Again drawn by the competitive rents and central location, it’s little wonder that only 7,000 sq ft of production space now remains available to let.

Long gone are the days where the thought of being located in an industrial unit was bleak. Instead the affordability, flexibility and fit-out potential of this type of space provides R&D and life sciences businesses with everything they need to succeed.

Further information

Read more Spotlight: Big Shed Briefing