Savills hosted its annual UK science real estate conference, which took place at the Welcome Collection in Euston on Wednesday 12th June 2024.

The event saw more than 100 occupiers, landlords and developers in attendance to listen to a host of experts discuss how UK science real estate is evolving within a global market.

The morning started with Tom Mellows, head of UK science, welcoming guests before introducing key note speaker Baroness Nicola Blackwood, the chair of Genomics England and Oxford University Innovation and member of the House of Lords. She spoke about the importance of government funding and pension fund investment, as well as how the accessibility of NHS data is critical to R&D moving forward.

This was followed by a presentation from Kelcie Sellers, associate director in Savills world research team, who looked at how the UK fared from a global perspective when it comes to life science, health and food tech.

The event ended with a panel discussion chaired by Tom with participants including Dr Steve Chatfield, Savills science special advisor, Emily Pilkington, director of life sciences & healthcare at HSBC Innovation Banking, Josh Palmer head of real estate and asset management at GSK and Stéphane Maikovsky, interim CEO of LifeArc.

The panel covered a range of topics, from the current funding landscape, to whether there is the right government strategy and support in place for the life science sector

Tom Mellows comments: "Once again the conference was a huge success and it was fantastic to see such a diverse cross sector of people in the room. With an impending general election, it is certainly an interesting time for the science sector and this was an excellent forum to discuss what’s required to ensure the sector remains a competitor on the global stage. Thanks to everyone who took part and we look forward to holding future events on this ever evolving market.”

Further information

Contact Tom Mellows