Lakeside North Harbour, Portsmouth’s leading workspace, has announced a major lettings deal as SCIENION, a leading manufacturer of next-generation technology for use in diagnostics and life sciences, leases 10,600 sq ft of space.
Founded over 20 years ago in Berlin, Germany, continued growth has led the life sciences and medical diagnostics manufacturer to expand its facilities across Europe, the UK and the U.S.
SCIENION’s technology has been used to manufacture millions of diagnostic devices per year. Notably, its equipment contributed to the global effort to manage the COVID-19 health crisis, used to manufacture PCR and antibody tests. The company has forged a number of significant collaborations to advance science and healthcare, including with Highfield Diagnostics Ltd to incorporate their next generation technology in lateral flow test (LFT) design for the development and deployment of equipment to mass manufacture LFTs.
The lettings deal follows the Government’s recent additional pledge of £60 million to expand life sciences manufacturing in the UK following the country’s contribution to the worldwide COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
SCIENION relocated its UK facility from Chichester to Lakeside following a period of rapid growth, joining a diverse collection of existing occupiers already benefiting from Lakeside’s modern facilities, unique surroundings and vibrant community, including IBM, Virgin Media, Capita and Markerstudy Broking.
Simon Bateman, asset manager at Lakeside North Harbour, commented:
“SCIENION’s technology has immense potential to save lives. We are proud to be supporting the company in delivering top-class facilities, assisting them in their innovative and important work.
“At Lakeside, our mission is to shape the future of work. We’re pleased to be able to offer a unique environment with immediate access to acres of blue and green space that supports employee health and wellbeing and aids recruitment.
“SCIENION’s values align with our own to improve lives and benefit health and wellbeing and we are incredibly excited to welcome SCIENION to our vibrant business community.”
Andrew Sweet, managing director at SCIENION, said:
“At Scienion we are in the business of enabling, inspiring and educating scientists to develop their research ideas into fully manufactured product. This is an incredibly exciting time for our business. We are confident that SCIENION will continue to grow rapidly and that our new facility at Lakeside will support us in achieving this.”
With learning a key focus in the company’s mission, SCIENION plans to run workshops, conferences and exhibitions from Lakeside in line with its aim to advance science education and collaboration in the UK.
Andrew added:
“We have been conducting workshops for many years.. Lakeside’s range of modern facilities, including an auditorium that can seat 250 people, enables us to combine lectures and hands-on sessions with targeted workflows in our laboratories for scientists.”
“Sustainability is also a key focus for us and Lakeside’s green credentials, including electric vehicle charging points and renewable energy initiatives, were a major factor in our decision.”
