The Midlands office of leading property adviser Bilfinger GVA has been appointed to advise on the delivery of a new life sciences campus in Birmingham.
Planning consent is already in place for the conversion of 10 acres of brownfield land on the former Battery Park site to life sciences use.
The new campus, which will host 417,000 sq ft of buildings, will be situated adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham. Construction is due to begin in February 2016, following the completion of remediation works.
Bilfinger GVA will be working alongside economic consultancy, Ekosgen to analyse the market prior to advising on the best route to development, either using occupier interest, a sale to a developer or contractor, or through a joint venture approach.
Carl Potter, Senior Director at Bilfinger GVA, said: “Birmingham is well placed to further its life sciences offering, which has the potential to create a significant number of jobs in the area.
“The delivery of this highly important site will be another key milestone in the establishment of Birmingham within this growing medical sector, building upon existing key life science assets at the Institute of Translational Medicine and the Bio-Tech incubator centre at Birmingham Research Park.”
Infrastructure will be delivered through funding secured by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) via the Local Growth Fund.
Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “We have some of the leading medical talent and resources internationally here in Birmingham and the development of a life sciences campus will reaffirm our position in this sector. The city’s demographics and super-diversity make it extremely attractive for such a facility and I look forward to our plans becoming reality.”
