A former building society headquarters in Bloomsbury is to be converted into central London’s biggest “office to labs” dedicated life sciences hub.
Grade II listed Victoria House on Bloomsbury Square will be turned into 220,000 sq ft of “wet lab enabled” life science space under plans revealed today. The building will serve as the new home of the BioIndustry Association (“BIA”), the trade association for UK life sciences.
The 1920s buildings, which has a neo-classical facade and internal Art Deco features, served at the HQ of the Liverpool Victoria building society until 1996.
The conversion, led by investor Oxford Properties Group, and specialist developer Pioneer Group, comes at a time of chronic state of the art lab space in London
As well as the labs the building will have have 80,000 sq ft of office, amenity, meeting and retail space, an eighth floor club lounge and a roof terrace.
The location is close the King’s Cross life science hub and renowned research centres including University College London, GSK and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The first phase, which includes 190,000 sq ft of lab-enabled space including a fully fitted incubator and grow-on space, is due to complete in Autumn 2024. Abigail Shapiro, head of life sciences & residential, Europe at Oxford Properties, said: “The conversion of Victoria House is a unique opportunity to deliver one of the largest life sciences conversion projects in Central London to date. We will give this iconic building a new lease of life by creating state-of-the-art lab space through a highly sustainable redevelopment which avoids the environmental impact of a new-build scheme. Given Victoria House’s central location and proximity to many educational and medical establishments, as well as investment capital targeting research and development in the sector, it provides the perfect ingredients for the creation of a new life sciences hub.”
Richard O’Boyle, CEO of Pioneer Group, added: “This announcement is an important milestone for our plans with Oxford Properties at Victoria House. London is a Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry Association, said: “The aims of Victoria House and for the London life sciences sector are very exciting, which is why I wanted the BIA to be based there. The space is fantastic and the advantages it offers to the UK industry is going to be incredibly attractive to start-ups and established companies alike.”
