Top 10 life sciences projects: Upper Brook Street, Manchester, UK

Project overview

Upper Brook Street is a brownfield regeneration project within the Oxford Road Corridor, directly adjacent to the University of Manchester campus. The scheme will deliver approximately 27,870 sq m of life sciences employment space alongside purpose-built student accommodation, creating a mixed-use neighbourhood designed to address immediate laboratory and R&D demand in Manchester’s growing innovation ecosystem.

Planning permission was granted in January 2024, with completion targeted for 2027.

The opportunity

The development provides adaptable life sciences buildings capable of accommodating a range of laboratory and office configurations, allowing occupiers to scale and evolve within the same location.

Positioned next to key university R&D facilities and supported by wider investment in the corridor – including adjacent development by specialist science real estate operators – Upper Brook Street strengthens the cluster’s critical mass. The scheme offers investors exposure to new-build, lab-enabled space in a high-growth urban life sciences market.

The financials

The project carries an estimated gross development value of approximately £550 million and includes around 300,000 sq ft of employment space alongside approximately 900 student beds. The phased programme is structured to start on site in 2025, targeting completion in 2027.

Its proximity to Manchester Oxford Road Station and connectivity to Manchester Piccadilly enhances its attractiveness to potential occupants, supporting long-term leasing stability in a supply-constrained city-centre lab market.

Significance

Upper Brook Street directly addresses the shortage of flexible, city-centre laboratory space in Greater Manchester. By co-locating life sciences employment space with student accommodation and adjacent university research assets, the scheme reinforces Manchester’s strategy to build an integrated health innovation and bioscience cluster.

The development enhances talent retention, supports scale-up growth and strengthens the city’s position as a leading UK life sciences hub.

The pitch

Upper Brook Street combines planning certainty, university proximity and institutional sponsorship within one of the UK’s fastest-growing life sciences corridors.

For investors, it offers near-term delivery of purpose-built laboratory and R&D space in a strategic cluster with strong academic links, public sector support and expanding private-sector momentum.