Precision medicine’s data needs could trap landlords

While this year is likely to continue trends in the life science sector established in 2020 and 2021, James Sheppard, Head of Commercial UK & Ireland, real estate firm Kadans Science Partner, the unique challenge in 2022 is how accommodate the sector’s dramatically growing businesses without physically restricting their growth.

He said that during the next couple of years there will be a lot of capital and talent in the market “and companies who are doing really fantastic things but have nowhere to go, so how can we provide temporary space to bridge the gap with some of the bigger schemes across the UK in particular?”

Talking to Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts, Sheppard said that Kadans is drawn to research-intensive universities but may be less concerned about the size of the institution than its competitors. “This gives us a little bit more bandwidth to look at cities that sit outside of the traditional ‘golden triangle’.”

In particular, he noted the universities of Bristol and Manchester as well as the Scottish universities.

“We’re seeing a really high calibre of spin-out businesses being created,” he said.

Precision medicine is a rapidly growing part of the life sciences market and although the property it requires is similar to a high-performing wet lab-type environment, Sheppard said the principal difference is the volume and intensity of data that precision medicine produces.

Real estate providers need to be mindful of this, he warned. “They will have very stringent demands on the IT infrastructure in your building and as such it could potentially catch landlords out.”

Click on the video to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.