Validation Centre of Excellence, Cheshire

The lead architect or laboratory designer team selected for the estimated £90,000 contract will design and deliver a Validation Centre of Excellence focussing on diagnostics, biomarkers and complex medicines.

The project is part of a £15.5 million tranche of investment in Alderley Park awarded under the government’s Getting Building Fund last August. It is backed by the Medicines Discovery Catapult which recently created a ‘Lighthouse Lab’ at Alderley Park for the government’s mass Covid-19 testing programme.

According to the brief: ‘Capitalising on the success of the Lighthouse Lab to create a new facility for innovative diagnostics, biomarkers and complex medicines and develop the UK’s onshore diagnostic capability and capacity and the associated supply chain – the project will create a national facility for testing and validation of new diagnostics, biomarkers and innovative therapeutics for disease.

‘The Validation Centre of Excellence will enable innovators to set up new companies with confidence, driving regional growth in high-value jobs and a sector of urgent national and global need. The centre will build on the Lighthouse brand, creating a hub for new diagnostic and therapeutic validation.’

Alderley Park is a 140ha former country estate which was transformed into a biomedical campus by ICI Pharmaceuticals in the 1950s and was later operated by AstraZeneca before being sold seven years ago.

Since 2016, the site has been the focus of a £160 million regeneration masterplan to allow multiple occupancy of the science buildings along with the creation of new homes, retail and leisure facilities.

Around 74 of the new houses will be delivered in a traditional style by ADAM Urbanism and other architects working on the development include Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Leeds-based Brewster Bye Architects.

The latest project will deliver a new Validation Centre of Excellence featuring specialist laboratories and a ‘Category 3’ biosafety facility for testing new diagnostics, biomarkers and therapeutics for highly infectious pathogens, including respiratory viruses such as Covid-19.

The deadline for applications is midday, 30 April.

How to apply

View the contract notice for more information

Contact details

Kieran McGowan
Medicines Discovery Catapult
Block 35 Mereside
Alderley Park
Cheshire
SK10 4TG

Email: Kieran.McGowan@md.catapult.org.uk
Tel: +44 1625708394