‘There isn’t a better scheme in London’: CWG and Kadans on their lab tower
Canary Wharf Group and life sciences developer Kadans are confident their lab tower on the Docklands estate can handle the heat of competition – whether from the burgeoning Whitechapel cluster or British Land’s efforts to develop its own life sciences hub at nearby Canada Water, SE16.
“There isn’t a better scheme in London, so I’m not scared,” said Tom Venner, chief development officer for CWG, in an exclusive interview with EG ahead of construction starting on 1 North Quay today.
“We are doing this because we are confident in the current state of the life sciences market, but also in the future,” he added. “We would certainly not be put off by another developer delivering one, two, three, four, five other buildings, because we believe that this city has huge capacity and huge untapped potential.”
Canary Wharf Group and life sciences developer Kadans are confident their lab tower on the Docklands estate can handle the heat of competition – whether from the burgeoning Whitechapel cluster or British Land’s efforts to develop its own life sciences hub at nearby Canada Water, SE16.
“There isn’t a better scheme in London, so I’m not scared,” said Tom Venner, chief development officer for CWG, in an exclusive interview with EG ahead of construction starting on 1 North Quay today.
“We are doing this because we are confident in the current state of the life sciences market, but also in the future,” he added. “We would certainly not be put off by another developer delivering one, two, three, four, five other buildings, because we believe that this city has huge capacity and huge untapped potential.”
Set to complete in 2027, CWG and Kadans say the 23-storey, 823,000 sq ft block is one of the largest commercial developments to start construction in the capital this year. The building will support an ecosystem of life sciences companies in the area, from multinationals to educational establishments, as well as growing innovative life sciences and tech companies.
Over the past two years CWG and Kadans have collaborated to grow the tech and life sciences community at Canary Wharf. The estate now has more than 30 life sciences-focused tenants, including the UK Health Security Agency, NHS Transformation and the Cancer Awareness Trust.
Wet or dry
The project will look to support this ecosystem and provide a space to move into as companies grow out of Kadans’ nearby 40,000 sq ft London Innovation Centre.
Even as the amount of high-quality lab space could potentially outgrow demand over the coming years, James Sheppard, Kadans’ international head of asset management, believes the company’s credentials will help the space remain competitive.
He said: “We have never shied away from the fact that if you go into a Kadans building, it’s more expensive than some of your other options. But what you get for that is a level of service and a level of quality that is far beyond other buildings. We don’t shy away from that.”
[caption id="attachment_1200077" align="aligncenter" width="847"] Kadans’ James Sheppard[/caption]
He added: “When we’re putting this building up, we’re not really designing for the first tenants, we’re designing for the second or third. And science is inherently risky… so we have to bake that into everything that we do.”
CWG and Kadans say their experience of collaborating with organisations in the area has helped shape their offering around one aspect in particular: flexibility. Although the building will consist of up to 60% wet level 2 lab space, it will be able to accommodate up to level 3 laboratories – an undersupplied space in the London life sciences sector.
The pair said the building’s tower block format will provide flexible floor plates and future-proofed infrastructure to support technological advancements across sub-sectors.
Sheppard said that although science is moving away from mostly traditional wet science towards digital lab work, laboratories are still essential, albeit in a different form.
“Ultimately, at some point, someone still needs to be in a lab to do the experiment,” he said. “So although the lab in a very generic sense has changed, ultimately, all that has happened is that your design brief is adapted slightly.”
Work to do
The wider Canary Wharf estate has also had to adapt as changing office demand increased the urgency of its diversification away from traditional workplaces and occupiers.
Venner said: “We’ve been on a diversification journey for 30 to 35 years. And actually, for the past few years, we’ve already been on this life sciences journey. I think Canary Wharf is a microcosm of the world, in the sense that we are not seeing single-use, single-occupier type places. And, actually, I think we are already well ahead of this.
“Life sciences is a really important part of our continued evolution with emerging industries. But it’s one of a few. The diversification story is a long-term one, which we’re quite a long way down the road on.”
And there is still some way to go yet. When asked how the two companies would celebrate the start of construction, Venner replied: “Back to work. Not done yet. We’re going to celebrate when the job’s done – we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Main image © Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
