A new development company formed out of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool), has launched its search for an investor to bring forward new science and tech workspaces across the city.
The current shareholders of Sciontec Liverpool – Liverpool City Council, the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University – are inviting expressions of interest from eligible investment professionals and high net worth companies, funds, partnerships and trusts, to subscribe for up to 25 per cent of the company’s equity share capital and help it realise its aspirations for the city’s knowledge economy.
That search was officially launched at the MIPIM property convention in Cannes, where Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and Sciontec Liverpool Chief Executive Colin Sinclair were joined by members of the city’s private sector MIPIM delegation and other invited guests from across the global property and investment community.
The breakfast event at Hôtel Barrière Le Gray d’Albion also revealed potential modernisation and expansion plans for Liverpool Science Park and featured a first look at images of No.5 Paddington Village, a new science and technology building being proposed for Liverpool City Council’s £1bn Paddington Village development site.
“The knowledge sector is at the heart of our growth strategy for Liverpool with health and education crucial to our goals in raising aspirations, attracting quality jobs and growing our overall economy,” said Mayor Anderson.
“Through the designated Mayoral Development Zone, Paddington Village and now Sciontec Liverpool, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to developing new opportunities for growth in and around the Knowledge Quarter and the wider city region.
“Our aspirations for Sciontec Liverpool give us the scope to expand that activity at locations across the city and we are looking forward to finding a new investment partner who will join us to deliver schemes that will ultimately combine to help businesses boost productivity, become more sustainable, employ more people and pay higher wages.”
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Sciontec and KQ Liverpool, added: “Last year at MIPIM, we made clear our intentions to bring together the city’s existing science and tech buildings, such as Liverpool Science Park and Sensor City, while also developing and operating new world-leading science and tech workspace and labs in Liverpool.
“The creation of Sciontec Liverpool embodies the first step in our vision to create the most innovative buildings in the world and develop a wider eco-system that benefits from economies of scale and is somewhere that spin-outs, start-ups and SMEs can flourish, while also attracting greater inward investment.
“We have a bold, deliverable plan to stimulate innovation and prosperity across the city and we are actively seeking organisations who share our vision.”