Another year of growth at Sci-Tech Daresbury

Business is booming for companies based at Sci-Tech Daresbury following another year of strong growth, according to data revealed in the annual tenants’ campus survey.

The survey of 97 businesses based at the leading science and technology campus revealed that more than £115 million in sales were generated in 2017, with annual sales growth of 33 per cent in the past 12 months.

During that period 71 per cent of Sci-Tech Daresbury companies saw their sales grow, up from 55 per cent of companies in 2016. Part of this sales growth has been driven by strong overseas sales with exports accounting for 42 per cent of the total sales.

Sci-Tech Daresbury companies have continued to see strong sustained growth with an average sales growth rate over the past four years of 28 per cent per annum.

The Liverpool City Region campus is home to more than 130 companies including IBM, Hitachi High-Technologies Europe, Perfectus Biomed and Robotik Technology, with 30 new companies locating to the site in 2017.

The data revealed that a total of 25 companies on the campus recorded sales of more than £1 million in 2017 and four of these achieved sales greater than £5 million over the 12 months.

More than £36 million in investment was raised last year, significantly up from £17 million in 2016, with strong growth in investment from other sources such as trade investment and loan funding.

Sci-Tech Daresbury burnished its reputation for attracting some of the best scientific talent and last year the average size of companies based there increased from 7.3 to 7.8 employees through organic growth of companies and also through attraction of larger businesses to the campus.

This increase resulted in 119 more full time jobs becoming available which was an increase of nearly 60 per cent from the previous year making a total of 746 FTE jobs on campus.

Highlights from 2017 also include the completion in the spring of the flagship £20m Techspace development. Techspace One is a three-storey, self-contained building comprising 46,000 sq ft of high quality wet and instrumentation laboratories, grade A office accommodation, meeting hubs and break out areas. Its sister building, Techspace Two, which opened at the end of 2016, became fully let in early 2018.

To build on this success, Sci-Tech Daresbury’s joint venture partners have since received planning permission for the development of a new 42,000 sq ft Grade A office complex. Project Violet, will comprise three new buildings situated at the gateway of the campus.

John Downes, group managing director of Langtree and chair of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company, said: “The excellent growth reported in the latest campus survey is a reflection of the wealth of financial and collaborative benefits on offer to tenants at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

“We are committed to building on our success year on year and it is that thread that runs through everything we do. Our commitment to expanding the campus through the Techspace development and the planned Project Violet scheme ensures that we are ideally placed to deliver further significant growth for Sci-Tech Daresbury and its companies.  This is about creating the right conditions for science and innovation-based SMEs to achieve their growth ambitions.

“The joint venture partners’ commitment also underpins the collaborative culture that Sci-Tech Daresbury is renowned for which allows our tenants to take full advantage of everything that the campus offers as they look to expand their operations and develop their businesses even further.

“We’re now looking forward to another year of success and growth for companies based here on campus, as we continue to cement our reputation as an outstanding hub for science and technology innovation, collaboration and growth, with the facilities and first-class office space in place to attract a diverse and complementary range of like-minded businesses.”