Full House

30 January 2009

Isogenica and Cellzome moves to Chesterford Research Park complete lettings at Mansion House

Chesterford Research Park is growing its scientific community with two final lettings at its Mansion House development. Biotechnology company, Cellzome, and Isogenica Ltd, developer of innovative molecular evolution technologies, have both taken space in the period property. These latest lettings follow-on from the Mansion’s spate of success in 2008, with the building now fully occupied by 10 companies, having taken over 10,000 sq ft of space.

Chesterford Research Park’s developers, Churchmanor Estates Plc and Aviva Investors, totally refurbished the building after they felt the number and varying size of the individual rooms in the 19th century property would be ideal to meet demand for smaller flexible business space from start up companies

Martin Sylvester of Churchmanor Estates said: “We initially developed the Mansion House to capitalise on demand from the SME/ start-up sectors. Despite the economic downturn, we are continuing to see resilient levels of demand for smaller business and lab space at Chesterford. These lettings are the latest in a steady stream of recent deals and it is a real coup to fill up the Mansion House.”

Cellzome is expanding its Cambridge operations at Chesterford, taking Suite 8 in the Mansion House.  The drug discovery company is working on a new generation of kinase-targeted drugs to treat inflammatory diseases and is moving nineteen staff into the newly refurbished write-up space at the Mansion House, to make way for additional lab space in its existing buildings at Chesterford. The company is currently undergoing expansion due to its recent collaboration with pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline.  

Cellzome moved its UK headquarters from Elstree to Chesterford Research Park in April 2004 in response to a number of clear business objectives. The new location gave Cellzome the opportunity to engage partners from new, bespoke premises developed to its own specification and allowed it to draw experienced chemists from the local skill base to the company. It also reduced senior management time spent on property issues.

Chesterford’s developers The Churchmanor Estates Company plc and Aviva Investors, worked closely with Cellzome to ensure the company’s laboratory requirement was fulfilled.

Richard Hale, Cellzome’s Vice President of Development projects and the company’s UK Site Head said: “Right from the start, we found that putting our chemists and biologist together created an innovative environment and encouraged very high levels of co-operative working. Churchmanor and Aviva have responded superbly to this challenge at Chesterford.

“We now have a long-term, bespoke property solution which suits our way of working and has a built in capacity to accommodate growth and focus all our resources and energy on developing the business, with excellent results.”

Isogenica Ltd, developer of innovative molecular evolution technologies, is relocating its research facility from Brabraham, taking suites 5 and 6 plus additional laboratory space at the Mansion.

Isogenica had outgrown its previous location due to the company’s expansion since it was founded in 2000 by CEO Kevin Fitzgerald. He said: “We are a growing company and, due to a number of successful new business wins, we need additional space that will meet our needs both now and in the future. It’s essential for us to have high quality labs combined with office space, which can be hard to find, but the Chesterford team came up with a suitable solution. Chesterford Research Park offers a fantastic location, with state-of-the-art facilities and good transport links."

Cellzome and Isogenica join a number of organisations, including Cellcentric, Cambridge Healthcare & Biotech and Pulse Scientific that have recently moved to the Mansion House to take advantage of its flexible space and to be part of a growing scientific community.

Martin Sylvester, Director of Churchmanor Estates Plc, added: “At Chesterford we offer a broad range of accommodation with associated facilities to make provision for a range of companies at varying stages of development. We work hard to provide both new and existing occupiers with the capability to expand.  It’s a tremendous endorsement for Chesterford Research Park that two leading companies, have chosen to expand and move here, strengthening the Park’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the South Cambridge Biotech cluster.”