Carter Jonas Achieves Planning Consent for two new buildings at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus

National property consultancy Carter Jonas has secured planning consent on behalf of Harwell Science and Innovation Limited Partnership to create new employment floorspace and the potential to accommodate over 300 new jobs at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.

The additional employment opportunities will make a considerable contribution to the Vale of White Horse Council’s employment growth strategy. Consent was awarded on 26 June 2024.

The 192,523 sq ft (17, 886 sqm) of new employment floorspace will be located in two new buildings, Quad Three and Co:LABSs. Co:LABSis the first phase of an exciting new innovation quarter, which will deliver circa 35,000 sqm of new employment floorspace. Quad Three adds to the existing and extremely successful ‘Quad’.

Both new and existing users of the leading science and innovation campus will benefit from extensive landscaping. The Section 106 Agreement delivers measures to optimise bus travel, reducing the use of the private car.

Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, which lies approximately five miles south west of Didcot and 16 miles south of Oxford is a world renowned UK Science and Technology Campus. It benefits from over £3bn of science infrastructure, including the UK’s national synchrotron facility the Diamond Light Source and ISIS Neutron facility. Approximately 7,000 research and support staff work across some 250 organisations operating at the campus.

Steven Roberts, Associate Partner at Carter Jonas in Oxford commented, “Carter Jonas is proud to have assisted Harwell Campus Partnership in securing planning permission for new facility. Harwell Campus is an extremely important, internationally recognised science and technology cluster where many scientific breakthroughs have occurred in recent years. We very much value our ongoing relationship with the Campus Partnership and are proud to be part of the professional team that is shaping its future.”

Stuart Grant, CEO of Harwell Campus added, “We’re delighted to have secured planning permission for Co:LABS and Quad Three as part of our wider plan to triple the amount of available space at Harwell over the coming years.

“Given that Oxford University is spinning out more companies than anywhere else in the UK and other local universities like Cranfield are closing fast, we need to ensure we can offer the right space, environment, and home for these exciting companies to start-up, scale-up and have truly global impact.”

Carter Jonas has advised the client from the inception of the project, leading a multi-discipline consultant team through the planning process and will continue to advise on all planning matters through to completion at the end of 2025.

In achieving planning success, Carter Jonas worked alongside Allies and Morrison, Hawkins Brown, Exterior Architecture Landscape, Baynham Meikle, RPS, Hoare Lea and BSP. We have also worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council, the Vale of White Horse District Council and National Highways.

Construction is due to commence on site in August and the scheme is anticipated to complete in end of 2025.