Harwell Science and Innovation Campus has secured planning permission for Quad Two, a 47,000 square feet Grade A development that will provide office space for science and technology companies at the UK’s major science hub in Oxfordshire.
The building has been designed to provide flexible office space so that three of the four floors can be let to single or multiple tenants in units ranging from 2,500-20,000 square feet. A roof terrace will allow occupiers to take advantage of the views across the carefully curated landscape of the Campus and surrounding Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The main entrance includes a double height reception and breakout space.
Quad Two is the third in a series of developments that will form a collegiate style quadrangle alongside Harwell’s busy Becquerel Avenue where internationally renowned cutting-edge technology companies such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Agilent and Oxford Space Systems reside.
The Quad is already defined by a gym, café and the Quad One office building. The central Quad area, encircled by the buildings will be a beautifully landscaped public realm with a naturalistic planting character, which will play an important role in providing a comfortable central Campus destination for meeting, socialising, and for one off events.
The concept behind the unusual cladding treatment, a continuation of the Quad One building, was based on the core objective of sitting buildings comfortably inside the existing mature natural landscape by cleverly using light, reveal and scale. The facade is expressed through a pattern of repeating fins, and glazed, mirrored and solid panels that reflect and respond to the surrounding trees, grassland and riparian areas.
Angus Horner, Harwell Campus Director said: “Harwell Campus is a world-leading home for fast growth science and technology organisations. This new building will enable companies looking for a competitive, multi-cluster, collaborative advantage to be located alongside some of the brightest minds in the country, delivering world leading research and life changing technologies.
“As demand for Grade A accommodation for ambitious science and tech companies has continued to grow across the UK we are delighted to be able to meet this requirement in the form of Quad Two. With a total of 1.5 million sq ft to be developed by the mid-2020s we look forward to welcoming many more people to Harwell in the coming years.”
Talking about their experience of establishing the UK’s Faraday Institution in Quad Two’s sibling building, Quad One, Susan Robertson, Chief Financial Officer and Joint Interim Chief Executive Officer of The Faraday Institution said: “New and better batteries are central to the UK’s ability to fully electrify. Establishing the HQ of the Faraday Institution in Quad One has enabled us to firmly place ourselves amongst the strong scientific community at Harwell and take advantage of co-location both with the central laboratory facilities that our battery research community uses extensively, and with other academic institutions, industry organisations and entrepreneurial spin outs that have also been attracted to this vibrant site.
“Our offices are spacious, well maintained, and our team and visitors alike find them pleasant to work in.”
Oliver Milton, Partner at Hawkins Brown said: “Hawkins\Brown are delighted that Quad Two has been granted planning permission. The building is the next step in the development of a series of buildings organised around a formal landscaped quad. It continues our involvement at Harwell Campus which is one of the UK’s innovation hotspots.”
Catering for science and technology organisations at every stage of their growth, Quad Two will further expand Harwell’s unique portfolio of buildings. As well as being the UK headquarters for multinationals and fast growth SMEs, the 700 acre Campus offers business incubation, free business service workshops, networking events and access to an onsite network of corporates, government bodies and venture capital firms to collaborate with and access funding from.
Work is due to start on Quad Two in Q1 2021 and completion is expected 2022.