UKSPA Breakthrough Issue 3 SPA03.ebook_hr | Page 53

LSP has two buildings at the heart of the Knowledge Quarter Innovation spaces – by their very nature, being told what to do simply creates a desire to make sure it doesn’t happen. This is the model we here at LSP have adopted over the years and it has served us well – us and the 250 companies we have housed over the previous 12 years. Whether they are laboratory based companies, digital platform creators, gaming companies, or key professional services companies, the requirements of being in the city remain the same. A flurry of new facilities Liverpool is now on the cusp of a significant knowledge economy breakthrough. Over the past two decades, huge development has rippled up from the Mersey, along the waterfront, the commercial district, the world-leading Liverpool 1 city centre, and now a post Panamax deep water dock. Eyes are now turning to the Knowledge Quarter, that portion of the city centre slightly higher up the hill, immediately behind mainline Lime Street station and bordered by the edges of the city’s two main universities. In that wedge, which can be no more than 1,000m at its widest point, are located the two universities, the world- renowned Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and the Royal Liverpool Hospital, with its new, £500m state-of- the-art facility due to open next spring. LSP is here as well, at the foot of the iconic Metropolitan Cathedral and at the centre of the action. The recent exciting flurry of additional facilities in the Knowledge Quarter, which operate on the interface between knowledge and business, are complementary and deepen the mix. Key facilities such as Liverpool University’s Bio-Innovation Hub, the Hospital’s Accelerator with its Category 3 laboratories, Liverpool Universit y’s Materials Innovation Factory, and the jointly university owned Sensor City, have all opened within the last 18 months. As they start to fill, opportunities will start to present themselves for the respective tenants to benefit from streamlined The two Liverpool Science Park buildings are less than 100m apart advice, shared events, and opportunities to mix together. That they are all within 400 yards of LSP only serves to enrich the Innovation District mix. At t h e c e n t r e o f t h e w e b LSP is physically and conceptually at the centre of this web. As the longest established and most recognised element of this commercial knowledge economy, it is not resting on its laurels. Having recently had its estate professionally valued and with it having posted its second annual profit, it is now looking to establish how it can realise the value in its assets, both to refine its physical offer and to deepen further the services it offers to its tenants. This might take the form of additional borrowings or of seeking external investment. As a not- for‑profit company, it can only ever do things for the benefit of its tenants. What is clear is that as the tectonic plates in the Knowledge Quarter shift and developments rapidly evolve around Paddington Village and on the now- cleared Copperas Hill site, the pace and level of opportunities will increase rapidly. LSP will look both to drive and to benefit from these opportunities. ■ For further information visit: liverpoolsciencepark.co.uk R e a d o n l i n e at: u k s pa . o r g . u k / b r e a k t h r o u g h w i n t e r 2 0 17 | U K S PA B RE A K T H R O U G H | 5 3