Sciontec has selected UK company Morgan Sindall Construction as the preferred contractor for the HEMISPHERE One laboratory and workspace development in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter, UK.
The project, valued at £61m ($78.8m), will span 117,190 net square feet and is situated at Paddington Village, within Liverpool City Council’s development site in the city’s Knowledge Quarter innovation district.
HEMISPHERE One is part of a two-phase project, which will ultimately offer a combined net total of 216,693ft² of various types of laboratories and commercial spaces.
The procurement for HEMISPHERE Two, the project’s second phase, will be managed through a separate tender process at a future date.
Morgan Sindall’s role will be to assist Sciontec in refining the technical design of HEMISPHERE One and to facilitate the transition into the construction phase, which is expected to commence on-site in late 2025.
This appointment comes after a competitive tender process through the North West Construction Hub High Value Framework, a not-for-profit public sector construction framework.
Morgan Sindall has previously completed The Spine, a 160,000ft² commercial building next to the HEMISPHERE One site, which now houses the Royal College of Physicians.
Sciontec, a collaborative partnership between Liverpool City Council, the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, and Bruntwood SciTech, has secured outline letting agreements for HEMISPHERE One before the start of construction.
The project has also received a £13m funding package from the UK government earlier this year to support its completion.
The broader Paddington Village development has been facilitated by a £12m grant from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which covered infrastructure work for the central 8.4 acres of the 30-acre site.
This follows recommendations from the Liverpool Strategic Futures Panel, and a £1.5m allocation from the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Innovation Zone, part of the government’s Investment Zone programme.
Worthington Owen and Avison Young have been appointed as agents for the HEMISPHERE One project.
Sciontec chief executive Colin Sinclair said: “We are bringing HEMISPHERE One and Two forward to satisfy the rocketing demand for high-quality lab space in Liverpool city centre and support delivery of the city region’s Innovation Zone ambitions. The appointment of a trusted and experienced main contractor in Morgan Sindall allows us to now confidently move ahead with finalising the designs and commencing shell and core work over the coming months.
“While we are advancing with pre-let agreements, we also hope that this latest step forward will offer confidence to the wider market and future innovation occupiers that Liverpool can deliver excellent new developments at scale.”
Earlier this month, Morgan Sindall Construction began construction of the £10.7m Real Fire Training Facility in Ashford, Kent, England.
