Beyond Four Walls: Catering to Researchers in Real Estate

Scientist-Centric Design:

Unlike many companies with common needs like desks, meeting rooms, and breakout areas, the world of science is vastly different. Ensure that the lab supports smart workflows and can adapt to various lab types.

State-of-the-art Facilities:

Scientists can quickly discern a genuine state-of-the-art lab from the rest, mere claims of cutting-edge equipment fall short. Developers and owners must showcase their expertise by providing specialized labs with features like clean rooms, high biosafety levels, mass spectrometry facilities, and more, tailored to meet specific research needs.

IT Infrastructure:

The ability to protect and patent research findings is paramount and thus, good IT infrastructure is indispensable. By providing robust data management and security systems, researchers can better safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research data.

The ideal working environment:

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and lighting tailored to the lab’s purpose, all play a part in creating a safe and comfortable working environment. Beyond the lab, areas designated for relaxation and restoration are just as crucial as they are in any other workplace, promoting the overall well-being of researchers.

Safety and regulatory standards:

By ensuring that the facility complies with all relevant standards, including chemical management, biosafety cabinets, fire protection, and emergency equipment, administrative burden is removed from researchers.

Sustainable practices:

As many chemicals and materials used in scientific research can be hazardous to both human health and the environment, proper waste management is crucial. Ensures that there is a proper system for how hazardous materials are handled, stored, and disposed of safely, minimizing the risk of accidents and exposure.

Tenant satisfaction:

The importance of client support and feedback mechanisms becomes pivotal in ensuring a low client churn rate. It is essential to demonstrate in a tangible manner how ongoing support and continuous improvements will be offered to keep your tenants satisfied as they continue to evolve and grow.

Collaboration:

Areas for formal and informal collaboration, within the facility, encourages interdisciplinary interactions and idea sharing among researchers. By providing seminars, workshops, and networking events, the value of your facilities will be counted beyond price per sq ft²/m².

As life science and scientific research continue to shape the future, developers and owners must keep pace with the ever-evolving needs of the scientific community. The laboratories of tomorrow must be designed to empower researchers, foster innovation, and drive meaningful progress, we’re more than happy to help start conversations in the right way, with the right visual material.

From History to Cutting-Edge: A tour of Victoria House

A Sensitive Transformation

With its iconic presence on Bloomsbury Square, Victoria House enjoys a rich history, heritage, and exceptional architectural beauty. However, inside, a sensitive transformation is underway to create a one-of-a-kind ecosystem for London’s Life Sciences and Technology start-ups and scale-ups. The stunning atrium is at the heart of the building creating a memorable first impression.

Fostering Innovation and Expertise at Victoria House

With a rich history as the birthplace of genetic science and ecology, this location has been home to numerous pioneering institutions. It offers a unique environment for individuals to learn, network, and commercialize science. In essence, this is where aspiring entrepreneurs can connect with experienced venture builders. To further support this ambition, Victoria House offers expertise in areas such as finance, M&A, international markets, IP, supply chains, scale-up leadership, and talent management.

Functional and Inspiring Laboratories

From fitted and managed incubator space to CAT A laboratories, companies will be able to adjust floorplans for bespoke fit-outs and operations. Among the features, Victoria House offers six air changes per hour and up to 65% CL2 laboratories. If, like us, you didn’t know what CL2 laboratories were, you’ll be pleased to learn that the renders of laboratory facilities resulted from a close collaboration with our clients and Ph.D. students on everything from floor plans to the placement of various tools and items. To attract a discerning audience we took no shortcuts, making sure the spaces look equal parts functional and inspirational.

Preserving Elegance, the Long Room’s Original Interiors

Featuring original wood-panelled interiors, The Long Room is one of the most impressive meeting rooms. To efficiently create a visualization of the room, we decided not to invest time in modelling all the details. Instead, we used a photo and enhanced it with AI, meticulously matching all the people into the image with the utmost attention to detail.

Sustainability Beyond Green

Oxford and Pioneer have joined forces with top ESG specialists to enhance the operational efficiency of Victoria House, aiming for EPC A and BREEAM Excellent certifications. Their strategy involves electrifying the entire building using an innovative air-source heat pump system, implementing variable air flow systems to curtail energy usage, modernizing the central infrastructure, incorporating smart meters, and actively promoting biodiversity on the premises.

But sustainability goes beyond the ecology and the physical environment. Victoria House has put programmes and policies in place to welcome people from all genders, backgrounds, identities, and physical abilities, including Ada Lovelace Day, which increases the visibility of women in STEM.

Continuing the legacy, Victoria House will bring together today’s thought leaders to help build a better tomorrow, and we couldn’t be happier to have played a small part in the history of this impressive institution.

Thank you and J2 and Pioneer Group for a great collaboration!