Harwell Campus breaks ground for new hybrid sci-tech building

Published by

Nicky Godding

Oxfordshire dignitaries, including the MP for Wantage, David Johnston, OBE, and Vale of the White Horse Councillor Bethia Thomas, Cabinet Member for Development and Regeneration, attended a groundbreaking ceremony today to mark the start of construction of the new Zeus building at Harwell Campus.

With a footprint of 32,000 square feet and offering units from 3,000 to 60,000 square feet over two levels, Zeus is the first in a new collection of multi-occupier hybrid buildings that will extend Harwell’s offer, providing flexible hybrid space for R&D, office and laboratory use.

Having won the project through a competition, architect Allies and Morrison worked with the Harwell Campus Management Team to create a well-designed and efficient building that will sit well in its natural environment in rural Oxfordshire.

Named after one of the 14 experimental nuclear reactors (now decommissioned), built and located at Harwell in the 1950/1960s, Zeus is a speculative development for science, technology and engineering organisations. With the requirement for this type of hybrid space in the UK increasing Zeus has seen high levels of demand.

“Zeus is a statement building for Harwell - we’ve invested in the design, unusually putting it out for an Architectural competition, to ensure we continue to deliver an innovative and exciting environment at Harwell Campus that allows organisations here to flourish,” said William Cooper, Harwell Campus Partnership Ltd Director. “Starting this new phase of development will ensure our continued successful growth. We know demand is there and we want to continue to evolve our product offering to meet market demand for flexible alternative space.”

David Johnston OBE, Member of Parliament for Wantage said: “I feel privileged to be the MP that has Harwell in my constituency and will do all I can to help the community continue to produce world-leading science and technology for UK plc and also to inspire future generations.”

Year on year growth is set to continue at Harwell with four further schemes in detailed design to be announced shortly. With a total of 5.5 million square feet of planned development and with 1.5 million square feet of that to be developed by 2025, Harwell Campus is one of the largest rejuvenation and commercial property growth projects in the UK.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.