South: Full house at Oxfordshire’s biggest speculative office project, reports MEPC

MEPC has announced that 101 & 102 Park Drive at Milton Park in Oxfordshire are now fully let on a multi-tenant basis to six companies, and will house more than 360 staff.  

The speculative office development of two buildings totalling 55,000 sq ft was built at a cost of £15 million in 2014 and provided the only new Grade A accommodation in Oxfordshire.

Located at the heart of Milton Park in the Science Vale UK Enterprise Zone, the buildings are completed to a high-quality energy efficient specification.  They were the first offices to be built in an Enterprise Zone since the Government launched the concept in 2012 to help foster innovation and skills to drive economic growth in clusters of scientific and engineering excellence.

The occupiers have come from a wide range of industries and involve some significant inward investments into Oxfordshire, attracted by the quality of the buildings and the skills base in the region.

102 Park Drive has been leased in its entirety to Ipsen, which is a global pharmaceutical company with 4,600 employees worldwide.  The whole building totals 27,000 sq ft and will house R&D specialists as part of its growth strategy to become a leader in speciality healthcare solutions for targeted debilitating diseases.  Ipsen will fit out its new building for laboratory and office space and move in in 2016.

101 Park Drive has been leased in suites. On the ground floor, Benchmark International, a company sales specialist with offices in the UK and US, has expanded its office network to establish a southern headquarters to complement its UK HQ in Greater Manchester.  Its new space is located next to Commerce Decisions, a provider of best practice procurement knowledge, expert services, and the AWARD software solution to help customers in the UK and overseas “get procurement right first time”.

Italian Wines & Beverages, the UK agent for Fratelli Martini which is based in Piemonte, North West Italy, and is the third largest winery in the country, has taken space on the first floor.

The remaining space has been let to two existing Milton Park occupiers. Immunocore, which is one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies, with a highly innovative immuno-oncology platform technology called ImmTACs, has taken space on the first floor.  Founded in 2008 originally out of Oxford University, today it has more than 165 staff and leases more than 90,000 sq ft on Milton Park.

The second floor has been let to Adaptimmune, which is at the forefront of global interest in using the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.  The company is focused on novel cancer immunotherapy products and also has R&D facilities at 91 Park Drive bringing its total occupation on Milton Park to nearly 40,000 sq ft.  Adaptimmune has grown to over 150 staff in the UK and US, and completed a successful IPO on NASDAQ in May.

The terms of the deals are confidential.  The quoting rent for 101 & 102 Park Drive ranged from £25.00 per sq ft, to £27.00 per sq ft.  Knight Frank and Carter Jonas acted on behalf of MEPC.