Excello Law real estate and property development partner Richard Osborn has advised the University of Leicester on the £100 mln (€116.5 mln) Space Park Leicester development.
His involvement goes back five years, since the acquisition of land from Leicester City Council to the more recent lettings to industry partners.
The space research, innovation and teaching cluster will consist of state of the art facilities for R&D, manufacturing and education.
Developed by the University with local, national and international partners, it will house companies active in areas ranging from satellite design and engineering to downstream data and its applications.
Richard Osborn commented: ‘As a real estate project, it has been multi-faceted and often complex, but its worth to Leicester – expected to boost the regional economy by £750 mln and create 2,500 jobs – as well as to the UK’s wider scientific ambitions is enormous.’
Dharminder Shoker, head of Real Estate Management at the University of Leicester added: “The project builds on University of Leicester’s 61-year history of space research and its role in establishing the neighbouring National Space Centre and places Leicester at the forefront of space technology in the UK.’
Located at Pioneer Park within the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone, the development was officially opened by British astronaut Tim Peake in March.
The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Limited (LLEP) allocated £12.9 mln (€15 mln) of Local Growth Fund to develop the infrastructure and deliver the first phase – a science and innovation facility with earth observation, coding, training and general facilities.
In a recent research piece, property services firm Savills referred to 'SpaceTech' as driver of demand for specialist category of real estate, such as HQ offices, R&D/production and high-value manufacturing facilities.
