The MP met with Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair, Stevenage Development Board and Chair, Skills Advisory Panel, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Steve Martin, VP and Head, Biopharm Discovery at GSK, Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, CEO, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, and Dr Stephen Ward, Chief Manufacturing Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, on Thursday 27 January to hear about their shared vision for the cluster and the urgent need for a skilled workforce to support that growth.

The campus on Gunnels Wood Road comprises GSK, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Innovation Centre and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. It is central to the UK’s largest cell and gene therapy cluster and the third largest globally thanks to its clustering of R&D and manufacturing excellence and its proximity to London, Oxford and Cambridge.

(From left): Dr Stephen Ward, Chief Manufacturing Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult; Rachel Castle, Director, UK Corporate Government Affairs, GSK; Stephen McPartland, MP for Stevenage; Steve Martin, VP and Head, Biopharm Discovery at GSK; Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair, Stevenage Development Board and Chair, Skills Advisory Panel, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, CEO, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst

Over the past year, the New Town has attracted considerable investment with:

• GSK currently formalising the sale and development of 33 acres to unlock up to £400m in new investment and create up to 5,000 highly-skilled jobs, over the next five to ten years;
• Reef developers transforming the former Marshgate town centre car park site into a £66m European Manufacturing Headquarters of Autolus;
• North Herts College proposing to open its Stevenage Innovation and Technology Centre in September to help develop a local workforce to support the town’s fast growing life sciences and advanced engineering sectors located on Gunnels Wood Road;
• £37.5m Towns Fund to support a package of measures to help communities to build back better after the pandemic;
• A further £565k from the Government’s Community Renewal Fund to help realise Stevenage’s ambitions to evolve from a pioneer post-war New Town into a future STEM city.

Cell and gene therapy is one of the fastest-growing health and life sciences in the world, contributing around £74bn to the UK economy and a quarter of a million jobs per year. Stevenage is at the heart of this growth and has been designated a High Potential Opportunity location for cell and gene and a Life Sciences Opportunity Zone by Government. The total private equity investment in biotechnology raised in Stevenage is similar to that of Cambridge, Oxford and London.

This exponential growth and scale of investment has led to an urgent need for a skilled workforce. According to a 2021 UK Cell and Gene Therapy Skills Demand Survey Report, the forecast skills demand nationwide for 2026 is 10,000 bioprocessing jobs, a growth of 151% from today. It states that ‘there is an urgent need to prioritise skills provision to continue the substantial growth of UK companies and for the UK to be a global leader in advanced medicine manufacturing’.

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, said: “It is an amazing facility and I remember laying a commemorative brick back in 2011 when we were originally building the site. It is still there alongside our hopes and dreams to make Stevenage the hub for these exciting new technologies and treatments. We have already come a long way with the support of over £200 million of Government investment and we are still just at the start as we plan even more rapid expansion to cement Stevenage’s global leadership role in this area.”

Adrian Hawkins OBE and Stephen McPartland MP for Stevenage

Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair, Stevenage Development Board, and Chair, Skills Advisory Panel, Hertfordshire LEP, said: “I was absolutely delighted to welcome Stephen McPartland to this fantastic campus. No one who comes here can fail to be impressed at the scale of work being undertaken to support advances in the development and manufacturing of innovative therapies.

“We have an unrivalled opportunity to capitalize on that growth and create levelling up opportunities for our communities by developing a highly skilled local workforce that can service the sector’s needs. Central to this vision is the new 4,000sqm state-of-the-art Innovation & Technology Centre to be operated by North Hertfordshire College in partnership with key businesses to provide new training opportunities.

“This sector growth on our doorstep opens up tremendous opportunities for apprentices, graduates, those already working in the sector who wish to relocate and those outside of the sector to retrain. With a focus on lifetime skills, this will have a very positive impact on the town’s regeneration and help us to realise our ambition to make Stevenage a future STEM city.”

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, CEO at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), said: “There are around 40 companies in the SBC community, including many life science start-ups. Together, we currently support over 1,000 jobs locally and contribute £65m to the Hertfordshire economy. The campus provides many high-quality jobs for the local community as well as apprenticeship and training opportunities for school leavers and people looking to build on their existing skills. By 2040, there are expected to be over 3,000 jobs at SBC-based companies and £196m contributed to the local economy.”

Steve Martin, VP and Head, Biopharm Discovery at GSK, said: “Our global R&D hub in Stevenage is a key location for GSK in developing our pipeline of vital medicines. Our scientists here are focused on the science related to the immune system, the use of human genetics and advanced technologies, aiming to discover transformational medicines for patients. We welcome the opportunity to work with local partners and are extremely excited about the plans to develop one of Europe’s largest life science campuses in Stevenage.”

Matthew Durdy, Chief Executive Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, said: “The support of stakeholders like the local community represented by Stephen McPartland MP is essential to our success. The exciting collaborations with industry partners within and around our Stevenage Manufacturing Innovation Centre make Stevenage a global hub of CGT innovation. We have seen increasing national and international investment in our facility in Stevenage, with companies drawn not only to our state-of-the-art manufacturing innovation capabilities, but also to the continuous efforts in developing highly skilled local workforce. We are excited to continue to work with the Government, as well as the local community, in supporting the enormous growth in the UK CGT industry, developing a skilled UK-ATMP workforce through the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community (ATAC) and Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN) initiatives.”

GSK has today announced that it has formally started the process of seeking a development partner to transform land within the company’s existing 92-acre Research & Development site in Stevenage into one of Europe’s largest ‘clusters’ for biotechnology and other early-stage life science companies.

• Plan aims to unlock up to £400 million of new private investment and create up to 5,000 new highly-skilled jobs over next decade
• Stevenage could become one of Europe’s largest ‘clusters’ for biotechnology and other early-stage life science companies
• Vision for campus developed in partnership with Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, UK Government and Stevenage Borough Council; GSK to make 33 acres of land available for development at the company’s R&D site in Stevenage

GlaxoSmithKine to create 5,000 jobs in Stevenage

Roberto Perrone interviews Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair of Stevenage Development Board about the GSK announcement and what it means for Stevenage

Click on the player above to hear the radio interview

The vision for the new campus has been developed in partnership with Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the UK Government, Stevenage Borough Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), and would build on the existing presence of GSK, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and the SBC on the site.

As part of proposals set out today, GSK is looking to sell the 33 acres of land, with an aim to subsequently unlock up to £400 million in new investment from a private sector developer to build the new campus and potentially create up to 5,000 highly-skilled jobs, over the next five to ten years. The company expects to select a development partner later this year, with a view for work to begin on master planning for the new campus in 2022.

Tony Wood, Senior Vice President, Medicinal Science & Technology, GSK said: “The past 18 months has shown the UK life sciences sector at its best and the UK has recently unveiled an ambitious 10-year vision for the UK life sciences sector. Our goal is for Stevenage to emerge as a top destination for medical and scientific research by the end of the decade. We are excited to find a development partner to realise our vision to foster the next generation of world-class scientists and biotechnology firms in Britain.”

If successful, the new campus could attract several world-class research organisations to Stevenage, creating exciting opportunities for collaboration in a state of the art, life science ecosystem. The highly-successful Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst are both already on the site and have attracted a number of successful start-ups which collectively have raised around £1.6 billion of funding. These organisations were set up with a mixture of public and private sector support – including from GSK – and are both involved in the plans which should enable their expansion.

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst said: “Stevenage is already a leading location for life science companies to develop and commercialise cutting edge therapeutics. Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is home to over 40 companies, and today’s proposal presents exciting opportunities to build on this by supporting their growth, attracting new organisations to the ecosystem and facilitating further collaboration with world-class organisations. We look forward to working with GSK and other partners to further develop the thriving life sciences campus in Stevenage.”

The new campus – which would sit next to GSK’s existing site at Stevenage – could ultimately deliver 100,000 square metres of new floorspace for commercial life sciences research and development.

As one of its two global R&D hubs, Stevenage is a key location for GSK, employing world-class scientists and driving cutting-edge innovation. It is already the UK’s largest cell and gene therapy cluster, the third largest globally and includes GSK R&D activities in the field. The plan is expected to build on these strengths.

Councillor Sharon Taylor OBE, Leader of Stevenage Borough Council said: “I am deeply proud that Stevenage is home to a world-leading life science cluster and welcome plans for a new life sciences campus. This will cement our standing as a leading STEM location within the UK. As we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital that we create new, quality jobs and opportunities for our town and our country. Our shared commitment is to make Stevenage even better, working with businesses, residents, community groups and partners to help regenerate the town and create many new jobs and opportunities for local people. We look forward to continuing our work with the life sciences sector to make Stevenage a leading light in the discovery and development of the medicines of the future.”

Mark Bretton, Chair, Hertfordshire LEP and Chair, LEP Network, said: “Our investment in the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has consolidated Stevenage’s position as a globally recognised hub for cell and gene therapy, attracting international companies with the potential to create thousands of high-level jobs. Hertfordshire LEP played a pivotal role in securing Stevenage’s Life Sciences Opportunity Zone and High Potential Opportunities recognition. This exciting new development will be a key component of our Cell & Gene Cluster Plan, ensuring continued growth and investment for the area.”

Adrian Hawkins OBE, the independent Chair of the Stevenage Development Board said: “Our highly successful Towns Fund bid fully recognises the importance of the STEM sector organisations based in Stevenage and how they can provide an excellent opportunity, to level up and secure long term social mobility for local people within Stevenage and the broader North Herts area. The Hertfordshire LEP and County Council, have regularly worked with both central Government and the Stevenage Borough Council to facilitate the delivery of both the Catalyst and the Catapult within the GSK Stevenage site and this announcement of an additional space allocation, will bring many more successful start-ups to Stevenage and enable the scale-up of companies already based in the Town. This development cannot fail to further enhance Skill levels locally and provide the opportunity for all our residents to achieve beneficial employment, at the same time as an exciting career in the Life Science and Advanced Engineering sectors.

GSK’s existing R&D operations at Stevenage are un-affected by the development plans announced today, which will also require the expansion of the public road gyratory to improve access to the site.

About GSK

GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. For further information please visit www.gsk.com/about-us.