Liverpool City Region Combined Authority unveils plans for Investment Zone funding

4th September 2023

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has today announced how it intends to maximise the value of around £80 million of Government Investment Zone funding.

A new report, which will be reviewed by the combined authority at a meeting on Wednesday 6 September, outlines 21 projects and their provisional funding allocation.

With a focus on life sciences, the Liverpool City Region Investment Zone could unlock more than £300m of private investment and create 4,000 jobs across Liverpool, Runcorn, St Helens, Maghull and Prescot.

An initial £10m investment will be made by US manufacturer TriRx to enhance its capabilities in the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies, which is a type of immunotherapy that works by blocking certain diseases, including cancer and arthritis, from affecting healthy cells.

The investment in Liverpool’s Speke Pharma cluster is the first step in unlocking a pipeline of up to £320m of private funding across the next five years.

Among the schemes revealed in the report are:

  • Compound Labs: Compound Labs is a new 126,142 sq ft lab building on Paddington Village in the Knowledge Quarter Innovation District. It will include both commercial and academic lab accommodation, and well as providing a home for the Centre for Long-acting Therapeutics. £10m has been provisionally allocated for the scheme.
  • CELT: Compound will be built on Paddington Village by Sciontec. It will house 43,055 sq ft of pharmacology and chemistry laboratories in the Centre of Excellence in Long-Acting Therapeutics (CELT), operated by UoL.
  • Hemisphere: Also in Paddington Village, Hemisphere will be an eight-storey innovation-led workspace and lab development. Extending to 116,092 sq ft, the scheme is due for completion in 2025. £1.5m has been provisionally allocated.
  • Earlsfield Park: Earlsfield Park in Knowsley is a 30-acre opportunity site which benefits from planning permission. On site infrastructure was recently completed to support a new employment park.
  • Violet Phase 2: Phase 2 of the Violet scheme at Sci-Tech Daresbury will include the creation of two structures, including a 60,000 sq ft laboratory building and a 23,000 sq ft office building. The scheme could benefit from £9.5m of funding.
  • Maghull Health Park: Mersey Care wants to develop its 103.7-acre Ashworth hospital and former HMP Kennet site in St Helens into an international centre of excellence for mental health. Mersey Care wants to build on the £120m investment it has received to date and, with the support of Sefton Council, hopes to attract additional development, investment and employment opportunities at the site.
  • Manufacturing and Innovation Campus: £15m is requested create a cluster of life science, manufacturing and innovation businesses on strategic development sites. The project is supported by the Towns Fund, LCRCA and a partnership with NSG Pilkington to redevelop the former Watson St Works site.

For more news from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority click HERE.

4th September 2023