Welcome subscribers,
In this edition, we spotlight cloud labs—highly automated, remotely accessible facilities that may alleviate lab space shortages. Additionally, we cover new builds, sales, financing, and leasing activities across Europe. Read on and enjoy!
✅ France: Sanofi invests €1 Billion
✅ Germany: AbbVie's new research facility
✅ Italy: Enovis doubles capacity
✅ UK: University lease in London
Read more below for all the details.
Cloud labs: can remote research fix the shortage of lab space?
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New and extended assets
FRANCE PARIS
Sanofi has earmarked €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to create new bioproduction capacity at its site in Vitry-sur-Seine, a suburb to the southeast of Paris. The investment will double the site’s monoclonal antibody production capacity. Several biologics in development, including those for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), asthma, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes, could be produced in Vitry.
GERMANY LUDWIGSHAFEN
AbbVie broke ground on a new central research building, “LUnA” (LUdwighafens neue Arbeitswelt) and is investing approximately €150 million (£127 million) in its second-largest R&D location worldwide. A state-of-the-art research and laboratory building is being built on the main AbbVie campus and will be home to more than 300 researchers and scientists upon completion in 2027. Ludwigshafen, Mannheim and Heidelberg feature in this article.
ITALY UDINE
Enovis Corporation (NYSE: ENOV) the medical technology company opened a new production plant at their San Daniele del Friuli location (80 km / 50 miles northwest of Trieste). The location previously belonged to LimaCorporate S.p.A., which Enovis acquired in January 2024. The new facility will double production capacity from the current 750,000 units to more than 1.5 million per year, leading to a demand for around 100 new employees in the region.
PORTUGAL SANTAREM
The Luz Saúde Group will build a new hospital unit next to the retail park in the south of Santarém, 70 km (44 miles) north-east of Lisbon. The project costs €58 million (£49 million) and the work has been awarded to the engineering and construction group Teixeira Duarte. Completion is expected by the end of 2025, with the opening scheduled for the first half of 2026. The hospital will have an inpatient unit with 42 beds, 40 consultation rooms, an operating block with four surgeries, and specialised centres for imaging, women's health, oncology and dental medicine.
UK BIRMINGHAM
The Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) will soon occupy the top three floors of No.1 BHIC – the flagship building of the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus which is being delivered in partnership with Bruntwood SciTech. Providing approximately 70,000 sq ft (6,500 sq m) of incubation and collaboration space, PHTA will include phase I to III clinical trials and real-world evaluation.
UK CAMBRIDGE
Longfellow Real Estate Partners, the privately-held investor and developer of life science buildings, announced in May 2024 that they had signed a fixed-price contract to reposition their CamLIFE campus with Wates, the construction company. Work on CamLIFE is set to begin immediately and delivery of the lab space will begin in mid-2025. The Cam 3 building will come online first, followed by Cam 1 & 2.
