Northern Powerhouse boosted as multinationals expand at Hexagon Tower

Manchester’s Hexagon Tower, the only vertical science park in the UK, has seen its tenants expand their presence by 16% this year, strengthening the North West’s status as a key region in the development of the Northern Powerhouse.

In the past six months, multinational chemical firm Lubrizol extended its space by 2,539 sq ft at the facility, while quality and safety service provider Intertek took 10,500 sq ft for testing bio-medical products.

Elsewhere, biotech and pharma supplier Lonza expanded by 2,275 sq ft and tech firm SmartKem signed up for an extra 5,036 sq ft at Hexagon Tower.

SmartKem’s CEO, Steve Kelly, said: “SmartKem is developing leading high-performance organic semiconductors with global appeal, and to be driving such innovation from the North West epitomises the SmartKem ideology.

“With a wealth of highly skilled organic chemists, our expansion at Hexagon Tower is in part due to the boom in Manchester’s science sector, and hopefully over the course of the Powerhouse’s construction, we can look to invest in further.”

He added: “The development of the Northern Powerhouse, especially with its focus on science and technology, shines a light on businesses located in Manchester and will hopefully continue to draw investment to the region.”

As part of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget, in which science plays a prominent role in creating the Northern Powerhouse, the UK government has pledged to invest over £450m in developing centres for research into healthcare technology, cognitive computing and advanced materials like graphene.

LaSalle Investment Management is in charge of Hexagon Tower. Its associate director, Chris Mitchell, commented: “Hexagon Tower has always mirrored the fortunes of Manchester since scientific works were first established there in the 1780s, through to the tower’s construction in 1973, and again today.

“We are delighted that confidence in the Manchester science industry from the Government and multinational companies will keep the city at the forefront of innovation and ensure the products we will use tomorrow are still created, developed and sold in the UK.”

Last year, Hexagon Tower joined up with five other science parks to create the BEST Network, which is now the UK’s largest group of privately owned science parks.