King’s College London and Pioneer Group in incubator link-up

Collaboration aims to revitalise two empty sites on the South Bank of London by providing several laboratories

Pioneer Group has announced a partnership with King’s College London to launch new dedicated start-up incubators in biotech and medtech on the South Bank of London.

King’s College London has teamed up with Pioneer Group – a life sciences real estate and venture building company – to develop 95,000 square feet of incubator facilities.

The facilities will be divided across two locations and will cater for university enterprises and early-stage companies, helping them to produce new technologies that will help improve patient treatment and care.

The collaboration aims to revitalise two empty sites on the South Bank of London, providing wet and dry laboratories, offices and co-working space, as well as access to vital equipment. Meanwhile, the areas will also be configured to support high-tech spin-outs at early stages of development.

Professor Richard Trembath, senior vice president for health and life sciences at King’s College London, elaborated: “We are delighted to welcome Pioneer Group to the South Bank as they have a proven track record of providing specialist spaces where early-stage spin-outs can flourish. This is an important requirement as we enhance Innovation@King’s and an early pillar for the SC1 life sciences innovation district.”

He added: “SC1 is a collaboration between the King’s Health Partners, the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, and the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, dedicated to creating partnerships between world-class researchers, clinicians and industry to develop innovative and life-changing technologies and therapies for our local and global communities.”

Glenn Crocker, executive director at Pioneer Group, reflected: “King’s is recognised internationally for the impact of its research in life sciences and medicine. It has produced some exceptional spin outs in the last few years in the fields of immunology and oncology amongst others.

“We are delighted to be working with King’s to house and help scale their exciting spin out companies. We look forward to working with the wider team at King’s to help make the journey out of academia and into commercial reality as smooth and efficient as possible.”

Establishing the partnership arrives a few weeks after Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced £650m of pledges to boost the UK’s life sciences sector.

King’s College has a history of involvement in technology development. Indeed, the discovery of DNA structure, in 1953, was made possible by Dr Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray diffraction work at the institution.