Changing Lives, Creating An Ecosphere: Why 2 Life Sciences Clusters Are Coming To Canary Wharf

Say the words Canary Wharf to a Londoner, and the first image that will probably come to mind is of glass towers filled with finance workers on big salaries. 

But the borough that encompasses Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, has areas that are amongst the most deprived in the UK. With that in mind, the development of two life sciences clusters in close proximity could impact not just the organisations building the real estate, the London innovation economy and the UK's gross domestic product, but also the lives of the people living in their vicinity. 

“What was great for us was to come into a part of London where there was this growing sense of momentum around life sciences,” Genomics England Chief Financial Officer Catherine Byers said at Bisnow’s UK Life Sciences Winter Forecast held at the 20 Water Street office and lab building in Canary Wharf.

Byers told the audience of more the 250 people why Genomics had decided to move its office from Farringdon into 18K SF at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, where it is working alongside Kadans Science Partner and estate owner Canary Wharf Group to create a new life sciences hub. And Queen Mary University of London Vice Principal for Health professor Sir Mark Caulfield talked through the academic institution's work with Barts Life Sciences to build a life sciences cluster in nearby Whitechapel. 

Improving health outcomes for surrounding residents is one motivating factor for the Queen Mary and Barts' plan to build a new set of research facilities as part of the redevelopment of The Royal London Hospital, Caulfield said.

The average life expectancy of a woman living in Tower Hamlets is 82, but her average healthy life expectancy is just 58, meaning residents live an average of 24 years suffering from chronic ill health, he said. Across London, in the wealthy borough of Richmond, the average healthy life expectancy is 72, 14 years higher. 

“That's what we want to change,” Caulfield said. “That needs a mixture of the NHS and healthcare, of universities and the vital ingredient, which is industry and life sciences. And then we can mobilise findings that we make in the new premises that we will build and, together, march them into new research that proves their patient benefit.”

The Royal London Hospital, which serves a community of 2.5 million people from 97 countries, is the vehicle for getting those findings to the people who need them most, he said.

For Byers, the move to Canary Wharf was partially about securing new premises to attract the best staff and to provide a modern working environment. Genomics, a government-backed entity, undertakes gene sequencing and research, utilising the findings to pioneer treatments for disease and help the NHS. 

“We come from Farringdon, and we were in an incredibly charming but quite old space, a dusty basement with students kind of wandering around, and now we're here, and it just feels very different,” Byers said. “It helps us to build our brand.”

Genomics England is an organisation with many types of workers — software engineers, biomathematicians, clinicians, human resources staff, finance professionals and others. A newer, modern workspace allows these disparate groups to collaborate when they need to.

But it goes beyond that, Byers added. With half of its staff under 40, an urban rather than rural location was appealing, she said, although both have pros and cons. Genomics sees the opportunity to be at the centre of an ecosystem of organisations working in the same field, all seeking an urban environment and quality infrastructure. 

“We’re an anchor tenant, so we have partnered with Canary Wharf to come in and to help them build the life sciences cluster in the estate,” she said. 

“We're funded mainly by the government, so we have a responsibility to build the ecosystem for genomics and be part of the life sciences ecosystem in the UK. So we also have a responsibility to reach out to local industry, academia, other partners [and] work with companies across the UK and try and build that momentum for life sciences in the UK.”

Being open to the local community can have a beneficial impact on the lives of people living near life sciences schemes in many different ways, creating a virtuous circle, Caulfield said. One of the labs at Queen Mary offers an installation allowing local children to go inside a huge model of the interlinked cells of a baby and play a computer game introducing them to life sciences research. 

“And 242,907 school children aged 8 to 14 have been in there and played those games,” he said. “We have good evidence that many of them have come to our university as a result of that experience, because they went inside a laboratory and they saw the science. They were able to play on computer games, simulated science and solve real problems that are healthcare problems in a computer environment. And that's what allows people to feel empowered, enabled.”

While the NHS sometimes receives criticism within the world of healthcare and life sciences for being a slow adopter of new technologies and processes, Caulfield said its structure can be a huge advantage for global life sciences firms: It offers a single route to market for discoveries rather than companies having to speak to multiple healthcare providers. 

That is especially true when research is undertaken alongside the NHS or other government bodies. 

“You really can energise change from this type of development,” he said. “Not just socioeconomically in the community, but for the whole of the nation, from even a relatively small footprint such as the one in this building here already.

“You can make great discoveries that will transform lives.”