22/06/2023
Cambridge ranks first for UK Life Sciences growth

New report from CBRE puts Cambridge ahead of the pack in offices and life sciences sectors

Global real estate services firm CBRE recently published its Which City? Which Sector? report, outlining the predicted growth markets for the UK’s regional cities over the next decade. The report examines the prospects of a range of real estate sectors across the 50 largest regional towns and cities in the UK, informed by economic drivers, demographic trends and property market data.

Cambridge featured prominently in the report as one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing cities. The city’s credentials as a home for an established life sciences sector, alongside prime office space, marked it out amongst competitors as one of the best places to invest, live, and work.

Life Sciences
Cambridge is known across the globe for its world-leading life sciences sector, with academic research institutions such as the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Sanger Institute having produced 110 Nobel Laureates between them.

And the numbers agree – Cambridge was placed first for predicted growth in the life sciences sector, a sign of confidence that lab space will continue to be delivered across the city, bringing new jobs and associated wider economic benefits.

Offices
The role of the office continues to change, with occupiers focusing on talent attraction and retention. The report states that quality workspace considers a range of “flexible, amenity rich spaces to curate the optimum user experience”. Cambridge’s strong office market and wider economic standing means it places tenth on CBRE’s list of cities for office space growth.

This chimes with the recent news that Fora has opened its first flexible workspace in Cambridge at CB1, joining international businesses such as Apple, Microsoft, and Deloitte.

At CB1, we see life sciences and workspace as two sectors that must work together to provide a sustainable and vibrant community alongside economic growth. This is reflected in CBRE’s predictions in the report, which calculated a 17.1% growth in disposable income and a 15.9% growth in GDP over the next decade in Cambridge – a marker of the success of investment in these sectors in the city.

Find out more from CBRE’s Which City? Which Sector? report here: https://www.cbre.co.uk/insights/reports/which-city-which-sectors