BioCity Nottingham is a bioscience science park in central Nottingham in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, now run by Pioneer Group, a specialist life sciences real estate and venture building company.
History On Sunday 24 April 1983 there was an explosion at the former Boots site.The Scotsman Monday 25 April 1983, page 2
Due to Flosequinan, known as Manoplax, having commercial difficulties, Boots Pharmaceuticals was bought by Knoll Pharmaceuticals, part of BASF in March 1995, for £840m. Sibutramine was being developed by Boots at the time.Nottingham Evening Post Friday 31 March 1995, page 17 100 research jobs were cut at Beeston, and 165 at the site in October 1995.Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 20 September 1995, page 1Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 12 October 1995, page 3
On Tuesday 3 September 1996 BASF chairman Jürgen F. Strube visited the Nottingham site.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 3 September 1996, page 45 BASF decided to sell the site in April 2000.
In 2002, laboratories and office space were donated to Nottingham Trent University by BASF. Biocity was founded in September 2003 by the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and the East Midlands Development Agency (which was based close to BioCity).
Biocity's premises were developed from the building donated by BASF. Phase 1 was completed in March 2004, providing of space, then Phase 2 in March 2006 provided . When Phase 3 of the development was completed in October 2008, with , funding from emda also finished.
Associated Boots site Boots had an animal testing site at the priory at Thurgarton, the Thurgarton Research Station, in Nottinghamshire from 1947, set up by biochemist Sir Jack Drummond,Times Friday July 4, 1969, page 25 which Knoll bought,Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 4 October 1995, page 14Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 19 August 1997, page 59 and moved out in April 1996.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 23 April 1996, page 62
An animal rights organisation, the Boots Action Committee, had protested at both sites.Nottingham Evening Post Monday 20 June 1994, page 5 On Sunday 20 June 1982 the ALF entered the Thurgarton site and stole 13 Beagle dogs.June 1982 protestTimes Monday June 21, 1982, page 3 In 1984 animal rights protesters had tampered with Boots shampoo products.1984 protest On Saturday 3 November 1990 a group of the ALF broke into the Thurgarton site and stole eight Beagle dogs.Nottingham Evening Post Monday 5 November 1990, page 10Western Daily Press Monday 5 November 1990, page 9Newark Advertiser Friday 9 November 1990, page 30 The group appeared at Newark magistrates on Tuesday 13 November 1990.Newark Advertiser Friday 16 November 1990, page 3 43 animal rights protesters were arrested at Thurgarton on 12 November 1990, but criminal charges were dropped.Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 16 January 1991, page 13The Scotsman Wednesday 16 January 1991, page 5Newark Advertiser Friday 18 January 1991, page 86Newark Advertiser Friday 10 May 1991, page 3
Boots Properties decided to sell the Thurgarton site in August 1997 for £1m.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 19 August 1997, page 59Companies HouseThurgarton and Boots
Background Nottingham has a history of bioscience research done at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and by Boots, Britain's largest retail pharmacy company, which is based in Dunkirk/Beeston.
Although Boots no longer engages in drug discovery, Ibuprofen (iso-butyl-propanoic-phenolic acid) was created by a team of Boots scientists including Stewart Adams and John Nicholson.Boots ibuprofen project In November 2013 work on ibuprofen was recognised by the erection of a Royal Society of Chemistry blue plaque on the site of the original laboratory where the painkiller was developed. The plaque reads:
In March 2005 Nottingham was named as a Science City; the other 5 Science Cities were Birmingham, Bristol, York, NewcastleNewcastle Science City and Manchester.
Construction An earlier research site, for antibiotics and fermentation, had been opened in 1956 next to an antibiotics factory of Boots in Beeston.
On Monday 4 April 1955, Boots acquired 3,675 sq ft of land for the research centre for £30,000, from Nottingham City Council.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 5 April 1955, page 7
Construction was underway by November 1957.Nottingham Evening Post Friday 15 November 1957, page 13 The £750,000 seven-storey Chemical Sciences Research Laboratory had been built by February 1958,Nottingham Guardian Thursday 13 February 1958, page 7 and opened on Tuesday 22 September 1959, with 24 laboratories.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 1Nottingham Evening News Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 4Nottingham Guardian Wednesday 23 September 1959, page 2Daily News Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 9 The 1959 building was built by William Moss and Sons, of Queens Road in Loughborough. There was no official opening ceremony, with 88,000 sq ft of buildings. It had a 200-seat lecture theatre, and a radioisotope unit. The site was to also research bacteriology.
There was a large stained glass of 16 ft by 14 ft panel in the entrance to the building, designed by Tony Hollaway.Nottingham Evening Post Friday 31 December 1965, page 10 There was a 8 ft by 15 ft mural designed by 24 year old Peter Spring, of the Nottingham School of Architecture.Nottingham Evening News Friday 9 October 1959, page 8
The nearby Trent House, Nottingham began construction around May 1959, to be finished in 1961.Nottingham Guardian Journal Thursday 23 April 1959, page 3
A new £25m block was added in 1985.Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 27 November 1984, page 11
In November 1990, Boots unveiled plans to redevelop the nearby area as a business park, with a hotel, to cost £150m on the 18-acre site. The current site of BBC East Midlands was to be a Boots-owned hotel and conference centre.Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 8 November 1990, page 16
Structure It is situated in former BASF buildings, which previously were used by Boots as research laboratories. The site on Pennyfoot Street, between the A60 and A612, is for bioscience SMEs. The University of Nottingham has the largest collaboration with companies at BioCity, with a few having links with NTU.
There are four buildings – Innovation Centre Building Stewart Adams Building – named after Dr Stewart Adams OBE, who led the team at Boots (with John Nicholson) that discovered Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, in 1963Dr Stewart Adams Laurus Building Discovery Building, opened in 2017
In January 2012 BioCity opened a second site, BioCity Scotland, resulting from the acquisition of a former MSD research facility near Glasgow.
Heads of research Eric Edward Cliffe (1932-2020) 1980s, attended Jesus College, CambridgeE E Cliffe
See also Chesterford Park Research Station, former Fisons site Sheffield Bioincubator Francis Crick Institute Creative Quarter, Nottingham
References
External links BioCity Nottingham Science City Nottingham UKSPA NTU CPMG Architects - Discovery Building at BioCity
News items Laurus Building opens in October 2008
Video clips Glen Crocker Nottingham Science – Laurus Building