Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The Downing Building, will comprise approximately 20,250 sq ft net internal of fully fitted air cooled office accommodation on ground and one upper floor, together with more than 70 parking and 12 cycle spaces.

The neighbouring Robinson Laboratory will offer some 60,000 sq ft of R & D and office accommodation within a flexible design; the building will be divided into two wings of laboratory, associated write up, admin and a plant loft over each wing to be built to a shell & core specification. A two-storey atrium at the centre will link the two parts and allow for reception and meetings rooms.

As the park moves into its eighth year, its vital signs look stronger than ever.

Martin Sylvester, director of Churchmanor Estates said: "Ever since the beginning, activity at the park has increased year on year. 2007 has been remarkable not only for the levels of occupier activity, but for the pace with which we are looking to move the development forward to meet demand: 2008 looks like it will be busier still."

Both Illumina Inc and BioFocus DPI, two current occupiers, have expanded their operations as a result of their respective organic growth and committed to taking extra office, laboratory and R & D accommodation at the park.

Illumina, a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of next-generation Life Science tools and integrated systems for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and biological function, expanded its office space into Building 25, comprising some 5,500 sq ft of refurbished accommodation suitable for offices, R & D, or potential lab space.

Illumina, which earlier in the year completed the acquisition of Solexa, is the only Life Sciences company with genome-wide technologies for genotyping, gene expression, and sequencing - the three cornerstones of modern genetic analysis.

Simultaneously, BioFocus DPI, the comprehensive drug discovery services company which is part of the internationally-renowned Galapagos Group, expanded its operations into Laboratory 900.

With this move, BioFocus DPI is consolidating its presence on the Park, securing state-ofthe-art premises that will allow it to develop its business well into the future.

Laboratory 900 also enables BioFocus DPI to centralise its laboratory activities in the UK - a key requirement since its acquisition at the end of last year of Inpharmatica's ADME group, previously based on the Cambridge Science Park.