City centre offices sold to Lincoln Science and Innovation Park for £4m

The venture, partly owned by Lincolnshire Co-op, focuses on creating an environment for high-growth companies and new employment opportunities

Lincoln Science and Innovation Park has bought a city multi-million-pound building in a deal worth £4m.

A joint venture business owned by Lincolnshire Co-op and the University of Lincoln, Lincoln Science and Innovation Park focuses on creating an environment for high-growth companies and new employment opportunities.

The Park acquired the freehold of Hestia House, a 26,331 sq ft building that is being let to the Barbon Insurance Group Ltd.

Lincoln Science & Innovation Park director Tom Blount said: “As a business local to the building, we are confident that this part of Lincoln is on the up. Therefore, we have real confidence in the potential for this as an investment property.”

The first phase of the multi-million pound development saw the opening of the Joseph Banks Laboratories, which houses the University of Lincoln’s School of Pharmacy, School of Life Sciences and its new School of Chemistry, back in 2014. Barbon Insurance Group’s lease on the building runs until 2027.

According to Mr Blount, the property is on land which adjoins Phase 2 of the Science Park and it will allow it to “sympathetically develop while causing as little disruption as possible to the sitting tenant”.

The Phase 2 expansion will cost £20m and create more than than 10,000 sq m of commercial floorspace in Lincoln’s industrial heartland and around 800 new jobs.

He added: “As a site-specific developer, we are always interested in properties near our main site but, on the whole, our mission is to regenerate our site, rather than take on additional investment properties.

“We would obviously like to work with the tenant to help them consolidate their base in Lincoln and support local employment. We look forward to working with the company long into the future.”

Lincolnshire Co-operative runs food stores, filling stations, post offices, pharmacies and funeral services. Through its Science and Innovation Park, the co-op seeks to create a focal point for innovation and investment in science and technology across the region.

As part of this, Lincolnshire Co-operative, in collaboration with the University of Lincoln, is running an MPharm course for students to learn the chemistry of medicines alongside the interpersonal skills needed to deal with patients.

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