Oxford and Reef to mastermind Snowfields Quarter scheme

Guy鈥檚 and St Thomas鈥 Foundation has selected developers and a design team to create a new life science hub in the shadow of the Shard.

The charity has named investment group Oxford Properties and developer Reef Group as its preferred developers for the scheme, which it is calling Snowfields Quarter.

They will invest 拢350m to develop three lab buildings across a 300,000 sq ft site, adjacent to the Guy鈥檚 campus in London Bridge.

life science

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The new hub will include three lab buildings

Plans are to be drawn up by DSDHA and Perkins&Will, alongside Reef鈥檚 own in-house designers, UrbanR.

Snowsfields Quarter will be the Foundation鈥檚 second life sciences-led scheme in the area, with the nearby Royal Street site under development with partners Stanhope and Baupost Group.

Foundation chief executive Kieron Boyle said the scheme had received a 鈥渇antastic level of interest鈥, with the selected partners beating competition from Stanhope & Cadillac Fairview, Nuveen, Biomed & Blackstone and Breakthrough Properties.

He added that Oxford and Reef鈥檚 proposals 鈥渃hime with our ambitions to create innovative spaces that support life-enhancing medical advances which improve lives locally and beyond鈥.

Oxford鈥檚 head of life sciences, Abby Shapiro, said her firm鈥檚 plans would strengthen an 鈥渁lready significant ecosystem鈥 in an area home to King鈥檚 College London, the leading clinical trials of Guy鈥檚 and St Thomas鈥 NHS Foundation Trust as well as the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.