- Investment Zone focused on life sciences set to potentially
unlock up to £320 million of private investment
- Liverpool, Runcorn, St. Helens, Maghull and Prescot to
benefit from over 4,000 new jobs over the next 5 years
- Initial £10 million investment confirmed from a US
pharmaceutical company manufacturing drugs used to treat cancers,
arthritis and skin conditions.
The government has today launched England’s second Investment
Zone in Liverpool which could unlock £320 million of private
investment and deliver 4,000 jobs, across Liverpool, Runcorn, St.
Helens, Maghull and Prescot over the next 5 years.
An initial £10 million investment will be made by US
pharmaceutical manufacturer TriRx, to enhance its capabilities to
manufacture monoclonal antibodies, a type of immunotherapy that
work by blocking certain diseases from affecting healthy cells
and are used to treat numerous types of diseases including
cancers, arthritis and skin conditions.
This investment in Liverpool’s existing Speke Pharma cluster –
home to one of the UK’s leading regions for bioprocessing - is
the first step in unlocking a total pipeline up to £320 million
of further private funding from a range of investors in the life
sciences sector, helping to deliver over 4,000 jobs in the region
over the next 5 years.
Backed by £80 million in government funding, the Investment Zone
will benefit from a range of interventions which could include
skills, infrastructure and tax reliefs, depending on local
circumstances – with the potential to completely transform the
region, making Liverpool a pharmaceutical production superpower.
The government will continue to work with the Liverpool City
Region, University of Liverpool and other local partners to
co-develop the plans for their Life Sciences Investment Zone,
including agreeing priority development sites and specific
interventions to drive cluster growth, over the summer, ahead of
final confirmation of plans.
Minister welcomed the first of those investments as he met
executives from US pharmaceutical manufacturer TriRx at their
state-of-the-art biotech facility in Speke.
Minister said:
Investment Zones will drive growth across the UK. For Liverpool
that means over £300 million of private investment and 4,000 new,
well-paid jobs – all building on the city’s world leading
reputation in medical science.
The health and life sciences sector already contributes an
estimated £290 million to the Liverpool City Region’s economy
every year. Building on this strength, the Liverpool City
Region’s Investment Zone includes the University of Liverpool and
is part of the government’s vision to drive growth in the sectors
of the future including advanced manufacturing, green industries,
digital and technology.
Mark Proctor, AstraZeneca Site Lead for Speke said:
AstraZeneca welcomes the establishment of the Liverpool City
Region Investment Zone focussed on life sciences, which has the
potential to attract more businesses to the region’s already
thriving medicine development and manufacturing cluster.
We employ 400 people at our site in Speke to manufacture our
intranasal influenza vaccine, used in the UK for the child and
adolescent immunisation programme and exported to markets around
the world.
The site has the potential to expand into new technology
platforms for vaccines and we look forward to working with the
Liverpool City Region to identify opportunities to develop these
capabilities in the coming years.
Six more Investment Zones are to be announced in England –
ensuring that there are engines for growth and opportunities for
talented people across the country.
Each was invited to identify an Investment Zone that offered an
imaginative partnership between local government and a university
or research institute in a way that catalyses emerging innovation
clusters.
As well as delivering jobs and driving economic growth,
investment zones will be used to help provide new housing in
areas of need.
In a speech earlier this week, the Levelling up and Housing
Secretary set out our commitment to using the planning and tax
levers provided by our new Investment Zones to help regeneration
and build the right homes in the right places to support our
great cities.
A new “supersquad” of expert planners, backed by £13 million of
new funding, will help unblock major housing and infrastructure,
looking at sites across our 8 Investment Zones in England, to
help provide high quality homes which complement the high-quality
jobs that are being created.
There will also be 2 Investment Zones in Scotland, with Glasgow
City Region and North East of Scotland offering the most
potential to host these. Discussions will now begin with both
regions to develop detailed proposals.
The government is also working closely with the devolved
administrations to establish how Investment Zones in Wales and
Northern Ireland will be delivered.
Today’s news follows the first Advanced Manufacturing Investment
Zone in South Yorkshire, announced earlier this month, which has
backing from Boeing and partners with an investment worth over
£80 million.
Liverpool’s investment zone will complement the benefits of
region’s Freeport, which became operational in January and will
deliver thousands of new jobs and £850 million for local
economies.
