UK Biobank, the world’s most comprehensive source of health data, is preparing for a major move to a new state-of-the-art headquarters in the Greenheys building at Bruntwood SciTech’s Manchester Science Park. This strategic relocation, scheduled to open in 2026, aims to enhance UK Biobank’s capability to support global research and innovation. The project is backed by a significant £127 million award from the UK Research and Innovation Infrastructure Fund.
The Gorvins team, led by Paul Dowdall along with Amanda Porter and Karen Davenport, played a crucial role in this landmark move, providing expert advice on the transactional real estate elements of the project.
What the team did
1. Making introductions
At the outset of the transaction, our Gorvins team arranged introductions to surveyor and valuation advisory services, ensuring that connections were made at the right level and with the right people. This assisted with UK Biobank’s negotiation of the initial heads of terms, giving them the foundation to embark on legal process from the best possible starting place.
2. Legal structure advice
Following commercial terms being agreed between parties, we advised UK Biobank on a variety of possible legal structures appropriate for the transaction. We then brokered the preferred structure with Bruntwood SciTech’s legal team to make sure that the legal framework was correct from the outset, giving UK Biobank the comfort and knowledge that the transaction would proceed as smoothly as possible.
3. Managing a cross-discipline team
Given the scale of the project, there was a large team of lawyers and specialists that came together to support the process. The Gorvins team managed this cross-discipline team of advisers from different firms, including construction, planning and tax teams, enabling UK Biobank to receive the correct specialist advice from those best placed to deliver it.
4. Negotiating contractual documents
Gorvins always adopt a commercial and client-focused approach that’s balanced and tailored to our client’s needs. In doing so on this transaction, we enabled UK Biobank to achieve a suite of legal documents that fairly balance risk against commercial reward, giving them confidence and peace of mind that they have the correct legal cover in place for the life of the development.
Conclusion
This was an important project that will have wide-ranging benefits for the vital research UK Biobank does. The Gorvins Commercial Property Team are adept at delivering on large-scale complex projects such as this one, and as ever, the case was an opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment to exceptional legal services.