Charnwood Campus: New jobs to be created at former AstraZeneca site

The project will revamp unused laboratory space

An investment of £4.6m will create hundreds of new jobs at a former AstraZeneca site in Leicestershire.

Work to revamp unused laboratories at Charnwood Campus, in Loughborough, will create a total of 222 jobs within five years.

The aim is to create a "world-class" biochemistry building.

Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) is funding the project, in partnership with Charnwood Borough Council.

The redevelopment of the derelict site will make 9,417 sq m of specialised laboratory and office space available.

Andy Reed OBE, LLEP co-chair, said: "This lab space will bring inward investment through the arrival of the first tenant.

"But it will also support the development and growth of businesses in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech sectors by offering research, development, and small batch manufacturing capacity here in Leicestershire."

Charnwood Campus said the funding would help attract more investment in the region

It is hoped the investment will help bring forward other projects already under development.

Gosia Khrais, commercial and marketing director at Charnwood Campus, said: "This investment will help accelerate our ambition to become a meaningful life sciences asset in the region, attracting inward investment, and providing employment directly on the site and within our local supply chain."

Charnwood Campus was formed in 2014 and was the UK's first Life Sciences Opportunity Zone.

The site was vacated by AstraZeneca in 2011.