Prime Minister Gordon Brown has today said a £500m medical research facility will be built on one of the most sought-after development sites in London.

A consortium backing the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation has beaten competition from Development Securities, residential developer Oracle, Minerva, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley subsidiary St George for the 3.5-acre site near the British Library and St Pancras train station.

Changing lives

‘We strongly support plans to create Europe’s leading centre for medical research in the heart of London,’ said Brown. ‘It will maintain Britain’s position at the forefront of global medical research, strengthen the UK economy and, through its links with the NHS, has huge potential to change patients’ lives.’

The government’s Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and University College London will operate from the 750,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility which is expected to be built by 2013.

Developers rejected

It is believed the rival developers, who all proposed mixed-use schemes, offered more for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport-owned site, with bids exceeding £100m.

CB Richard Ellis advised the medical consortium on its bid over the past six months.

‘The focus of such an important national centre of excellence on this site, adjacent to the new Eurostar Station at St Pancras, will complement the large numbers of leading edge institutions which are present in this part of London,’ said CBRE’s director of planning Paul Willmott. ‘It will provide an impetus for further private sector investment who will want to cluster around this centre of innovation.’

‘It will put Camden firmly on an international setting and at the forefront of the UK in the provision of medical facilities.’

Cluttons and Atisreal advised the government on selling the site.