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BioCity Nottingham

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Coordinates: 52°57′04″N 1°8′11″W / 52.95111°N 1.13639°W / 52.95111; -1.13639
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BioCity Nottingham
FormationSeptember 2003
Legal statusScience park
PurposeBioscience innovation
Location
  • Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GF
Region served
UK
Membership70 companies
Chief Executive
Dr Glenn Crocker
Main organ
BioCity Board (Chairman – Dr Louis Nisbet)
AffiliationsNottingham Trent University, University of Nottingham,
WebsiteBioCity Nottingham

BioCity Nottingham is a bioscience science park in central Nottingham in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, now run by Pioneer Group, a specialist life sciences real estate and venture building company.

History

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On Sunday 24 April 1983 there was an explosion at the former Boots site.[1]

Due to Flosequinan, known as Manoplax, having commercial difficulties, Boots Pharmaceuticals was bought by Knoll Pharmaceuticals, part of BASF in March 1995, for £840m. Sibutramine was being developed by Boots at the time.[2] 100 research jobs were cut at Beeston, and 165 at the site in October 1995.[3][4]

On Tuesday 3 September 1996 BASF chairman Jürgen F. Strube visited the Nottingham site.[5] BASF decided to sell the site in April 2000.

In 2002, laboratories and office space were donated to Nottingham Trent University by BASF. Biocity was founded in September 2003 by the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and the East Midlands Development Agency (which was based close to BioCity).

Biocity's premises were developed from the building donated by BASF. Phase 1 was completed in March 2004, providing 36,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) of space, then Phase 2 in March 2006 provided 24,000 sq ft (2,200 m2). When Phase 3 of the development was completed in October 2008, with 45,000 sq ft (4,200 m2), funding from emda also finished.

Associated Boots site

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Boots had an animal testing site at the priory at Thurgarton, the Thurgarton Research Station, in Nottinghamshire from 1947, set up by biochemist Sir Jack Drummond,[6] which Knoll bought,[7][8] and moved out in April 1996.[9]

Other former Boots site at Thurgarton

An animal rights organisation, the Boots Action Committee, had protested at both sites.[10] On Sunday 20 June 1982 the ALF entered the Thurgarton site and stole 13 Beagle dogs.[11][12] In 1984 animal rights protesters had tampered with Boots shampoo products.[13] On Saturday 3 November 1990 a group of the ALF broke into the Thurgarton site and stole eight Beagle dogs.[14][15][16] The group appeared at Newark magistrates on Tuesday 13 November 1990.[17] 43 animal rights protesters were arrested at Thurgarton on 12 November 1990, but criminal charges were dropped.[18][19][20][21]

Boots Properties decided to sell the Thurgarton site in August 1997 for £1m.[22][23][24]

Background

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Nottingham has a history of bioscience research done at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and by Boots, Britain's largest retail pharmacy company, which is based in Dunkirk/Beeston.[25]

The Royal Society of Chemistry blue plaque at BioCity

Although Boots no longer engages in drug discovery, Ibuprofen (iso-butyl-propanoic-phenolic acid) was created by a team of Boots scientists including Stewart Adams and John Nicholson.[26] In November 2013 work on ibuprofen was recognised by the erection of a Royal Society of Chemistry blue plaque on the site of the original laboratory where the painkiller was developed. The plaque reads:[27]

In recognition of the pioneering research work, here on Pennyfoot Street, by Dr Stewart Adams and Dr John Nicholson in the Research Department of Boots which led to the discovery of ibuprofen used by millions worldwide for the relief of pain.

In March 2005 Nottingham was named as a Science City; the other 5 Science Cities were Birmingham,[28] Bristol, York, Newcastle[29] and Manchester.

Construction

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On Monday 4 April 1955, Boots acquired the land for the research centre for £30,000.[30] Construction was underway by November 1957.[31] The £750,000 seven-storey Chemical Sciences Research Laboratory had been built by February 1958,[32] and opened on Tuesday 22 September 1959, with 24 laboratories.[33][34][35][36]

A new £25m block was added in 1985.[37]

Structure

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It is situated in former BASF buildings, which previously were used by Boots as research laboratories. The site on Pennyfoot Street, between the A60 and A612, is for bioscience SMEs. The University of Nottingham has the largest collaboration with companies at BioCity, with a few having links with NTU.

There are three buildings –

  • Innovation Centre Building
  • Stewart Adams Building – named after Dr Stewart Adams OBE, who led the team at Boots (with John Nicholson) that discovered Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, in 1963[38]
  • Laurus Building

In January 2012 BioCity opened a second site, BioCity Scotland, resulting from the acquisition of a former MSD research facility near Glasgow.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The Scotsman Monday 25 April 1983, page 2
  2. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Friday 31 March 1995, page 17
  3. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 20 September 1995, page 1
  4. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 12 October 1995, page 3
  5. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 3 September 1996, page 45
  6. ^ Times Friday July 4, 1969, page 25
  7. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 4 October 1995, page 14
  8. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 19 August 1997, page 59
  9. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 23 April 1996, page 62
  10. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Monday 20 June 1994, page 5
  11. ^ June 1982 protest
  12. ^ Times Monday June 21, 1982, page 3
  13. ^ 1984 protest
  14. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Monday 5 November 1990, page 10
  15. ^ Western Daily Press Monday 5 November 1990, page 9
  16. ^ Newark Advertiser Friday 9 November 1990, page 30
  17. ^ Newark Advertiser Friday 16 November 1990, page 3
  18. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Wednesday 16 January 1991, page 13
  19. ^ The Scotsman Wednesday 16 January 1991, page 5
  20. ^ Newark Advertiser Friday 18 January 1991, page 86
  21. ^ Newark Advertiser Friday 10 May 1991, page 3
  22. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 19 August 1997, page 59
  23. ^ Companies House
  24. ^ Thurgarton and Boots
  25. ^ Matthew Bunn (11 February 2019). "New £8m medical technology hub proposed for Boots' Enterprise Zone site". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  26. ^ Boots ibuprofen project Archived 1 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "Chemical landmark plaque honours scientific discovery past and future". Royal Society of Chemistry News.
  28. ^ "About Us at Birmingham Science City". Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  29. ^ Newcastle Science City Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 5 April 1955, page 7
  31. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Friday 15 November 1957, page 13
  32. ^ Nottingham Guardian Thursday 13 February 1958, page 7
  33. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 1
  34. ^ Nottingham Evening News Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 4
  35. ^ Nottingham Guardian Wednesday 23 September 1959, page 2
  36. ^ Daily News Tuesday 22 September 1959, page 9
  37. ^ Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 27 November 1984, page 11
  38. ^ Dr Stewart Adams
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News items

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Video clips

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52°57′04″N 1°8′11″W / 52.95111°N 1.13639°W / 52.95111; -1.13639

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