'A gamechanger for Leeds': Work moves ahead on Innovation Village development set to create 4,000 jobs
The scheme, which is set to create 4,000 jobs, will be a “gamechanger” for the city
Plans to turn the Grade II* listed Old Medical School into a healthtech innovation hub are moving ahead as the first phase of the wider Leeds Innovation Village development.
Developer Scarborough Group International is leading the work on the site, which is intended to become part of a larger destination for science, research, technology and innovation. The broader project is expected to create 4,000 jobs, generate £13 billion in economic benefits and unlock development potential across 1.5 million square foot of Leeds city-centre land.
The redevelopment of the Old Medical School is designed to bring clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and industry together to collaborate, innovate and commercialise ideas that improve patient care and support economic growth.
Deb Hetherington, SGI’s Director of Innovation Ecosystems, is overseeing the hub’s ecosystem, including the partnerships, pipeline and programmes that will support innovation from concept through to real-world application.
She told The Yorkshire Post that the scheme is an "unbelievable” project that will make a “huge” difference for Leeds, which she said trails behind cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool when it comes to dedicated innovation space.
"If you have a place where you can deliver and congregate activity, it is so powerful for a city and for a region,” she said.
"I did a best practice review of square footage of innovation space across the UK earlier this year and Leeds is dreadfully below the average.
“Every city really has a knowledge quarter or innovation park. Leeds really struggles with that.
"We need space that will bring innovation to the fore.
"Whether it is spinouts from universities, whether it is start-ups that need growth space, whether it is industry specialists in health innovation who want to have a base here in Leeds but don’t necessarily need an entire building, for businesses to take advantage of the innovation assets we have here.
"Those assets include the largest teaching hospital trust in Europe who are so open to working with industry and want to commercialise innovation, both bringing it out of the NHS and then taking it into the NHS to improve patient outcomes.
"We desperately need that as a country and Leeds is incredibly well positioned to do that.
"We just need the spaces for them to be able to create and develop that innovation.
"I’m not saying this lightly, it will be a gamechanger for Leeds. That village is going to be huge.”
SGI bought the Old Medical Village site from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust earlier this year.
The 130-year-old building has a long medical history. It was home to one of the first provincial medical schools in England and, until recently, housed pathology services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.