In response to the Government’s announcement of delays to the development of the new hospital at Leeds General Infirmary, city leaders have announced that plans for the Leeds Innovation Village will still go ahead, with ambitions to start construction later this year.
The Village is a key neighbourhood within the city’s £2 billion Leeds Innovation Arc, and one of the flagship projects of the £160 million West Yorkshire Health Tech and Digital Tech Investment Zone.
Set to bring about £13 billion in economic growth for the city and around 4,000 jobs, it is already into its first phase. This includes redeveloping the Old Medical School on the Leeds General Infirmary site into a cutting-edge healthtech innovation hub by one of the UK’s most active, privately-owned, mixed-use developers, Scarborough Group International.
The development of a new hospital at Leeds General Infirmary, alongside wider plans to boost growth and innovation across the city, are a central part of the West Yorkshire Mayor’s local growth plan, which aims to boost the region’s fastest growing business sectors with a special focus on health and life sciences, in line with the Government’s emerging national industrial strategy.
This latest announcement builds on a wide range of successful innovation assets across the Innovation Arc including:
- The successful and vibrant community of innovators and entrepreneurs at Nexus, a state-of-the-art innovation hub on the University of Leeds campus. Nexus has raised £134m in private investment since launching in 2019, with a return on investment of £1.92 for every £1. To date, it has worked with 191 companies and brings together the brightest minds in business, technology and academia and cites over half of its member businesses as healthtech innovators.
- Leeds Teaching Hospital’s fast-growing Innovation Pop Up, located in the Innovation Village on the Leeds General Infirmary site, has grown its membership to over 50 industry members during its first three years and is currently collaborating on around 40 projects with industry partners. The Pop Up brings work nationally and internationally to bring together world-leading clinicians and healthtech industry partners to grow innovation, research and technology for the benefit of patients.
The renewed commitment will see Leeds continue its journey as one of the UK’s most stable, forward-thinking and attractive locations for health and care research and innovation. With the backing of strong collaborative leadership, Leeds ranks as the third most attractive location for healthtech firms which are ready to launch or looking to move, having the highest number of biomedical scientist undergraduates in the country and being home to nine of the top 10 investors in research and development.*”
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:
“As the home of NHS England and Europe’s largest teaching hospital, Leeds is an international magnet for health innovation, and there is no setback that can stop us from realising our potential.
“With our multimillion-pound Investment Zone driving the development of the Old Medical School into a world-leading centre of medical and technological innovation, we will deliver jobs and growth here in West Yorkshire while transforming the lives of patients worldwide.
“We will also continue to make the case for the all-important new hospital at Leeds General Infirmary to be built as soon as possible, as part of our wider plans to build a well-connected Innovation Arc across the city of Leeds through our new Mass Transit system, driving growth.”
Read more: City leaders reaffirm that innovation and growth remains priority
Header image credit: Gilling Dod Architects