Creating a new home for life science innovation in Aberdeen with ONE BioHub

Adaptable design for flexible use

Located in the Foresterhill Health Campus in Aberdeen, the 6,000 m2 hub spans five floors and includes offices, laboratories, meeting rooms, a café, seminar space, central cold room to preserve precious samples and shared specialist equipment facilities, plus incubation and collaboration spaces.  

The design is flexible in use and adaptable to meet the evolving needs of tenants. The building includes a range of networking spaces, bookable hot desks and state-of-the-art AV-enabled meeting spaces. It also features custom fit-out accommodation and extra spatial capacity to provide optional office and laboratory space for the future.

Collaboration is key

From the project's outset, our specialist team were appointed as project manager, the role complemented by our digital and safety, health and quality expertise. 

Working closely with the client and wider stakeholders, we helped to deliver the project locally from our Aberdeen office while leveraging our UK-wide knowledge and experience in the life sciences sector. 

Together, we have supported the development of the project brief, managed delivery and overseen construction of this high-quality building which will develop to meet the ever-evolving needs of the life sciences sector.

Creating opportunity

Despite the many difficult challenges throughout the project, ranging from the impact of COVID-19 to industry insolvencies, our team played a central role in bringing the client’s ambitious vision to life and delivering the project on budget. 

The building was delivered within a live healthcare campus, which required careful consideration around traffic management and keeping disruption to a minimum for the other fully operational healthcare facilities on site. 

We worked alongside the designers to ensure the design was developed with limited direct interfaces that would impact operations, as well as with the campus stakeholders during construction. 

Now fully open and accessible, ONE BioHub will create opportunity for up to 400 bio-entrepreneurs, bringing new treatments, therapies and technology to market.

“There was a very clear vision for ONE BioHub – to create an iconic focal point for commercialisation and growth in the heart of the life sciences ecosystem in Aberdeen.

The project partners and life sciences sector wanted an innovative place where people would come together, share, learn, innovate and create and scale high-growth businesses.

Turner & Townsend and the design team shared the ambition and addressed the project challenges, including the site topography and building through the pandemic.

They understood the purpose of the industry innovation hub, stayed true to the vision from initial design concepts to project completion, and brought it to life by creating a building that is a striking statement of ambition.”

Jennifer Craw
CEO of Opportunity North East (ONE)