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At One North Quay, a prime plot of development land in the Canary Wharf office district of east London, construction teams are driving clusters of steel piles into the ground while tracked excavators slowly dig piles of brown earth.

Surrounded by the high-rise offices of some of the UK capital鈥檚 most prominent banks and law firms, this glass and steel tower, set to rise 123.8 metres into the grey Docklands sky, is set to become Europe鈥檚 tallest  commercial lab, marking a step change for property company and contractor Canary Wharf Group.

Europe鈥檚 tallest commercial lab

Since the 1980s, the Canary Wharf Estate has been Europe鈥檚 largest urban regeneration project and London鈥檚 second financial district. Big name tenants currently include HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Clifford Chance.

But, with the shift to hybrid work prompting some of the world鈥檚 biggest banks to re-locate or downsize from their gleaming skyscrapers on the purpose-built 128-acre financial services hub, the estate鈥檚 owners are looking to reduce its reliance on office tenants.

As well as ambitious plans to build or convert more space for scientific research, the company is also investing heavily in building homes, restaurants and public amenities at its east London campus.

Construction of Europe鈥檚 tallest commercial lab began at Canary Wharf in September 2024. Photo: Canary Wharf Group

Over the last five years, the life science sector around the world has grown rapidly, fuelled by a rush in public funding during the Covid pandemic as governments searched for a vaccine but also by established pharma companies outsourcing research to smaller firms, massive increases in private and venture capital funding and advances in technology.

This means that while many office tenants have been cutting back on their space requirements, the trend among life science tenants looking for lab space has gone the other way.

In the past, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and biomedical research firms were likely to rent lab space in science parks and other suburban locations.

However, rapid growth in the industry coupled with a shortage of lab space, an increasingly competitive labour market, and advances in technology such as virtual modelling, high-speed computing and AI which are making scientific research increasingly data driven, has seen a shift to city centres.

In 2022, Canary Wharf Group formed a joint venture with specialist lab developer Kadans Science Partner to establish a new UK life sciences cluster at Canary Wharf.

As well the 823,000 square feet vertical campus One North Quay which is currently being built by Canary Wharf Contractors and is due to complete in 2027, the joint venture has also converted 38,000 square feet of office space at the 20 Water Street office building into so called 鈥榳et鈥� labs, capable of handling biological agents and hazards considered medium risk. And contractor Morgan Sindall is set to start work on converting the nearby 17 Columbus Courtyard, an office building once let to investment bank Credit Suisse, into 200,000 square feet of laboratory space.

Global life science boom

And Canary Wharf is far from alone. Since the pandemic, countries around the world have been rushing to build more life science space to accommodate the booming sector.

According to real estate services firm JLL, since the first quarte of 2020, more than 59 million square feet of new lab space has been built in the USA alone with another 19.1 million square feet in the pipeline.

Yet contractors point out that building lab spaces involves far more than swapping office desks for lab benches.

Labs where drugs, chemicals or other types of biological matter can be analysed 鈥� known as 鈥榳et labs鈥� 鈥� usually require higher floor to ceiling heights for additional air duct space which means structural modifications may be required. Moreover, they can also require more mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems which may require additional plant being added to the roof of a structure, adding additional weight.

IQHQ Research and Development District (RaDD) in San Diago was designed by Gensler and built by Turner Construction. Image: IQHQ/Gensler

鈥淪cience and lab spaces are complex, especially compared to the standard office,鈥� says Eoin Fitzgerald, senior project manager for construction fit out for life-sciences and healthcare at Mace. 鈥淭hey are highly controlled environments where precision is paramount: the slightest fluctuation in temperature or the presence of a tiny dust particle can compromise entire research outcomes. Most current commercial properties do not meet these standards and will therefore require significant upgrades to existing structures, particularly in terms of HVAC systems air tightness and insulation.鈥�

Wet labs are also ranked according to the sort of work they can carry out in order to isolate dangerous biological agents. In the USA and Europe, these are known as biosafety levels (BSL) while in the UK they are termed 鈥榗ontainment levels鈥� (CL). They range from the lowest level of biosafety levels (BSL1) which require minimal protective equipment and regular hand washing to the highest level (BSL4) where precautions may include airflow systems, multiple containment rooms and positive pressure personnel suits. Most commercial landlords only provide lab space classed as BSL1, 2 or 3.

Changing technology

鈥淗istorically, these stringent requirements have deterred developers from retrofitting existing buildings for lab use. However, recent advancements in technology and construction methodologies have opened up new possibilities in this space,鈥� Fitzgerald adds. 鈥淎dvances in digital technologies, material re-use and structural engineering enable contractors to precisely map the existing space, achieve the required vibration levels, and retrofit the existing MEP [mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems] and fixtures efficiently.鈥�

Nonetheless, in some cities, the life sciences construction and conversion boom appears to have reached saturation point. In the Boston region, one of the world鈥檚 most prominent life sciences hubs, a post-pandemic lab space building boom over the past three years has led to a situation where building owners are now offering high-spec lab space for office use. Similar patterns can be seen in San Diego and the wider San Francisco Bay area.

Construction Briefing had a look at five of the most high-profile new life science projects being built around the world:

1) One North Quay, London, UK

Europe鈥檚 tallest purpose-built commercial lab building will comprise 823,000 square feet, up to 60% of which will be CL2 wet lab space while the building will also be able to accommodate up to level CL3. The 23-storey building will also include a rooftop bar and restaurant. It is being built by principal contractor Canary Wharf Contractors while concrete specialist Kilnbridge is working on the project鈥檚 basement and concrete frame.

2) Bio City, Vilnius, Lithuania

In September 2024, biotechnology and pharmaceutical group Northway opened its 8,000 square meter Celltechia gene therapy centre. The centre, also known as Bio City I, is the first part of a planned 鈧�7 billion mega lab which by 2030 will is expected to span an area equivalent to 10 football fields and include five additional complexes including centres for R&D and virology, life sciences, stem cell research and 3D bioprinting as well as two large production centres for mammalian and microbial products.

3) Life Valley, Changping, Beijing, China

Founded in 2000, the life science park on the outskirts of Beijing is already home to hundreds of pharmaceutical, biotech, medical and academic enterprises and covers around 2.5 square kilometres. Over the next five years, its administrator, the Administrative Commission of Beijing Future Science City says this will grow to 4.7 square kilometres. It says a third phase of the park is currently under construction comprising 750,000 square meters of facilities including the International Precision Medicine Industrial Park, the International Bioengineering Innovation Centre and the International Frontier Research Translation Centre.

4) Research and Development District (RaDD), San Diego, USA

Initiated at the end of 2020 as the largest commercial waterfront opportunity in California, the Research and Development District (RaDD) comprises 1.7 million square feet of labs and office space spread over five buildings. Turner Construction Company, main contractor on the project said the project included 20,500 tons of steel and 90,000 yards of concrete. In October, IQHQ reported that half of RaDD鈥檚 200,000 square feet of retail space has been leased but the developer is yet to announce any lab or office tenants.

5) Orion, S芒o Paulo, Brazil

Scheduled to start operating in 2028 at the Brazilian Centre for Research on Energy and Materials, next to the synchrotron light source, Brazil鈥檚 first maximum containment laboratory, certified to BSL4. The lab is being funded by the Brazilian federal government. Excavation work to remove 40,000 cubic meters of soil at the site started in May 2024 and construction completion is scheduled for 2026.