Client Challenges

The London Borough of Sutton is in the process of bringing forward the London Cancer Hub, a proposed development of space for commercial R&D alongside the Institute of Cancer research and the Royal Marsden Hospital. This involved purchase of development land on the adjoining site, owned by Epson and St Helier NHS Trust. 

The Borough wanted confidence on the likely levels and type of demand for this type of development, and as such instructed Creative Places to conduct a soft market testing and strategic advice paper.

Our Solutions

Creative Places worked extensively with the Borough’s partner on the project, the Institute of Cancer Research, leveraging their contacts with industry to identify the likely sources of demand, and inform how this would impact of development viability and specification requirements of prospective tenants.

Results

Our report helped give the Borough confidence around how to progress. The first tranche of land subsequently now been purchased. Creative Places has been retained by the ICR to provide strategic advice on their ongoing role in the project, and more generally to take the partners on the journey required to realise an ambitious development project in this sector.