Insider Media Limited

BioCity in Nottingham will act as a hub for companies from Scotland looking to expand after it bought the former MSD research facility at Newhouse, Lanarkshire, Insider has been told.

Glenn Crocker, chief executive of BioCity, said that its Nottingham operation could act as a "satellite" for science-based companies north of the border looking to move into markers further south. He also revealed that he wanted the BioCity brand to acquire more sites around the country.

Crocker told Insider: "We've already signed up our first two tenants to BioCity Scotland – Oracle Bio and Pharmacell, and we're hoping to secure four or five others over the next couple of weeks. There's been sold much goodwill from the government and the local industry in Newhouse and we’re delighted with the way things are going."

Crocker also revealed that BioCity in Nottingham will look to expand into further premises during the summer. He added: "We're 82 per cent full at the moment, but we expect that to rise to full occupancy by the summer. By that time we'll have to look to expand.

"It's our long term strategy to do this, as we expect our third building to have full occupancy by the middle of the year. We don't have a site in mind as yet, but we'd potentially be looking to move onto the Eastside regeneration zone – however, we're unsure as to what is happening with that site after the planning application for the Tesco supermarket was turned down last year."

Crocker said he had been working on the deal to secure the former MSD site in Scotland for 12 months: "I had a call a year ago from the Roslin Biocentre whose people had heard of BioCity in Nottingham and wanted to join forces with us.

"Merck & Co, which operated in the UK as MSD, had closed the site at the end of 2010 and we were asked if we were interested in taking it on. At the moment we're very busy marketing the site to potential occupiers. The advantage we have is that all the equipment is still on site, so companies can move in straight away."

BioCity Nottingham said the MSD acquisition is part of a plan to expand the BioCity brand. "We're looking for other sites," Crocker said. "We were interested in the Astra Zeneca site [in Loughborough] but unfortunately all the equipment has been sold. The site is also huge – possibly too much for us to handle at the moment."

Nottingham will remain the head office for the expanding BioCity brand, said Crocker. He also confirmed that all marketing for the Scottish site will be run from Nottingham.