DevSec appointed JV partner at Harwell Oxford

7th April 2014

Development Securities and Harwell Oxford Partners form joint venture with Government-backed organisations to further develop leading science and research Campus, Harwell Oxford

Development Securities today announces that in joint venture with Harwell Oxford Partners, it has acquired a 50% stake in a limited partnership with two Government-backed agencies, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) for £6.7 million. Within this partnership, Development Securities and Harwell Oxford Partners, founded by Prorsus, have secured option rights over the majority of a 700-acre site to bring forward further major development at the Harwell Oxford Science Campus, an internationally renowned research and innovation Campus.

30% of the site is currently developed, for 170 leading science and research-based organisations and private sector companies employing over 5,000 people. These include the Medical Research Council, the European Space Agency, Thales and Airbus. The partnership between Development Securities and Harwell Oxford Partners now owns a 50% interest in commercial and other facilities generating a net income yield of 4%, primarily from a facility let to a De Beers company.

Harwell Oxford is a science Campus of international significance, established for over 50 years as a commercial science and research cluster for life sciences, aerospace and space, computing and data, telecommunications, physical sciences, plasma physics and micro-electronics research. The site benefits from over £1 billion of world-leading scientific infrastructure which has helped to establish Harwell Oxford as a principal destination for UK and international organisations. The infrastructure presently on site includes:

- The Diamond Light Source (Synchrotron) - a machine of half a kilometre circumference that accelerates electrons to near light speed in order to map, measure and test materials at a molecular and atomic level

- The Vulcan laser - one of the World's most intense lasers

- Satellite dishes for advanced telecommunications including one of only two in Europe that will soon receive signal from the Copernicus satellite

Development Securities and Harwell Oxford Partners are currently preparing a master plan for the first major new phase of development comprising around 1 million sq. ft. of commercial and R&D space with a wider sustainable, mixed-use community.

Michael Marx, Chief Executive, Development Securities said: "Our partnership at the Harwell Oxford Campus presents an outstanding opportunity for us develop of one of the world's most important centres for commercial science. The Campus has a powerful legacy, with world-class infrastructure on site and an established community of internationally significant science and research organisations. We look forward to bringing forward the next phase of development at Harwell Oxford and further enhancing its status and reputation."

For more information, please contact:

Peter Hewer/Martha Walsh

Tulchan Communications

020 7353 4200