Base One, a science and technology hub in North Acton, has launched today offering a blueprint for the growth of advanced manufacturing in Britain by supporting high-growth scientific companies to scale in the UK.
Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, welcomed the launch, saying West London was fast becoming a leading centre for science, technology and advanced manufacturing, “By giving pioneering companies the affordable, flexible space they need to move from research and development to production, Base One will help more businesses start, grow and scale in London—creating good jobs, attracting investment and supporting a new era of British manufacturing, as we build a better, more prosperous London for everyone.”
The 55,000 sq ft site, formerly known as 1 Portal Way, has been developed by specialist developer and operator Sciopolis in partnership with Imperial College London. It offers 24 ready-to-occupy CL2 laboratories and 29 flexible offices, following an 11-month retrofit for biotech, cleantech and advanced materials startups moving from R&D into early-stage manufacturing.
Base One is designed to plug a gap that has long frustrated UK deep tech founders: the lack of affordable, flexible space that can scale with a company as it moves from lab bench to factory floor. The hub sits within Imperial’s Old Oak Innovation Cluster, one of four anchor sites in WestTech London, the university’s wider West London innovation ecosystem.
It also sits next door to Grapht Works, Imperial’s dedicated advanced manufacturing facility for pilot, demo and commercial-scale production meaning tenants can, in theory, move from prototyping to manufacturing without leaving the postcode.
Third tenant signs on
As it opens, Base One has confirmed its third occupier: Nanomox, an Imperial spinout that has developed a low-energy process for producing high-transparency zinc oxide, used in mineral sunscreens, cosmetics, rubber and electronics.
Nanomox joins two existing tenants already manufacturing on site, women’s intimate health brand P.Happi®, which is stocked in Boots and makes microbiome-focused products, and Ki 13, a cleantech company that has built a process for converting biomass into green hydrogen and biogenic CO2 for use in sustainable fuels.
Dr Francisco Malaret, founder and chief executive of Nanomox, said Base One was the only site in London that let the company begin manufacturing while staying inside an ecosystem suited to its stage of growth.
Ki 13 co-founder and chief executive Koji Muto said the North Acton location gave the company the accessibility, affordability and flexibility it needed as it scales out of the lab and into hardware engineering.
Part of a bigger regeneration push
Base One’s location is no accident. It borders Park Royal, London’s largest industrial estate and employer of more than 40,000 people, and sits within the Old Oak regeneration zone billed as the largest such opportunity in the capital. The area is set to be transformed by the arrival of Old Oak Common station, which will link HS2, the Elizabeth line and GWR services, putting it within reach of innovation clusters in Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge.
Imperial president Hugh Brady said Base One strengthened the UK’s network of national innovation assets and pointed to the university’s existing links with manufacturing and research hubs elsewhere in the country, including the West Midlands, Harwell, Oxford, Bristol and Cardiff.
Sciopolis chief executive Charlie Mitchell said high-growth companies had struggled for too long to find the space they need to scale in the UK, and described Base One and the wider cluster as a blueprint for advanced manufacturing in Britain.
Sciopolis said it plans to build a network of similar sites across other UK innovation clusters.