Nexus Café Opens at Oxford Tech Park
A new café, Nexus Café, has opened at Oxford Technology Park. Developed with Gather & Gather, it's designed to be a central hub for workers and visitors at the park, aiming to foster collaboration among the local tech community.
The opening of Nexus Café is part of a broader strategy by owner Life Science REIT to create a premier life sciences hub with amenities that foster interaction. The park, acquired in May 2022 for £120.3 million with an additional £62.7 million committed for development, is designed to address the acute shortage of high-quality lab and manufacturing space within the Oxford-Cambridge-London "Golden Triangle". The park's tenant roster includes significant players in biomanufacturing and diagnostics. The Native Antigen Company, part of LGC, recently opened a state-of-the-art facility on-site, significantly expanding its manufacturing capacity for infectious disease reagents and antibodies. Another key tenant, Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), a Sysmex Group company, develops innovative solutions for molecular genetics and is increasingly implementing automation in processes like NGS library preparation. This focus on scalable manufacturing and advanced genomics is central to the park's identity. It will host the annual BioForward conference in September, a key event for growing R&D companies. The conference and exhibition focus on connecting life science firms with suppliers and expertise in manufacturing, pre-clinical development, and new technologies, directly supporting the scaling of bioprocess and GMP activities. The choice of Gather & Gather to run Nexus Café aligns with the goal of building a collaborative scientific community. Gather & Gather's approach in workplace settings emphasizes creating connections through hospitality, with a food philosophy centered on fresh, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients. Their menus often feature plant-based options and global flavors, catering to a health-conscious and diverse workforce. The development of amenities like the café and the adjacent 60-person Nexus Event Space is a deliberate move by Life Science REIT to enhance the value of its properties. By creating spaces for informal networking and formal knowledge-sharing, they aim to accelerate innovation among tenants, making the park more attractive than standalone lab buildings and supporting the transition of research into robust manufacturing.
