BDP-designed Greenheys laboratory building completed at Manchester Science Park for UK Biobank

Greenheys, the 131,000 sq ft laboratory building designed by BDP and built by Willmott Dixon at Manchester Science Park, has been completed for Bruntwood SciTech and will become the headquarters of UK Biobank.

Willmott Dixon said in an announcement dated 30 July 2026 that it had handed the building over to Bruntwood SciTech on time and on budget. BDP has since published its own account of the scheme, on which it provided architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and acoustics.

The client, Bruntwood SciTech, is a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G and Greater Manchester Pension Fund. The building sits on the Oxford Road Corridor.

Gary Wilde, architect director at BDP, said: "Greenheys had to do two things well: provide the highly technical infrastructure that serious scientific research demands, and create a building where people can do meaningful and impactful work."

The building

According to BDP, Greenheys provides flexible Containment Level 2 laboratory and write-up space for organisations in life sciences, biotechnology and advanced diagnostics. Its three floors of specialist laboratory space are supported by ventilation and cooling systems.

BDP said the building is designed to be fully electric and is targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating.

It also carries a living wall of 160,000 plants covering 1,700 sq m, which BDP described as the largest in Manchester city centre. Willmott Dixon said the living wall was delivered by Cheshire firm I Want Plants.

The wider project team included Deloitte on planning, DW Consulting and Silcock Leedham, according to Willmott Dixon.

UK Biobank's move

UK Biobank is to occupy three floors of the building, Willmott Dixon said. BDP said the organisation is relocating about 11 million biological samples from Stockport to Greenheys, along with about half of its 400-strong team.

A separate Willmott Dixon announcement said UK Biobank's space would include a robotic freezer able to store and retrieve up to 20 million biological samples four times faster than current standards.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, chief executive and principal investigator of UK Biobank, said: "Our dedicated lab team will soon be able to process millions of samples from our generous participants four times faster than before, accelerating the pace of health research."

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) said the facility is supported by a £127.6m award from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund for the next phase of UK Biobank's development. That figure is the wider award to UK Biobank rather than the cost of the building.

Local spend and training

BDP said 99% of project spend went to businesses within 40 miles of the site.

Willmott Dixon said the project created 21 jobs and delivered 1,126 weeks of apprenticeship training and 101 weeks of work placements.

Background

The building topped out at a ceremony on 1 May 2025, according to UKRI.

BDP said the building is now being prepared for UK Biobank's move from its existing facilities in Stockport.