Laboratory and midtech take-up across the Golden Triangle reached 200,600 sq ft in the opening quarter of 2026, up 131% year on year. This uplift was largely driven by activity in Cambridge, with the defence sector playing a key role, including one occupier taking over 80,000 sq ft of midtech space at Bourn Quarter, alongside a further 70,000 sq ft currently under offer to a confidential drone detection company.
Outside of Cambridge, the Ellison Institute expanded further at The Oxford Science Park, taking a 29,000 sq ft assignment from Novo Nordisk at the Iversen Building. AbbVie signed for over 12,000 sq ft at 5510 ARC Oxford, while Flagship Pioneering took approximately 3,500 sq ft space within LBIC’s offering at Apex, in King’s Cross, London.
London’s market continues to be driven by smaller deals, with a flurry of sub-3,000 sq ft lettings at the likes of Reef Group and Blackrock’s Apex and British Land’s 20 Triton Street, but there are a number of larger deals in the pipeline. They include 35,000 sq ft of fitted lab space under offer at British Land’s 1 Triton Square, and over 25,000 sq ft under offer at Kadans’ MAYDE. Availability across London is now 556,800 sq ft, 13% down on the end of last year. In Oxford, 549,300 sq ft of fitted and built space was available, with the likes of Trinity by Breakthrough bringing 214,000 sq ft to market this quarter. Across Cambridge, over 614,400 sq ft of space remained available, following the completion of the Sidney Sussex building (55,500 sq ft) at Chesterford Research Park, and Longfellow’s CamLIFE 1 and 2 (c.130,000 sq ft).
Looking ahead to Q2, further space is set to come forward in Cambridge, with Kadans’ Merlin Place (139,000 sq ft) and Breakthrough’s Vitrum (166,000 sq ft) due to complete. In London, Kadans’ VERSA (51,600 sq ft) is also scheduled for delivery, while Co:Labs at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxford (120,000 sq ft) is expected to complete in Q3.
DTRE were tracking 1.1 million sq ft of active named demand across the Golden Triangle by the close of Q1, with 49% focused on Cambridge, including two requirements totalling 250,000 sq ft, driven by an increase in stay vs go exercises. Whilst demand in London remained skewed towards smaller occupiers, with 43% of requirements by count seeking space under 5,000 sq ft, there has been a noticeable shift towards larger requirements. The number of occupiers searching for 10,000 to 30,000 sq ft has increased by 75% since the close of 2025, with three new larger requirements entering the market. Overall, named active demand across the Golden Triangle has increased by 22% year on year.
Looking at the funding landscape, £712 million has been raised across the Golden Triangle, down 31% compared with the £1 billion recorded at the close of Q1 2025. Following a particularly strong funding year in 2025, this represents a notable slowdown, with Oxford-headquartered companies facing pronounced challenges, raising just £64 million. Despite this softer start, we remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the remainder of the year, with expectations that capital deployed in 2025 will begin to translate into leasing activity.
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