According to Savills, take-up of science-related real estate across the UK’s ‘golden triangle’ of London, Oxford and Cambridge made a positive start to the year, reaching 457,000 sq ft (42,500 sq m) in Q1 2026, 35% above the Q1 five-year average, demonstrating resilience in the face of on-going tough economic conditions.
Cambridge had the strongest start, recording 298,000 sq ft (27,700 sq m) of take-up to a range of major global technology and science-led occupiers, including Nvidia, Huawei, and Aveva, alongside multiple other life sciences and engineering businesses. Savills says that encouragingly a number of occupiers committed to scale-up sized requirements, signalling confidence amongst more mature science and technology companies.
Both London and Oxford had more muted starts to the year recording just under 80,000 sq ft (7,400 sq m) each, with deals including Gilead taking 50,000 sq ft (4,600 sq m) at 1 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London, and Steris taking 18,000 sq ft (1,500 sq m) at Grove Business Park in Oxfordshire.
Savills says that notably 29% of combined take-up was for labs, 47% for offices and 24% for industrial space, with this proportion of lab space having remained relatively stable over the last five years, demonstrating the ongoing importance of this asset class. The international real estate advisor says that there is another 371,000 sq ft (34,500 sq m) of letting transactions currently under offer across the Golden Triangle.
Overall, the breadth of occupiers active in Q1 highlights the continued resilience of science-related real estate. While traditional life sciences companies remain selective in their commitments, demand from emerging sectors such as AI, advanced engineering and hybrid lab-industrial users is playing an increasingly important role in driving take-up.
Tom Mellows, Head of UK science at Savills, comments: “2026 has got off to a good start for the science sector, building on the positive momentum we saw in the market at the end of 2025.
“It has been particularly encouraging to see the broadening areas of frontier science, innovation and technology active across the market from sectors such as quantum, materials, climate, clean energy, computing, autonomous vehicles, robotics and life sciences. Many of these occupiers need a range of enhanced spaces, including wet labs, dry labs, cleanrooms, advanced manufacturing and pilot plants. We have also seen AI having an increasing impact on the market and driving demand, with many of these companies utilising it to accelerate their research or enhance their products.”