Magnet Shortage Attracts Siemens To 603K SF Oxford MRI Megalab

The booming industrial property sector and the fast-growing life sciences world have collided to produce a 603K SF Oxfordshire research, development and production facility.

Tritax Symmetry has signed with Siemens Healthineers to develop a combined research, development and production facility in Oxfordshire which would provide superconducting magnets used in diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging systems. 

The move was driven by spiralling demand for Siemens’ superconducting magnets, essential to the MRI technology.

A planning application has been submitted to Cherwell District Council for a 48-acre site on land north of the A41 and east of junction 9 of the M40 motorway.

An international search ended at the site, branded Symmetry Park, Oxford North, which has been chosen following an extensive site search by Siemens Healthineers. The firm said no other could meet its operational requirements or timescales.

The building will be bespoke to Siemens’ design and production process and delivered to net-zero carbon in construction, in line with the guidelines set out by the UK Green Building Council’s framework. The facility will achieve a minimum rating of BREEAM Excellent and will incorporate substantial solar photovoltaic coverage on the roof. 

Siemens will expand from Eynsham, 13 miles away from the new site.

“Increasing demand for our superconducting magnets has meant we have outgrown our existing development and manufacturing facilities in Eynsham," Siemens Healthineers Magnet Technology Managing Director Ralph Seidler said. "Realising we needed a larger facility, we carried out an extensive search across the UK; this site is the only location that can meet our requirements.”  

The move from Eynsham to North Oxford is complex and will take until 2030 to complete.

Siemens Healthineers is being advised by JLL.