Trust and ARC West London announce new partnership to support life sciences
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has announced a new partnership with ARC West London – a leading innovation and life sciences campus located near Charing Cross Hospital. The collaboration is designed to further bolster the thriving west London life sciences ecosystem and strengthen the WestTech Corridor.
ARC West London’s partnership with the Trust is facilitated through Paddington Life Sciences, the growing life sciences cluster led by the Trust and based around St Mary’s Hospital. The partnership will help facilitate and navigate connections between companies at ARC West London and teams within the NHS to advance collaboration and innovation.
Strengthening the Imperial WestTech Corridor
The collaboration will also support and develop the local health ecosystem, focusing on the Charing Cross Hospital, and wider west London region. Paddington Life Sciences and ARC West London campuses are both part of Imperial’s WestTech Corridor – a high potential hub of innovation with over 1000 deep tech businesses, creating jobs, attracting investment and cementing the UK as a leader in science and technology.
Dr Suki Balendra, director of strategic partnerships for Paddington Life Sciences, said: "Collaboration is key to accelerating health innovation, and this partnership will be instrumental in bridging the gap between pioneering research and real-world healthcare impact. By connecting startups and scientists with NHS expertise, we can fast-track the development of breakthrough technologies, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen the life sciences ecosystem in west London."
Imperial College London has also joined forces with ARC West London to launch ‘Leap: Powered by Imperial Incubator’ a new a co-working incubator lab. The co-working space will provide single lab benches so that scientists with early-stage concepts can access cutting-edge facilities, shared equipment, support, and scale-up programmes to help them refine their ideas surrounded by a collaborative and curated ecosystem at ARC’s West London campus.
The announcements were made at the official opening of ARC West London’s 150,000sq. ft lab and tech space development, Refinery in Hammersmith. Guest speakers included the former deputy chief medical officer Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, and Cllr Stephen Cowan, leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Cllr Stephen Cowan, said: “These new partnerships at the heart of the new Fulham Riverside Life Sciences Precinct mark another major milestone in establishing our corner of West London as a global leader in science and technology. By fostering collaboration between world-class research institutions, innovative companies, and the NHS, we are not only driving economic growth but also shaping the future of healthcare and deep tech in line with our Upstream London industrial strategy. This is an exciting step forward for Hammersmith & Fulham and the wider UK innovation landscape.”
ARC West London is already home to leading science organisations including, Kesmalea, Sania Therapeutics and Epsiolgen, and is only a short distance from Charing Cross Hospital.
Jim Stretton, managing director of ARC, added: “By combining Imperial’s world-class research, our expertise in creating dynamic innovation campuses and our partnership with the NHS, we’re building a unique ecosystem where life science and health startups can thrive. This collaboration will accelerate the journey from discovery to real-world impact, strengthening west London as a global location for science, technology, and healthcare innovation."
Lead image L-R: Graham Hewson, head of incubation and prototyping spaces at Imperial; Jim Stretton, managing director of ARC; Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council; Dr Suki Balendra, director of strategic partnerships, Paddington Life Sciences; Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam; Dan Pagella, senior director, asset management, ARC.
