£4.5m Solasta House now open for business

Enterprise: New life sciences building offers flexible space for companies

A new £4.5 million life sciences building will be officially opened at Inverness Campus by Deputy First Minister John Swinney today.

Solasta House offers flexible space for life science companies and their technology.

It is already home to eight businesses and

“Commitment to invest and grow the £5.2 billion Scottish sector”

expectations are that it could be 75% full by the summer.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is developing the campus as a nationally and internationally significant location for business, research and education.

The economic development quango commissioned Robertson Northern to build the new 26,500sq ft facility in response to a number of business inquiries.

Solasta House attracted £1.5m from the European Regional Development Fund, with the rest of the investment coming from HIE.

Mr Swinney will be shown some of the groundbreaking collaboration, research and development activity being carried out by companies in the building.

During his visit, he will say this latest stage of the development of Inverness Campus underlines Holyrood’s commitment to invest and grow the £5.2 billion Scottish life sciences sector.

A business showcase highlighting activity in the region’s life sciences sector is also taking place today.

The campus first opened to the public in 2015 to support the growth of the region’s life sciences sector.

More than 900 employees are now based there and this figure is expected to rise to around 1,300 over the next few years.

FLEXIBLE: Solasta House is already home to eight businesses and expectations are that it could be 75% full by the summer