Bristol welcomes new scaleup lab space as the UK’s top Deep Tech city outside the Golden Triangle
Science Creates and the University of Bristol to open OMX this March — 30,000 sq ft of flexible lab space in Bristol city centre.
Science Creates and the University of Bristol to open OMX this March — 30,000 sq ft of flexible lab space in Bristol city centre.
OMX, our new 30,000 sq ft scaleup incubator facility in central Bristol, opens this March — offering flexible lab space for rent from 1,000 to 5,000 sq ft for Deep Tech startups and high-growth companies ready to scale.
Developed by Science Creates in partnership with the University of Bristol, and backed by Research England, OMX is our third purpose-built Deep Tech incubator delivered as part of this partnership.
Together, our three facilities (St Philips, Old Market and OMX) will provide more than 75,000 sq ft of specialist lab space in Bristol city centre, creating one of the largest dedicated Deep Tech ecosystems in the UK outside the Golden Triangle.
Thanks to £8.5m funding, an existing industrial unit close to Bristol Temple Meads station and opposite our Old Market incubator has been retrofitted to create OMX and bring a further 30 high-spec labs to the region — placing spinouts, startups and scale-ups at the centre of the South West’s innovation infrastructure.
OMX will be located adjacent to the University of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, which is due to fully open later this year and which will be home to the Bristol Innovations Zone (BIZ) — a Deep Tech innovation gateway offering broader collaboration opportunities, support and infrastructure to businesses.
A Bristol lab space that’s built for scaleups
Unlike traditional incubators, OMX offers flexible laboratory and office configurations designed specifically for companies moving beyond proof-of-concept and into commercial growth.
Rentable lab space at OMX ranges from 1,000 sq ft startup suites to 5,000 sq ft scaleup units, with flexibility to expand within the building as teams grow.
Facilities include:
- CL2-ready laboratories with flexible leases
- Shell-and-core lab units with custom fit-out options
- Integrated lab-office suites for growing teams
- High-specification power, data and ventilation infrastructure
- Access to meeting rooms, event space and shared facilities
Companies taking lab space at OMX join the wider Science Creates ecosystem and our community of over 100 Deep Tech founders already based in Bristol. Our integrated approach supports founders through investment opportunities, accelerator programmes, partnerships, events and skills development — each aspect designed to strengthen startups’ journeys to real-world impact.
As reflected across our first two sites, OMX caters for Deep Tech ventures spanning the key Deep Tech areas of quantum technology, engineering biology, advanced materials, climate tech and health innovation — aligning with the University of Bristol's research strengths and the UK's Industrial Strategy priorities.
Addressing Bristol’s demand for lab space
Regularly ranked among the top cities to live and work in the UK, Bristol offers Deep Tech companies world-class research from top universities, a strong and growing talent pool and access to specialist Deep Tech investors — including our award-winning VC arm, SCVC. The opening of OMX fills a critical gap in the city’s scaleup infrastructure, providing a clear pathway all the way through from lab bench to commercial scale without leaving the region.
This pathway has long been missing from the city’s innovation ecosystem. Until now, many Bristol spinouts have been forced to relocate at a pivotal stage of growth, leaving the South West just as they begin to create skilled jobs and commercial impact. We’ve designed OMX to change this, tackling the long-standing shortage of suitable lab space for Deep Tech and ensuring that ambitious high-growth companies can continue to scale in Bristol.
Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, said:
"When we opened our first incubator with Science Creates in 2017, Bristol ranked 20th in the UK for spinouts. Today we're 5th. That's what happens when you invest consistently in infrastructure, talent and a genuine partnership between university and industry. OMX is the next chapter — ensuring our best companies have room to scale here in Bristol, keeping talent, IP and long-term economic impact in the South West."
Dr Harry Destecroix MBE, Founder of Science Creates, added:
"We built OMX because we kept seeing the same problem — brilliant companies outgrowing their lab space and having to leave Bristol to find somewhere to scale. That shouldn't happen. With OMX, we can now offer Deep Tech companies a flexible home from early-stage R&D experiments through to commercial growth, all within one city centre ecosystem."
A decade of building the South West's Deep Tech cluster
Founded in 2015 in response to Bristol’s lack of early-stage commercial lab space, Science Creates set out to help Deep Tech founders turn groundbreaking discoveries into inventions that improve the health of people and the planet.
Throughout the past ten years, we’ve worked closely with the University of Bristol to create the infrastructure needed to translate world-class research into impactful, commercially-viable businesses. This has resulted in the significant growth of Bristol’s spinout pipeline since opening our St Philips lab space back in 2017, with the region now established as a leading UK Deep Tech cluster.
Bristol is now home to over 90 active university spinouts, which have collectively raised in excess of £700 million in the past two years alone. According to the 2025 European Spinout Report, published by Dealroom.co, the University of Bristol ranks fifth in the UK and tenth in Europe for life sciences and Deep Tech spinouts — and first in the UK for value created by quantum spinouts.
The Royal Academy of Engineering's State of UK Deep Tech 2025 report ranks Bristol as the top city outside the Golden Triangle for Deep Tech VC funding, with $761 million raised since 2020.
Enquire about lab space at OMX
OMX is scheduled to open in March 2026, offering a combination of startup and scaleup lab space in Bristol from 1,000 to 5,000 sq ft for Deep Tech companies planning their next stage of growth.
Discover the lab spaces available at OMX and get in touch with our team.
