Mace has signed on the dotted line to develop more than 400,000 square feet of laboratory and office space in Oxford.

The contractor will construct three buildings in total at the Oxford Science Park, for £184m.

Mace said it designed features of the development, known as the Daubeny Project, “with sustainability and occupant wellbeing as primary considerations”, including a focus on energy efficiency and solar-energy generation. Work is set to finish at the end of 2026.

A set of “innovative ground engineering solutions” will also save about 3,000 tonnes of embodied carbon compared with a typical build.

Meanwhile, the construction of the facades will mark the biggest use of recycled aluminium for a stick curtain wall project in the UK so far, according to Mace. The firm claims using a recycled option will save more than 500 tonnes of embodied carbon.

The Oxford Science Park was created by Magdalen College, University of Oxford, in 1991. It is home to research, engineering, technology and clinical expertise, and aims to be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

The complex currently hosts firms working on developments in genetics, data and pharmaceuticals that are backed by £2.5bn in funding, according to the Oxford Science Park.

Mace Construct’s managing director for the public sector and life sciences, Robert Lemming, said the hub was “home to some of the most forward-thinking and innovative companies”.

“These new cutting-edge facilities will help unlock groundbreaking research that people will rely on for decades to come,” he added.

“As our population grows and ages, more sites like these will be needed to meet the pressing demand for high-quality laboratory space and, at the Oxford Science Park, we are setting new standards for efficiency and sustainability.”

Oxford Science Park chief executive Rory Maw said: “Mace’s knowledge and expertise in large-scale construction projects will be crucial to helping us deliver the Daubeny Project, our most ambitious development to date.

“These new high-performance laboratory and office buildings will offer much-needed space for life science and biotech companies to scale, and allow them to benefit from being located at the heart of Oxford’s thriving innovation ecosystem.”

Mace has worked on a number of substantial research developments in and around Oxford in the past, including a £60m deal in 2022 to construct two buildings at the University of Oxford’s research site in Kidlington.

More recently, the contractor took on a project to extend and refurbish the world’s most powerful laser facility, at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, to the south of Oxford.