Collaboration between KQ Liverpool and Kensington Fields Community Association

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Innovation district organisations supports local charity food provision 

Kensington Fields Community Association (KFCA) provides vital services to the residents of one of the country’s most deprived wards.

The centre provides a much-needed programme of activities and weekly classes, runs social groups, and offers financial and well-being advice to keep people connected and feeling supported. Another key element of this support is related to food provision, enabling the local community to access affordable and good-quality food and groceries through the KFCA pantry. 

Helen Ball, Business Development Manager at KFCA, said:

“Our pantry is open to everyone in Kenny, and we provide emergency food support in times of crisis, run family food nights, and older and vulnerable persons lunch clubs to help make sure no one in our community goes hungry.

“We are also proud to help educate people around healthy eating with our cookery classes for both kids and adults, and by offering relaxing growing activities in the centre’s community allotment.”

To run the KFCA pantry, the charity relies on grants from charitable bodies, which are becoming increasingly harder to secure meaning they are also seeking donations from caring individuals and local organisations. 

Claire Kidman, Head of Partnerships at KQ Liverpool, added:

“We are pleased to announce that KQ Liverpool will be supporting the Kensington Fields Community Association by providing pantry donation points at a number of sites across our innovation district. 

“This initiative aligns with our 2040 Vision, and it’s important to us that we support the communities around us. It’s especially meaningful to know that our contributions will directly benefit those in need within our local area.”

The first donation points are already located in two of KQ Liverpool’s spin-out development company Sciontec’s innovation centres at Liverpool Science Park (iC1 Entrance Lounge and iC2 Entrance Lounge) with the next location being CENTRAL TECH (Ground floor Atrium).

KQ Liverpool would like to encourage businesses, stakeholders, and colleagues to contribute to this collection, which will be ongoing throughout the year. 

We would especially welcome any donations of items from the list below:

  • Tinned meat
  • Tinned tuna
  • Veg / Tomato Soup – Tinned or packet
  • Cereals
  • Sanitary products
  • Tea
  • Coffee
  • Beans 
  • Sugar

For further information about the Kensington Fields Community Association, please visit their website.

Sciontec launches CENTRAL TECH with more than 50% pre-lets

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Sciontec has now secured pre-let agreements with seven innovation organisations at CENTRAL TECH on Copperas Hill, which joined its portfolio of innovation assets in March. The building officially launches today, as part of the LCR Innovation Investment Fortnight (IIF) programme.

Among those, Bellrock, the property disrupter,  is creating a head office for their market leading IWMS product Concerto, which will take a 2,635 sq ft office on the building’s third floor, complete with breakout spaces, kitchen and a private terrace overlooking the Knowledge Quarter Liverpool innovation district.

AI-enabled platform Harker, which helps homelessness charities to manage their data more effectively to demonstrate their social impact and provide more personalised support, has taken two new first floor spaces at CENTRAL TECH, which will also accommodate software development and digital services firm Jamescape.

The Royal Academy of Engineering, which creates and leads a community of outstanding experts and innovators to engineer better lives, is launching their new ‘Enterprise Hub Liverpool’ within the four-storey building.

Labman, which specialises in laboratory automation hardware and software, occupies an all-inclusive space on the second floor of CENTRAL TECH, which stands adjacent to LJMU’s Student Life and Sport buildings.

Engineering firm DefProc, which works with innovators to help develop early stage ideas into market-ready products, is returning to occupy an 823 sq ft electronics lab and workspace on the ground floor of the building, having previously relocated to Sciontec’s Liverpool Science Park four years ago.

Innovation investment consultancy LYVA Labs is relocating its headquarters to a 750 sq ft space on the first floor as it aims to further increase its engagement with start-ups, corporates, higher education institutions, research technology organisations, investors and public funders.

Sciontec has also relocated its team to the building, occupying a 600 sq ft ground floor space in the innovation district’s newest development.

CENTRAL TECH also contains a communal roof terrace, events space, breakout areas and kitchenettes, while customers have access to discounted gym membership at the LJMU Sport building and to the Academic Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme, connecting them to a specialist team or expert at the University of Liverpool or Liverpool John Moores University.

Leanne Katsande, head of commercial at Sciontec, said:

“The arrival of CENTRAL TECH has created a real buzz among the city region’s innovation community and we have been inundated with enquiries over the past few weeks.

“CENTRAL TECH’s location, adjacent to the city’s main railway stations and within the KQ Liverpool innovation district, combined with our Sciontec AI all-inclusive packages on the first three floors and ultrafast internet connectivity through LCR Connect, means it is an easy choice for a lot of innovation-led organisations.

“Thankfully, we’ve been able to move quickly with a number of enquiries and have pre-let more than 50% of the building already. We remain firmly in discussions with several other interested parties and we’ll continue to provide tours of our new facility up to and after it opens on 14 May, so please do get in touch if you’d like to see what’s on offer.”

Adam Smith, chief technology officer at Concerto, said:

“The tech scene in Liverpool is buzzing, and we’re really proud to be part of that momentum. We’ve already started chatting with other companies about hosting meet-ups in our space but our new office won’t just be a workspace, it’ll be a bit of a showcase for what intelligent buildings can offer owner-occupiers, and we’re looking forward to showing our customers what’s possible.”

Summing up, Colin Sinclair, CEO of KQ Liverpool and Sciontec, said:

“We are delighted to be launching CENTRAL TECH on LJMU’s Student Life Campus, adding more much needed innovation space to Sciontec’s thriving portfolio of science and tech buildings.

“Demand for CENTRAL TECH has already been unprecedented showing that Liverpool City Region is riding a wave of innovation. The building perfectly complements Liverpool Science Park and Sciontec AI at The Spine and is further growing our community of start ups, spin outs and SMEs.”

For further information, please contact enquiries@sciontec.co.uk, or visit https://sciontec.co.uk/locations/central-tech/