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The Life Sciences Accommodation Programme (LSAP) is a Scottish Enterprise initiative designed to address shortages of suitable laboratory, manufacturing and grow-on accommodation for Scotland’s life sciences businesses.
Scotland has a growing life sciences sector, but the availability of modern and flexible specialist space has not kept pace with demand. This can create particular challenges for scale-up and grow-on companies that require laboratories, specialist services, manufacturing facilities or regulated environments.
LSAP aims to tackle this problem by reducing the financial risk associated with developing specialist life sciences accommodation and encouraging greater private-sector investment.
Key Dates and Funding
Application process: Always open, with Stage One applications assessed on a rolling quarterly basis.
Stage One deadlines for 2026/27:
Funding: Between £250,000 and £4 million per project is expected to be available, with funding above £4 million potentially available in some circumstances.
The amount awarded will be assessed on a case-by-case basis according to the strength, requirements and potential impact of the project.
What Does the Programme Support?
LSAP offers two main forms of capital support.
Construction and Landlord Fit-Out
Funding is available for the construction or refurbishment of life sciences accommodation where applicants can demonstrate clear unmet market demand.
Eligible support can include:
Projects should operate at a commercially viable scale and demonstrate why the development would not proceed on the same terms without public funding.
Projects receiving this type of support must be delivered within two years of the grant offer.
Scottish Enterprise expects eligible support for these projects to generally range from £500,000 to £4 million. Funding is intended to help cover the development gap between the cost of building and preparing the accommodation and its financial value or expected income.
Tenant-Specific Fit-Out
LSAP can also support capital expenditure associated with specialist fit-out required to bring life sciences accommodation into use.
This could include specialist laboratory services and facilities required for regulated environments.
For this strand, applicants will typically need to be life sciences companies occupying space within an eligible development.
Projects normally require:
Maximum expected support is:
Life sciences companies seeking tenant-specific fit-out funding are directed by Scottish Enterprise to apply through its dedicated support route for life sciences companies.
Who Can Apply?
For construction and landlord fit-out projects, eligible applicants include:
Universities are eligible where the proposed accommodation will be used by commercial companies rather than for the university’s own academic purposes.
Applicants must also:
How Applications Are Assessed
Applications are assessed according to the strength of the proposed development and its potential contribution to Scotland’s life sciences ecosystem.
Scottish Enterprise will consider:
Applicants will therefore need to provide more than a conventional property development case. The proposal needs to demonstrate why the accommodation is needed by Scotland's life sciences sector and how public investment will help address a genuine market failure or development viability gap.
Application Process
The programme operates an always-open application process, with Stage One applications encouraged around quarterly deadlines.
The process normally includes:
Stage One: Initial application.
Stage Two: Successful applicants are invited to provide more detailed information.
Due diligence and panel review: Scottish Enterprise undertakes further assessment before reaching a funding decision.
Funding offer: Successful projects receive a funding offer followed by project delivery and monitoring.
The overall timescale will depend on the scale and complexity of the development.
Scottish Enterprise also encourages applicants to have an early conversation with its team before submitting an application to establish whether the proposed project is likely to meet the programme requirements.
How Inventya Can Help
LSAP applications need to demonstrate much more than the technical feasibility of constructing or fitting out specialist facilities. Applicants must build a strong case around market demand, development viability, economic impact, additionality and the long-term value of the project to Scotland's life sciences ecosystem.
Inventya can support applicants in developing this evidence and translating it into a strong funding proposition.
Our support includes:
For major life sciences property projects, early preparation is particularly valuable. Inventya can work with developers, investors, universities and life sciences businesses to establish the commercial, financial and economic case before the project progresses into detailed appraisal and due diligence.
