Inside Cambridge’s Collaborative Future: How journey Is Transforming the Lab Space Landscape
Scaling up requires more than just lab work – it demands infrastructure, flexibility and a business-savvy ecosystem.
In the heart of Cambridge, a quiet revolution is reshaping the way science startups scale: one built not only on breakthrough molecules and patents, but also on collaborative spaces, shared values and pragmatic support. journey, a real estate venture focused on life sciences and innovation sectors, has developed lab and office spaces that are redefining what it means to support science-led businesses. One of its current tenants, chemtech innovator Aqdot, stands as a testament to what’s possible when the right ideas meet the right environment.
“We’re a startup that’s not really a startup anymore,” said Mark Hooper, head of business operations and people at Aqdot, a company now 12 years into its journey and approaching large-scale commercialization
A molecule with market potential
The patented technology is already proving to be versatile. “Our flagship product, AqFresh™, is being applied across multiple sectors, from home care and automotive to personal care,” Hooper explained. Originally spun out of the University of Cambridge, Aqdot is now in a period of significant growth to meet global demand.
The lab of the future: More than just four walls
journey was founded to address a glaring gap in Cambridge’s innovation ecosystem: a lack of suitable space for early-stage science startups.
“There was just no startup space available,” explained Yasmin Khan-Osborne, an asset manager for journey. “One of our colleagues tried to start a company out of the university ten years ago and had to go to the United States because there was nowhere here. She kept coming back, and the problem still wasn’t solved.”
Unlike traditional landlords, journey doesn’t just provide square footage – they offer an environment tailored to the needs of early-stage science companies (Figure 1). Their sites prioritize shared equipment, mentoring, cost transparency and providing what Hooper calls “an unfair advantage.”
Figure 1: Artistic rendering of a new tenant-occupied lab space (equipment is illustrative). Credit: journey.
“journey doesn’t behave like a traditional landlord,” said Hooper. “They don’t just provide a space – they’re a partner. I call it an unfair advantage because it lets us focus entirely on what we need to: the science and the business.”
Aqdot’s recent move into one of journey’s Cambridge sites happened in record time. “I think we’d completed within a couple of weeks of viewing it,” Hooper recalled. “When you see something that works, it has to happen quickly. We haven’t got time to mess around, because that hurts companies as well.”
Flexibility is key. With many startups facing unpredictable growth trajectories and tight funding cycles, traditional long-term leases and costly fit outs simply don’t fit. To solve this, journey flipped the model: they fund the infrastructure, offer flexible leases and support companies directly. “You can’t sign a 5 or 10-year lease – it hurts your burn rate,” Hooper explained. “journey understands that. Their leases give us massive flexibility. That’s a game changer.”
Culture as infrastructure
But it’s not just about lease terms and cost efficiencies – it’s about fostering a culture where innovation can thrive.
“There’s a reason we say, ‘invest in the culture and the rest looks after itself,’” said Hooper. “And journey enables that. They reduce stress. Everything works. The environment lets us focus on the science and building and scaling our business.”
The shared equipment model, often seen as a potential pain point, is actually one of journey’s biggest strengths. Rather than create conflict, it fosters communication and collaboration among tenants. “If two people want to use the same equipment, it forces a professional conversation. That’s a good thing. It’s how innovation happens,” continued Hooper.
This peer-level collaboration, Hooper said, “builds leadership skills, encourages compromise and ultimately creates opportunities for partnerships and shared learning.” From sharing grant-writing tips to troubleshooting scientific workflows, the communal setting accelerates growth.
Mentoring, momentum and the marketplace
While more mature companies like Aqdot may now be mentoring others, journey also supports startups that are just beginning. “We probably accidentally mentor other companies,” Hooper noted. “Just by how we’ve built our team and space.”
journey’s team is hands-on by design. “We don’t have layers of management,” Khan-Osborne explained. “We work directly with founders, getting to know what they need now and what they’ll need in a year or two.”
That approach also includes access to mentors, professional service partnerships (such as intellectual property lawyers and human resources experts) and events that mix knowledge-sharing with informal networking. The result? A tight-knit, urban community that bridges the gap between academia, industry and entrepreneurship.
Sustainable by design
Sustainability is a core pillar of journey’s approach – not just in terms of materials or carbon footprint, but in operational efficiency. For Aqdot, the environmental benefit starts at the ground level. “The biggest change to climate impact is in how we operate,” Hooper explained. “We don’t print paper, we don’t run unused air conditioning and by sharing equipment, we avoid powering things we don’t use. It all adds up.”
Episode 4: Panel Discussion on Collaborative Initiatives
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journey supports that ethos by fitting out labs using secondhand equipment – much of it high-quality surplus from post-COVID lab closures, consolidations or excess capital purchases. “There was so much excess equipment around COVID, and a lot of it’s really good – basically brand new,” noted Khan-Osborne. “It’s more sustainable and helps startups stretch their funding.”
But journey’s sustainability ethos goes beyond what fills their labs – it includes the buildings themselves. Instead of demolishing and rebuilding from scratch, journey focuses on reusing and repurposing disused office buildings. “We’ve kept the building,” said Khan-Osborne, gesturing to the site in front of us where journey’s latest space is due to open later this year (Figure 2). “This was an office building, and we’ve turned it into a lab.” The benefits are layered: it’s not just environmentally responsible, but it also shortens development timelines and lowers costs. “Traditional labs might say, ‘it has to be four meters floor-to-ceiling.’ But most of the time it doesn’t,” Khan-Osborne continued. “You can probably repurpose buildings a lot more than you think.”
Figure 2: Artistic rendering of First-Step by journey, a disused office building in the heart of Cambridge transformed into lab and office space, meeting rooms and a café that will also be open to the public (left).
This regenerative approach also extends to the broader community. “We’re essentially regenerating a pocket of Cambridge,” Khan-Osborne noted. “Other schemes are bulldozing and rebuilding, but we’re giving something back. That’s why our café will be open to the public – it’s not just for the campus, it’s for everybody.” It’s a model that’s as much about environmental stewardship as it is about creating an inclusive ecosystem for innovation.
The Cambridge advantage
Location also plays a crucial role in both Aqdot’s and journey’s strategies. Cambridge remains a global hub for life sciences, and journey’s decision to base operations in the city’s center – rather than on its outskirts – was deliberate.
“You can walk to lectures, cocktail bars or the river in 10 minutes,” said Hooper. “That matters. Because high-performing teams enjoy the process. Culture is intangible – you just know when you’ve got it.”
journey agrees. “We believe in urban real estate because this innovation is coming out of universities and hospitals. If startups get priced out, they leave. So we’ve built something that works for them,” Khan-Osborne commented.
The bigger picture
With plans to expand their support from pre-seed incubators to full headquarter buildings, journey is positioning itself as a long-term partner for Cambridge’s innovation economy. Their Fitzroy campus and other sites under development aim to provide a growth path that scales with the companies they support.
“We want to support companies all the way from pre-seed through Series A and beyond,” said Khan-Osborne. “Our dream is to be part of their whole journey – no pun intended.”
Back at Aqdot, the team is preparing for their next funding round. “We even shared our pitch deck with journey,” Hooper noted. “I’d never do that with another landlord. It speaks volumes about the trust we have in them.”
In a city famed for academic brilliance and scientific breakthroughs, journey and Aqdot are proving that the right infrastructure – both physical and cultural – can make all the difference. Their partnership is more than a case study in commercial success; it's a model for how the future of science can be built, block by collaborative block.
