Liverpool BioCampus could create 5,000 jobs
Plans for a new research centre which could create 5,000 jobs in Liverpool have been submitted to the city council.
The £28m BioInnovation Centre is the first part of a "BioCampus" that is planned to place Liverpool as a leading international centre for life sciences.
The building will be by the Royal Liverpool Hospital on Prescot Road.
The centre is due to open in 2014, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust said.
Chief executive of the trust Tony Bell said: "The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital will provide the opportunity to fully develop the BioCampus and the development will provide the ability to carry out research in clinical environments.
"This development can define what Liverpool's future economy is about and is key to regeneration."
The five-storey BioInnovation Centre building is planned to be used as a place to test new treatments and technology.
Work is hoped to start in 2012, ahead of the Royal Liverpool Hospital move - with plans to create the the BioCampus on the site of the existing hospital by 2025.
The BioCampus is a partnership between the Liverpool Royal Hospital, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
City council leader Joe Anderson said: "This is a sector where Liverpool has, without doubt, a world-class offer and a unique competitive edge.
"In terms of scale, the economic potential of the BioCampus is on a par with Salford's Media City, but in terms of importance and human value it's on another level.
"There is a strong affinity between this project and Liverpool's own values and history. We are inventive and pioneering but we are also a compassionate and humanitarian city.
"The treatments and technologies pioneered here will create employment and prosperity for Liverpool, but will transform lives across the globe."