Item 2. Properties
Item 2. Properties
Our corporate headquarters are located at the MediaWorks, 191 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 7FP, United Kingdom, where we lease 32,673 square feet of office and laboratory space. We entered the lease in November 2018 with a rent-free period at the beginning of the lease term until August 2020. In addition, we have the option to terminate the lease in November 2026.
Since September 2017, the Company has had an arrangement with Cell Therapy Catapult Limited to lease manufacturing suites at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing center in Stevenage, United Kingdom. In March 2023, the Company and Cell Therapy Catapult Limited mutually agreed: (i) to terminate the lease relating to the leased manufacturing suite which originally had a lease term until February 2025, (ii) to extend the lease term of one of the remaining manufacturing suites from June 2023 to August 2024, and (iii) to extend the lease term of a third manufacturing suite leased by the Company from September 2023 to August 2024. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company recognized a loss on disposal on leasehold improvements of $3.8 million arising from the manufacturing suite terminated and exited on March 31, 2023. In August 2024, one of the manufacturing suite leases ended and the Company exited the suite. In September 2024, the Company extended the lease term from August 2024 to March 2025 for the remaining manufacturing suite.
In October 2018, we entered into a sublease for 27,502 square feet of office space in Rockville, Maryland. On February 27, 2020, we terminated the sublease of this office space and concurrently entered into a direct lease with the building owner for the same premises. The lease terminated at the end of February 2025.
In February 2019, we entered into a lease for a manufacturing facility, consisting of approximately 39,558 square feet, in Enfield, U.K.. The lease term is 15 years, commencing in February 2019, with an option to terminate the lease in February 2029. We initially planned on initiating manufacturing activities at this facility in 2020; however, following a strategic review of our manufacturing plan, we chose to discontinue the fit-out of manufacturing capability at the Enfield facility in December 2019. In March 2021, one of the units was split in two separate units and we surrendered one of those units back to the landlord. In October 2021, we subleased a portion of the facility to third party tenants over lease terms from October 2021 to February 2029 and October 2026, respectively.
In September 2021, we entered into an arrangement for lease with Forge Life Sciences Nominee ("Landlord"), an affiliate of the Reef Group, for the design, construction and lease of a new 70,000 square foot commercial manufacturing facility in Stevenage, U.K.. Under this arrangement, the Landlord leased the facility, which is called “The Nucleus,” to us on agreed terms, upon satisfaction of certain conditions and completion of construction. Since November 2022, the Landlord handed over various portions of the facility to us until its practical completion on July 31, 2023. We were required to pay a pro-rated license fee for each portion of the facility which we had been granted access until the execution of the lease agreement. On September 19, 2023, we entered into a 20 year lease agreement with the Landlord for The Nucleus. On September 10, 2024, we and Landlord completed a variation of the lease for the manufacturing facility, related to additional works at the site. The Landlord will provide funding for certain specified improvements to the facility (the “Works”), which we committed to undertake on a mutually agreed schedule. Funding received for the Works done are deemed lease incentives in accordance to ASC 842. Once the Works are complete, the rental payments under the lease will be increased according to a specified formula for the remainder of the lease term. The deed of variation does not affect the lease term, which continues to run for 20 years from September 19, 2023. The Nucleus will have a GMP cell manufacturing capacity of approximately 2,000 batches a year. We anticipate that the size and layout of the Nucleus will allow for further increases in this capacity.
In September 2021, we also entered into a lease agreement for 2,762 square feet of laboratory and office space in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with a term until March 2024. In September 2023, we extended the original lease term to March 2027.
In order to commence the scale up of our manufacturing capability, an administrative office and training facility was set up at Unit 10, Gateway 1000, Arlington Business Park in Stevenage, U.K. adjacent to the Catapult facility. This office and training space was used to support the fit out and commencement of manufacturing activities at the Nucleus facility. During November 2023, we vacated this facility and relocated to The Nucleus. The current lease expires in October 2025.
We anticipate leasing additional office and manufacturing space as we add employees, and we believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any such expansion of our operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure
Not applicable
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PART II