While construction of Inspire Bio Innovations’ first phase is set for completion this summer, the second phase is expected to be finished in 2026.NEUF Architect(e)s/Supplied
Build it, and they will come – that’s the thinking behind Inspire Bio Innovations, a new life-sciences hub in downtown Montreal that’s intended to attract biotech startups, foster research and development (R&D), and facilitate collaboration.
Once revered for its respiratory illness research, the site – located on Saint-Urbain Street between Avenue des Pins and Prince-Arthur Street – was previously home to the historic Montreal Chest Institute. But after sitting derelict for a decade, the property is getting a makeover that will transform it into a medical research lab and life-sciences startup incubator, thanks to investments from contract research lab CellCarta, NEUF Architect(e)s and Quebec-based real estate company Jadco Group.
“We needed state-of-the-art laboratories downtown to attract talent, biotech companies and financial investment,” says Normand Rivard, managing partner of life-sciences and innovation at Jadco Group. “That was the missing piece to make Montreal an international player in the life-sciences field.”
Greater Montreal currently ranks among North America’s top-10 life-sciences and health technology hubs. This is partly due to the region’s affordability and because it’s a research hotbed that’s home to one of North America’s largest hospital-based research centres. With more than 55,000 jobs and 1,600 companies, Montreal ranks first in Canada for life-sciences R&D investments and research centres, which is likely why leading biopharma companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, AbbVie and Merck chose Montreal as their Canadian headquarters.
The future of precision medicine
In response to the tuberculosis epidemic in 1909, Montreal’s former Royal Edward Institute – later renamed the Montreal Chest Institute – opened as a place to study, prevent and cure the disease. In the early 1930s, the Montreal Chest Institute moved to the site of Inspire Bio Innovations and added a new surgical wing in the 1950s. More than a half-century later, in 2015, the Montreal Chest Institute relocated, deserting the property for a decade.
The new Inspire Bio Innovations hub comes at a crucial time in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a growing need for lab space in North America. The project also aligns with the provincial government’s 2022–2025 Quebec Life Sciences Strategy (QLSS), which encourages $4-billion in private investment by 2025, with the goal to make the province one of the top five life-sciences markets by 2027.
“This is a win for the private and the public sector as the Quebec government figures out what to do with hundreds of thousands of square feet of unused buildings throughout the province,” says Azad Chichmanian, architect and partner at NEUF Architect(e)s.
Montreal’s Chest Institute was originally built near Mount Royal due to the belief in the curative powers of mountain air – especially for tuberculosis patients. In the reimagined building, the natural Montreal wonder is still part of the scenery, with the mountain visible from each floor, the labs and the terrace.
Location, location, location
The new hub will feature an atrium with a rooftop terrace that connects both buildings. When creating Inspire Bio Innovations, the property’s architects looked at the Montreal Chest Institute’s original designs.NEUF Architect(e)s/Supplied
Inspire Bio Innovations is the beating heart of downtown Montreal’s ever-expanding health-sciences ecosystem. Located amid the university quarter, the building lies directly across from the acclaimed Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), which is known for its research into cancer, cardiometabolic health, genetic and neurological diseases and immunity and infectious diseases.
“To develop the drug of the future, you must be located downtown close to the hospitals, universities, research facilities and other life-sciences firms,” says Mr. Rivard. “Once this project is fully realized, we will compete internationally for talent and investment with other bio-hubs that already exist in North America, like Kendall Square in Greater Boston and Menlo Park in the San Francisco Bay Area.”
The new downtown Montreal location also allows the facility to take advantage of its proximity to potential investors. “When industry and the institutions all gather in the same place, it’s a lot easier to secure the investment that these biotech startups need to fuel their progress towards commercialization,” says Mr. Rivard.
Lessons from history in design innovation
Inspire Bio Innovations, an adaptive-reuse structure, has already won awards even before CellCarta – the building’s principal tenant – opens its new global headquarters this summer. At the World Architecture Festival last November, Inspire Bio Innovations was named “Future Office: Project of the Year,” with the judges lauding the building for how it “successfully repurposed an abandoned urban infrastructure, integrated heritage elements, enhanced community resilience and incorporated sustainable development.”
Acclaimed Montreal architect John Smith Archibald designed the original Chest Institute, as well as other iconic buildings, such as the Montreal Forum and Ottawa’s Château Laurier. To understand the designer’s original vision and philosophy, NEUF Architect(e)s returned to the source.
“We went back to Archibald’s original architectural drawings,” says Mr. Chichmanian. “This building was a very modest design, but it was also very forward-looking. We studied the intent in those 100-year-old drawings to learn what Archibald’s ambitions were for this site.”
A hub for discovery and collaboration
Inspire Bio Innovations will help fulfill Quebec’s vision of becoming a top-five life sciences market by 2027. Montreal already ranks first in Canada for life-sciences R&D investments and research centres.NEUF Architect(e)s/Supplied
While construction of the hub’s first phase is set for completion this summer when CellCarta moves in, the second phase is expected to be finished in 2026. Once done, Inspire Bio Innovations’ second phase will reach eight storeys and connect to the first building through an atrium with a rooftop terrace.
“Walking into the glazed atrium of the new nine-storey building, one will look skyward and observe research happening in real-time in the labs on the second floor,” says Mr. Rivard.
He notes there has been a lot of interest from those looking to lease space at Inspire Bio Innovations, especially from companies involved in precision medicine, a new personal approach to disease treatment that considers each person’s gene variability, environment and lifestyle.
“We are currently in negotiations with several companies that will bring a lot of value to the life-sciences ecosystem in Montreal,” Mr. Rivard says. “Turning a legacy building that needed a lot of love … into a place where drugs of the future will be developed is quite an achievement.”