About Brixham Laboratory

World-class laboratory facilities, stunning serviced offices, a fabulous café and meeting/conference facilities. That’s what you’ll see when you come to the Brixham Laboratory.

It really is a great place to do business. Just ask any of the organisations who have chosen to base their businesses here. Have a look at our office & lab space or meeting rooms to see how we might be able to help you to do business here.

We have a small but very friendly team here to ensure that everything runs well and that all of our clients and visitors are well looked after.

Now owned by the University of Plymouth, the Laboratory has been a big part of Brixham life for the past 65 years. We’ve put together some information on the history of the site below.

The History of Brixham Laboratory

The Beginning

The origins of the Laboratory go back to the years immediately following the Second World War when the Paints Division of ICI Ltd acquired an interest in the manufacture and sale of antifouling paints. ICI required testing facilities to understand the biology of the fouling organisms and provide testing facilities where the new products could be evaluated under controlled conditions. ICI purchased Cumber House at Vicarage Hill, Brixham

1940's

It soon became apparent that facilities closer to the shoreline were required. The Site on which the Laboratory is built today was originally a quarry to supply limestone for the outer breakwater.

1950's

The first permanent building at Freshwater Quarry was opened in 1953 and most of that building is still standing, forming the office area to the right of our main entrance.

1970's - 1990

In the 1970s, 80s and 90s, further expansion of the Site occurred to allow space for ecotoxicology, analytical chemistry and environmental fate studies. In 1993 Zeneca was formed as a result of the de-merger of ICI, and in 1999 AstraZeneca was formed when a Swedish company Astra AB merged with Zeneca.

2000's

In 2007/8 the most recent 4 storey glass fronted building was added to the end of the Site. It was a £15m project and represented AstraZenecas largest capital investment in that period. It was officially opened by Princess Anne in May 2008.

2014

In 2014 AstraZeneca donated the Laboratory to the University of Plymouth. After securing an achor tenant for the site, Scymaris, the University over the following years have grown the site to what it is today, with 25 organisations in 2025 occupying the office and lab space. We are home to a wide variety of organisations across many industry sectors. Many tenants collaborate with the University of Plymouth through grant funded research, knowledge transfer partnerships and by giving employment opportunities to students and graduates.

2021

2020 saw the start of a loft conversion project, completing in 2021. This project was made more challenging due to the outbreak of covid. The space created is an impressive large open plan office with panoramic sea views, it also includes a smaller private office and meeting space.

2022

The University of Plymouth became a partner in the INTERREG-funded EUROSWAC project, developing a pioneering Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) system using Channel seawater. Brixham Laboratory with its existing sea water pumps, facilities and location was a great fit for EUROSWACs aim to develop and test in real life conditions a SWAC prototype. EUROSWAC demonstrated proof of concept for shallow-water SWAC in temperate seas, introduced cost-saving engineering innovations, and delivered energy and emissions reductions in small-scale facilities. It’s laid a solid foundation for scaling the technology to larger coastal cooling and aquaculture applications in the Channel region and beyond.

2024

We converted two laboratories to support University of Plymouth PhD students with their research projects. These studies took place in the summer and were to calibrate biochemical indices of growth for juvenile sole (Solea solea). We look forward to welcoming more marine biology students in the summer of 2025 and 2026 to conduct their research projects and hope to expand the laboratories use to other academics in the future.

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how to find us

by car

We are approximately 2 minute drive away from Brixham town centre.

by train

We are approximately 45 min taxi ride from Newton Abbot Train Station.

by air

We are approximately one hours drive away from Exeter Airport.