Creative Places

What Creative Places does

Creative Places is a UK-based specialist real estate advisory firm focused exclusively on the research, development, and innovation property sector. Founded in 2009 by Jonathan Burroughs and John Sommerville and now operating as a trading name of Bidwells LLP, the firm is headquartered at 3 King's Parade, Cambridge — at the heart of what it describes as Europe's most prolific hi-tech cluster. The firm serves a defined set of institutional clients: universities and academic institutions (it claims work for 7 of the UK's top 10 universities), R&D real estate investors and developers (British Land, Oxford Properties, Kadans Science Partners), NHS hospital trusts and biomedical campuses (Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Babraham Research Campus), and corporate occupiers such as AstraZeneca, on whose relocation to Cambridge Creative Places claims to have played a key role. The firm reports involvement in 70% of major UK hospital-proximate R&D projects and is helping clients deploy over £0.5bn into life sciences real estate.

The firm's core offerings split into two service lines: Consultancy Services (strategic advice on R&D property development, campus masterplanning, investment appraisal, and demand studies) and Agency Services (specialist letting and tenant representation for laboratory and R&D properties, alongside a public online property search portal listing available lab space in Cambridge, London and surrounding areas). All revenue is professional services fees billed on a project or mandate basis with no publicly disclosed pricing. Distribution is sales-led, primarily through direct enterprise engagement, supplemented by thought-leadership content, conference speaking, and industry awards (UKSPA, Estates Gazette Specialist Advisor of the Year). The team is small (1-10 employees) and the firm is regulated by RICS, with a leadership team led by CEO Liam Nicholls and Managing Partner John Sommerville following the 2024 retirement of co-founder Burroughs.

Name

Creative Places

Legal name

Creative Places, a trading name of Bidwells LLP

Website

https://creativeplaces.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Creative Places is a UK specialist R&D real estate advisory firm (trading name of Bidwells LLP) that helps universities, NHS trusts, life sciences investors, and occupiers plan, develop, and let laboratory and innovation properties across the Golden Triangle.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

R&D Real Estate Advisory Services

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Flex / R&D Industrial Space Brokerage (BPAJACAC)

Keywords

• R&D property advisory
• Laboratory real estate
• Life sciences property
• Science park consultancy
• Innovation district advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advisory and Consultancy Fees: Professional services fees for strategic advice on R&D property developments, planning, masterplanning, and real estate delivery for research-intensive businesses.
2. Agency and Letting Fees: Specialist agency services for letting laboratory and R&D properties, working with property owners and occupiers.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Creative Places is a specialist R&D real estate advisory firm that helps clients plan, create, manage and invest in collaborative places for research, R&D, education, creative industries and innovation. It provides agency services for laboratory and R&D property lettings, strategic consultancy on property development and investment, and an online property search portal for available laboratory and R&D spaces in Cambridge, London and the surrounding areas.

Product overview

Creative Places offers a unified service combining specialist agency and consultancy capabilities for R&D real estate. The Agency Services provides property letting and tenant representation for laboratory and research spaces, while Consultancy Services delivers strategic advice on property development and investment. The Property Search portal serves as the client-facing listing service showcasing available properties. The company operates as a trading name of Bidwells LLP and is regulated by RICS.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Agency Services
• Consultancy Services
• Property Search

Quantifiable outcome

• Worked for 7 out of UK top 10 Universities
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Bidwells LLPcoreOthersCreative Places is a trading name of Bidwells LLP. The firm operates as a specialized division within the Bidwells group, maintaining the Creative Places brand for R&D property advisory services.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bidwells LLP: Parent partnership of Creative Places and a broader UK real estate advisory firm covering science and innovation real estate, rural, commercial and residential sectors. Directly comparable because Creative Places is a trading name within the Bidwells group and the two operate overlapping client relationships in the Cambridge science cluster.
• Montagu Evans: UK-based commercial property consultancy with a development and planning practice advising on major regeneration, science and innovation districts. Comparable because both firms operate as UK specialist advisors to developers, universities and public bodies on complex real estate schemes, including science and innovation campuses.
• Gerald Eve: Independent UK commercial real estate advisory firm with investment, development and occupier services across UK office, science and innovation assets. Comparable as a mid-sized UK specialist competing for university, investor and developer mandates in the R&D and innovation real estate market.

Broad incumbents

• Savills: Global real estate advisory firm with a UK presence and an active UK life sciences / laboratory agency practice. Comparable as a diversified commercial real estate advisor competing for the same universities, investors and occupiers that Creative Places serves, but at materially greater scale and with a much broader service portfolio.
• Knight Frank: Global real estate consultancy with established UK life sciences advisory and capital markets capability. Relevant peer because Knight Frank competes for the same institutional investors, developers and occupier mandates in the UK R&D property market, albeit as part of a much wider commercial real estate platform.
• CBRE: World's largest commercial real estate services firm with a dedicated Life Sciences practice covering valuation, advisory and capital markets in the UK. Comparable as a global incumbent pursuing the same university, NHS trust and investor mandates in the UK laboratory real estate market as Creative Places.
• JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): Global real estate services firm with a UK Life Sciences capital markets and advisory practice. Overlaps with Creative Places on occupier representation, investment advisory and developer mandates across the Golden Triangle and emerging UK life sciences clusters.
• Cushman & Wakefield: Global commercial real estate services firm with a UK Life Sciences platform spanning agency, valuation and capital markets. A broad incumbent peer competing for many of the same institutional mandates in UK R&D and laboratory property.
• Colliers: Global commercial real estate services firm with a UK team active in life sciences, life sciences capital markets and occupier services. Comparable as a diversified advisor pursuing institutional investors, developers and occupiers in UK R&D real estate.

Others

• AECOM: Global infrastructure and advisory consultancy with a real estate consulting practice advising on masterplanning, development economics and workplace strategy for campuses and innovation districts. Comparable at the strategic advisory layer where Creative Places' consultancy services overlap with AECOM's real estate advisory offerings to universities, developers and public bodies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/creativeplaces
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/creative-places

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Creative Places