Wrapping up 2025

From welcoming over 40 new occupiers, completing the sustainable Nebula development to securing a £376 million financing deal and progress at Signal Yard, there has been so much to celebrate at Milton Park in 2025.

We are wrapping up the year by taking a closer look at some of the Park’s biggest milestones.

Nebula and ten-day planning

2025 launched with the updated Milton Park Local Development Order, which provides ten-day planning and greater flexibility for our occupiers to grow. Shortly afterwards, Lord Vallance welcomed the completion of Nebula, our award-winning, new timber-framed glulam development with seven sustainable R&D workspaces.

Quantum cool to Fusion Fuel

We also launched Milton Spark*, a new innovation community magazine that shares stories and insights from across the Park. One of the articles, the Quantum Cool to Fusion Fuel campaign, showcased how occupiers are using some of the universe’s hottest and coldest temperatures to innovate.

A growing innovation community

Over 40 new companies joined us in 2025, taking the total number of Milton Park occupiers to over 280. These new companies include the likes of Inify, Nuvia, OKA, Salience and TreQ. We also welcomed 28 new occupiers to the Innovation Centre and Bee House, including additions to Bee House’s Honeycomb co-working space.

VIP guests

We were honoured to welcome HRH The Duke of Gloucester to the Park, who celebrated the Didcot Powerhouse’s impact with recipients and donors, which has distributed over £400,000 of grants to local causes in the wider Didcot area.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) team took a guided tour around some of Milton Park’s occupiers, including those in the green energy sector. On the theme of sustainability, Chris Hines MBE, gave a keynote speech at the Park to celebrate Earth Day. The former founding Director of Surfers Against Sewage and former Sustainability Director of The Eden Project inspired us all with his insights on how we can all take environmental action.

Innovating sustainably

Sustainability was a recurring theme throughout 2025. We installed a new polystyrene compactor, an initiative that emerged from Our Greener Workplace Forum, regular meetings which continue to champion sustainable projects across the Park.

In transport news, the X32 bus service increased to three fast buses an hour to Oxford at peak times, creating closer connections to the city. The Park’s community also embraced Car Free Day and the monthly Bike2Work events promoting travelling to work in more sustainable ways.

Bringing people together through events

Milton Park’s events were as lively as ever in 2025. Our packed programme included Hanging basket workshops, Park Perspectives, Meet the Bees, Fika networking, fitness classes, Bike2Work, Thursday Hive Live and the return of the Urban Garden Awards, which encouraged friendly competition among our green-fingered occupiers.

Explore, Milton Park’s school engagement programme (which has engaged with well over 1,500 students), held a flagship Biotech Day and a flagship sustainable day to highlight future career opportunities.

Our recent Christmas Market also welcomed over 1,300 people, with 240 individuals taking part in wreath-making workshops, raising over £3,000 for Didcot Powerhouse.

Full steam ahead at Signal Yard

Signal Yard, the Park’s new amenity hub, opening in Spring 2026, will offer a vibrant mix of amenities for Park occupiers and the local community.

Key updates at Signal Yard this year included award-winning Tap Social Movement’s announcement of its forthcoming ‘Day Release’ brewery and bakery, the opening of a new dental practice and the arrival of three independent Oxfordshire eateries, alongside Milton Post Office and Apollo Pharmacy relocating to Signal Yard in the new year.

Milton Park is incredibly excited to see what next year brings and how our innovation community will continue to grow. We would like to thank all our occupiers, partners and neighbours for your support this year and wish you all the best for the New Year.