Liverpool Science Park has invited companies to rent space in a second phase £9 million innovation centre.

The dedicated facility would enable companies to tap into university and specialist skills in the city, reports the Liverpool Daily Post, and it would welcome tenants from March next year.

New build iC2 is the latest development at the Science Park, which opened close to Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral in 2006.

It will provide 40,000 sq ft of office and laboratory-compatible space in addition to the 36,000 sq ft of its first phase.

Science Park chief executive Dr Sarah Tasker told the Post: "They [companies] need to be commercialising an intellectual property, or research forms a serious part of what they do, or be working with universities."

Some of the companies at the Liverpool Science Park have grown two or three times since they took up office, she added.

Liverpool Science Park also hosts events, which recently included a Business Angels conference to attract investors in start-up companies.