The Greater Cambridge and Peterborough economy will be supported by an additional £21.1 million worth of investment next year thanks to the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’s Growth Deal with Government. The deal includes two projects on Alconbury Enterprise Campus.
The two projects are:
- New facilities for TWI (The Welding Institute ) – expanding their operation onto the Enterprise Zone to bring more high-skilled jobs, support the growth of businesses in hightech sectors and act as a catalyst for further growth on the Campus.
- A Technical & Vocational Centre – developing a new Centre with a focus on the built environment and engineering technical expertise to support the development of the Enterprise Campus and sites across the whole LEP area.
The deal also secured funding for Growth Hubs – a new approach to business support designed to make it easier for businesses across the LEP area to access the advice and funding they need to grow. The investment will be used to provide both virtual support and face to face support, which will include a focus for businesses at Alconbury Campus.
Nigel Hugill, Executive Chairman of Urban&Civic, owners and developers of Alconbury Enterprise Campus, said:
“This is wonderful news at every level. Leading edge advancement, combined with a relentless determination to innovate is what defines the region. These attributes could not have been articulated more clearly by LEP colleagues in successfully making the Growth Deal case. In our turn at Alconbury, we will work collaboratively to build the best research and testing facility for TWI and new vocational skills centre that we possibly can.”
Professor Aamir Khalid, Director of Technology at TWI, said:
“We welcome the announcement that the Growth Deal includes an award for the launch of a leading-edge engineering test centre at the Alconbury Enterprise Campus. The centre will allow full-scale testing and validation of large structures and components under supercritical conditions, supporting industry sectors including oil and gas, energy, aerospace and rail transport. The Alconbury facility will extend activities at TWI and the new National Structural Integrity Research Centre, and will further boost engineering research activity within the County.”
The LEP has worked closely with partners to ensure that the £21.1 million Deal unlocks a further £14.5 million from the private sector, £11 million of public funding and £41 million from future Growth Deals. Totalling £87.5 million of additional committed investment for the local area between 2015 and 2021.
Mark Reeve, Chairman of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, said:
“All bar one of our top Growth Deal priorities have received funding, securing £21.1 million worth of investment from Government for our local area for the next financial year. This is good news for local businesses because it enables us to tackle some of the key issues holding back their growth.
“Only last month, Centre for Cities Small Business Outlook named Cambridge as the city with the largest number of small businesses investing in ‘high-growth’ strategies, and Peterborough as the city that creates the largest number of jobs per expanding SME, proving that we are ready to grow further.”
The investment will help to deliver over 3,000 new jobs and unlock land for more than 4,000 new homes to be built.
The Growth Deal is the latest in a number of key investments secured for the local area including £20 million of annual funding for the Greater Cambridge area via the City Deal, £16.1 million worth of Growing Places Funding that is being actively reinvested in our local area, £3.2 million of Agri-Tech funding, and a future commitment of £1.5 billion to support the much needed upgrade to the A14.
You can find out more abut the wider Growth Deal for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough at www.gcgp.co.uk.
More information can be found on the project website: www.alconbury-weald.co.uk.