The Homes and Communities Agency has unveiled plans for a £30m aerospace research centre at Ansty Park in Coventry.
The new centre will provide a national facility for ground breaking aerospace research in the heart of the country, four miles north east of Coventry’s city centre and will form part of the manufacturing technology centre’s research and development campus. The centre will sit next to the pioneering 65,000 sq ft MTC which is being built in collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Rolls Royce.
HCA head of asset management Steve Holland said: “Coventry has a significant industrial heritage and it is satisfying to see it leading the way again due to the highly skilled workforce in the area and its strategic location. These new facilities which are being brought about by government and industry working closely together are undoubtedly contributing to the re-industrialisation of the UK, part of the government’s long-term economic plan.”
The HCA is working with developer Highbridge Properties and its property consultant Cushman and Wakefield to deliver a total of 1.5m sq ft of space at the 100 acre technology park.
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is providing £15.2m funding for the new aerospace facility via the government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult and the technology strategy board; this investment with be matched with funding from industry.
The new aerospace research centre is part of an ambitious £90m expansion plan for the MTC which opened in 2011.
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
