Plans for the next decade of development at the Lincoln Science and Innovation Park in Lincoln have been submitted to the City of Lincoln Council.
The expansion project, valued at around £20 million, will create more than 10,000 square metres of commercial floorspace in the city’s industrial heartland.
The proposal makes up phase two of the Science and Innovation Park masterplan, which has already benefitted from £22 million of investment. Expansion work is expected to create around 800 new jobs.
Development is largely focused on Small and Medium Enterprises as well as the University of Lincoln’s College of Science.
Units of between 500 and 3,000 square metres, over six landscaped acres west of the current science park, will be available to large science and technology companies.
The new development is designed to provide building stock that is more focussed on technology than has previously been available in the county but it is also intended to provide a resource for businesses located across Lincolnshire.
Lincoln Science and Innovation Park is a partnership between Lincolnshire Co-op and University of Lincoln which offers a new hub for private sector investment and innovation alongside academic research science facilities on Beevor Street, off Tritton Road (the former Ruston Bucyrus factory site).
The project has already seen the opening of the £15 million Joseph Banks Laboratories and Minster House, and the £7 million Boole Technology Centre.
Since completion in February, the Boole Technology Centre has already welcomed private sector tenants from sectors spanning aerospace to microbiology.
Thomas Blount, Director of Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, said: “Our vision for phase one of the Science and Innovation Park was to bring together academic research laboratories alongside agile, small businesses whose agility who are best placed to exploit new innovations.
“With phase two we are looking to create an environment which engages whole supply chains to really impact on the county’s innovation ecosystem and the wider regional economy.
“By providing commercial spaces for larger businesses, we not only embrace the dynamism of smaller firms but the critical mass of larger companies which both feed and drive forward that culture of innovation, pushing intellectual property out from laboratories and workbenches into the marketplace.”
Ursula Lidbetter, Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Co-op and Board Member of Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, said: “Lincolnshire Co-op has invested in building a community of innovators and businesses on the Science Park because we believe growing our county’s technical skills base and ability to innovate is essential to the future of Lincolnshire’s economy. We welcome this proposal as a big step forward in achieving our vision.”
Professor Mary Stuart, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln and a fellow Science Park Board Member, added: “Growing the Science and Innovation Park provides huge opportunities for our students to find jobs and our academics to work closely with industry. The benefits of this should be felt across the whole Greater Lincolnshire economy and beyond and it is a strong signal showing our resolve to help drive forward the region for the benefit of all.”
Source: The Lincolnite