Christmas just came early for Silverstone as sports minister Richard Caborn opened a £4.2M innovation centre at the F1 circuit (WED) on the eve of news that the track had sealed a deal to host the British Grand Prix for the next five years.
Speaking at the launch Mr Caborn said: “It is so important that we underpin the excellence that we have here in the UK by establishing a centre of this kind. Developing the motorsport industry is about growing sustainable and quality jobs as well. This is the first step in a real consolidation of Motorsport Valley.
“Bringing the sport and industry together is very important. We have a vested interest in ensuring that this centre is successful. The Silverstone Grand Prix is very important to the local economy and that’s why we must make sure we can develop Silverstone to have a sustainable motorsport industry in this country.”
The business centre – on Silverstone Technology Park which forms part of a master plan for the circuit currently under consideration - is a joint venture between track owners the British Racing Drivers’ Club and East Midlands Development Agency (emda), which has invested £1.8 million in the project.
Now open for business, it will house up to 40 high performance engineering start-up companies as well as more established, growing businesses operating in motorsport and related industries. It will also generate year-round business for the race circuit and provide a major boost to the UK’s burgeoning motorsport industry, which boasts 2,200 businesses and an annual turnover of £4.6 billion, locally, regionally and nationally.
Derek Mapp, outgoing chairman of emda, said: “A significant number of highly flexible and creative precision engineering companies ‘do business’ in Motorsport Valley and we are committed to supporting such motorsport companies whether their preference is to race on two, three, four or more wheels!
“That is why we’re delighted to be associated with the economic development of key regional motorsport assets such as Silverstone, in the form of the innovation centre. We are confident that it will make a major contribution to the region in attracting, supporting, nurturing and ‘graduating’ young high performance engineering companies, which will create high performance engineering companies which will generate high tech, high skilled employment at the centre of the Motorsport Valley cluster.“
The centre will include 16 ‘incubator’ units which will be let on flexible terms with start-up companies receiving a time-limited package of support. There will also be 27 suites for growing companies rentable for periods of three to five years, and tenant firms will be encouraged to get involved with other activities designed to boost their competitiveness.
Interest in the centre from potential tenants is already encouraging and potential occupants are initially invited to contact Spencer Canning on 01327 850920.
The area known as Motorsport Valley covered by East Midlands Development Agency, East of England Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands and South East England Development Agency contains up 75% of the UK’s motorsport industry. The East Midlands Development Agency was set up in 1999 to bring more jobs and skills to the region and to make the East Midlands a better place to live and work. By 2010 emda wants the East Midlands to be one of the top 20 regions in Europe. The latest figures from Eurostat show the East Midlands is already well on its way, moving from 35th to 28th place out of the 71 European regions The BRDC will lease the site for the centre to the new joint venture company for 35 years in return for ground rent. The joint venture company between emda and the BRDC will be limited by guarantee and will develop and manage the innovation centre.
