Innovation centre plans supported for Solent Enterprise Zone

Work to build a new £5.3m new business development on the Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus will start soon after plans for the scheme were approved by Fareham Borough Council on 26 March.

The innovation centre project will create around 150 new jobs and create office space and workshop facilities for new businesses. The focus will be on the engineering, aerospace, aviation and marine industries, with support to help them grow and succeed.

The development is part of large scale investment at the Enterprise Zone, which includes improvements to the runway and new hangar space. In Autumn, Fareham College will open a new Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Advanced Skills Training on site.

Fareham College and Fareham Borough Council have been working together to ensure potential links between developing local skills at the training facility and local jobs at the innovation centre are maximised. The scheme has been supported by a £5.3m investment from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which owns the Enterprise Zone site.

Executive Leader of Fareham Borough Council, Councillor Seán Woodward, said: “The Innovation Centre will see the construction of state of the art business facilities at Daedalus and the creation of highly skilled local jobs. With top the range support on offer for new companies in engineering, aerospace, aviation and marine, the innovation centre is great news for Borough’s economy as a whole.”

Kevin Bourner, Head of Area at the HCA, said: “The innovation centre is the next critical stage in the development of the Solent Enterprise Zone. The news that work can now get underway on the centre is another clear sign of the good progress that is being made at the Solent Enterprise Zone thanks to the efforts of all partners involved.”

Len Salter, Managing Director of Bouygues UK’s Construction Central South team, said: “These facilities will encourage the learning, training and business skills development of the area significantly, for the benefit of the whole of the Solent and existing and new businesses alike.’’

Work on the project is expected to start in April.