• Swindon & Wiltshire Property
• Wednesday October 8 2014

Science Park wins £2 million of council funding

A new science park at Porton Down, near Salisbury, has been awarded £2 million of local authority funding this week, on top of the £4 million already pledged from the government’s Growth Fund.

The funding will deliver the first phase of the project which includes a 45,000 sq feet building to provide accommodation for the existing Tetricus Science Park business incubation facility plus further grow-on space for new businesses, lab space and infrastructure to support this phase and subsequent phases leading to the development of the full 355,000 sq ft park.

Providing facilities for science and research-based industries, Wiltshire Council is hoping for £70 million in private funding.

The scheme, which is supported by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Public Health England, could create 2,000 high value jobs over 10 years, as well as providing a focal point and platform for innovation, research and development in the health and life sciences in Wiltshire and the wider Wessex area.

Work is expected to start in Spring 2015, with completion due in 2016.

Wiltshire Council’s Fleur de Rhe-Philipe said: “This plan has the potential to not only protect good important jobs in the area but also to make Wiltshire a world leader in life sciences.”