Space Park Leicester receives funding

The University of Leicester has recently received a sum of more than £2M from Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership’s (LLEP) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in order to match other funding towards the Space Park Leicester project.

The Space Park Leicester project itself is a construction scheme which aims to build a state-of-the-art research, development, and manufacturing facility at Pioneer Park in the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone, with the University of Leicester serving as the commissioning body and the company Bowmer Kirkland serving as the contractor.

The aforementioned funding from the LLEP will be used to establish the Space Technology Applications from Research (STAR) Accelerator, which aims to support SME businesses by providing help and expertise in designing and developing products over short periods, however the LLEP previously invested a total of £12.88M towards construction of Space Park Leicester.

Construction of Space Park Leicester is scheduled to commence soon, with the first phase of construction predicted to conclude in 2020 while total completion of the project will not be achieved until 2021.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leicester, Iain Gillespie stated: “We are really pleased to announce the appointment of Bowmer Kirkland as constructors for this exciting project. We have been hugely impressed with their approach and are confident that this relationship will be a great success.”

The Chair of the LLEP Board of Directors, Kevin Harris added: “The project is a true collaboration between academia, business and government – both local and national – as we harness the space industry to benefit our region and the wider UK.

“As Chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Limited, I have seen first-hand what this kind of collaborative effort can achieve, and how significant investments in infrastructure and emerging technologies can grease the wheels of economic growth and prosperity.”

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