£13m Huddersfield University-Kirklees Council enterprise centre could create 100 jobs

Nov 9 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A MULTI-MILLION pound plan to create an “Enterprise and Innovation Centre” could bring at least 100 jobs to Huddersfield.

Details of the £13m scheme, which is a joint initiative between Kirklees Council and the University of Huddersfield, emerged today.

A former mill in Firth Street is to be developed into a huge centre to attract new businesses and showcase talent from the town.

It will feature workshops and laboratories and areas that small businesses will be able to rent while they get off the ground.

There will be space for exhibitions and an “innovation avenue” where new ideas and access to state-of-the art equipment will be showcased.

Some £7m is likely to come from the EU’s Regional Development Fund, with the remaining £6m bill divided between the University and the council.

Officials believe the district’s economic future depends on innovative new industries backed up by cutting edge research.

The new centre’s major aim is to boost science, research and development in Kirklees.

As a regional and national centre of excellence, it should attract hundreds of thousands of pounds in new investment.

The centre is the brainchild of the University of Huddersfield’s director of research and enterprise, Dr Liz Towns-Andrews.

The new centre is also intended to be a link between existing facilities in Huddersfield and Kirklees