£5m start-up centre to create 1,300 jobs
Up to 1,300 jobs are set to be created in Leicester with the introduction of an innovation centre. Leicester City Council said it will purchase land at the city's Science Park to build the site, which will focus on supporting start-up businesses.
The centre, located off Abbey Lane, will create up to 60 work spaces for small high-tech businesses. It will focus on advanced manufacturing, environmental and low-carbon technology companies.
About 150 jobs are expected to be created at the centre by 2015. Planning consent for the site has already been secured.
The wider park has the potential to generate more than 1,300 jobs in the next ten years, said the council.
The £5m project will receive investment from Working Neighbourhood Funding, the council's capital funds and a European grant which is currently under consideration.
The city council has started talks to buy the land, which is near to the National Space Centre, from the East Midlands Development Agency (Emda).
Among the companies the council hopes to encourage to the park is Zeeko, which manufactures precision lense polishing machines for organisations including the American space agency NASA.
The council said it hopes the building will be open in the spring of 2013.
