Hereford Enterprise Zone

About the project

Hereford Enterprise Zone Infrastructure is an £9.459m project which includes £6.107m of Local Growth Funds.

It will include substantial infrastructure interventions to encourage business investment, occupancy and jobs.

The range of works will open up 10 hectares on the North Magazine site and help to prepare new plots for development. It will be carried out alongside the design and implementation of a number of Active Travel Measures and the purchase of an electric bus to encourage sustainable travel to and from the Zone.

The Growth Deal investment will support infrastructure works including landscaping, installation of utilities and road access to open up a further seven hectares of employment land on the North Magazine, creating 560 new full-time jobs.

The 110-acre development has already attracted significant private sector investment with 50 companies occupying new premises in the Zone.

Skylon Park is the designated Enterprise Zone of the Marches LEP and has been a key economic infrastructure project for the LEP since it secured Enterprise Zone status from the Government in 2012. The LEP chair and an additional board member sit on the Zone partnership board to support and monitor progress and the Hereford Enterprise Zone chair has a seat on the LEP board.

The Zone has a unique defence and security sector focus, building on Hereford’s association with UK special forces as the home of the SAS.

Skylon Park spans over 100 acres including prime development land ready for swift occupation with all the necessary services already installed. If you’re an investor looking for flexible workspace in a great location, Skylon Park is the optimum choice.

Companies are invited to create their own place within the Masterplan of Skylon Park, giving flexibility for a space which best suits their operations in a central UK and European location. It is also within an hour and half drive of the international airports at Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff with easy access to the A49, M50 and the rest of the motorway network.

The Zone attracts investment from established companies overseas, across Britain and locally, as well as encouraging new and start-up companies, by offering them a simplified approach to planning and superfast and ultrafast broadband connectivity.

Around 110 new businesses could be accommodated here, leading to the creation of around 4,200 new jobs by 2022. These projected jobs would be delivered alongside more than 134,000 sq metres of new workspace.

Over £25m has been invested in the area to make the park ready for business, with notable infrastructure projects including the access road to the south to the A49, and a number of estate roads along with provision of services and ultrafast broadband across the park.

Other key projects have included the new access road on the North Magazine and the building of Skylon Court and Skylon Place, two developments offering high quality accommodation for small businesses to rent.

The latest major projects are the Shell Store and Cyber Quarter – Midlands Centre for Cyber Security.

The Shell Store is a refurbishment project that has brought a former Munitions Factory building back into productive business use.

Cyber Quarter – Midlands Centre for Cyber Security is a new build project in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton which reflects the focus on the defence and security sector and the growing cluster of such businesses in the locality.

For more information, please visit the Zone’s website at www.skylonpark.co.uk