Enworks wins £9.9m of public funding for four years
Enworks, an environmental business support service, has received approval for a £9.9m investment to extend its existing service and continue to offer support to the region's Small Medium Enterprises until 2013.
Funded by the North West Development Agency with £6.4m, the programme has also received £3.5m from the European Regional Development Fund Programme.
Established in 2001 by the NWDA, Enworks is a not-for-profit organisation that helps North West businesses reduce their energy use, make cost savings and reduce their impact on the environment.
Enworks will underpin the delivery of the 'Improving Your Resource Efficiency' product, part of Solutions for Business, the Government's package of publicly funded business support designed to help companies start and grow.
With the additional support and investment, Enworks will:
- Support a further 1,250 North West companies (this does not include businesses receiving less than two days support)
- Generate cost savings of £60m for North West companies
- Deliver 255,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide savings
- Deliver water savings of 2,050,000 tonnes
- Create an additional 240 jobs in the region and safeguard a further 500
- Increase sales in the region by £25m and safeguard sales by £60m
Enworks will continue to be delivered through a range of partners working collaboratively with other ERDF funded projects to identify businesses for support.
It has helped over 3,600 businesses with £75m cost savings identified since it became established. Steven Broomhead, chief executive of North West Development Agency, said: "To date, for every £1 the NWDA has invested in Enworks resource efficiency programme, £13 of cost savings have been identified. Enworks has also been recognised as a model of best practice on a National and European level, which other regions are now replicating."
The ERDF programme is backed by the Programme Monitoring Committee to monitor, oversee and advise on the delivery of the programme and provide invaluable support to the development of the new fund.
