Maryport Business Centre to open
The new £1.9m Maryport Business Centre in west Cumbria will officially open its doors on Wednesday this week.
Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency, is opening the centre which is owned by Cumbria County Council.
Broomhead said: "The centre will attract inward investment by providing space for new businesses to develop, and gives existing businesses in west Cumbria the type of accommodation they need in order to grow. Ultimately it will help to deliver stronger businesses and create new jobs."
He will be joined by councillors and senior officers from Cumbria County Council at the centre built on the site of the former British Industrial Plastics factory on the southern gateway to the town centre A596 including economic development portfolio holder Tony Markley and environment corporate director Marie Fallon.
Providing 30 units for small and medium sized businesses at a location on the A596 south of Maryport town centre the site offers secure, managed, energy efficient accommodation for uses ranging from light industry to high-tech office and is entirely on ground level, with car parking and delivery space available.
The 30 units are made up of six studio and 24 industrial units and the building has been designed with walls that can be moved to make the industrial units larger or smaller, subject to demand.
Elements of the old British Industrial Plastics factory, which closed in the mid 1990s, have been retained in the architecture of the new building to maintain a link with Maryport's industrial past but with a view towards West Cumbria's future as Britain's Energy Coast.
The business centre has been made possible due to £650,000 worth of funding from Britain's Energy Coast West Cumbria, via the NWDA, £950,000 from the European Regional Development Fund and £300,000 from the West Cumbria Development Fund.
Cllr Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council's cabinet member for economic development, said: "This new business centre is going to play a very important role in providing jobs and will be a boost not only to the economy of Maryport, but to west Cumbria as a whole.
"It's ideal for either new businesses or established companies looking to relocate and it's in a great location.
"Encouraging enterprise locally and providing businesses with the facilities they need to prosper is going to be key to negotiating Cumbria's economy through the recession."
Ron Simpson, project manager at Britain's Energy Coast 22 West Cumbria, which project managed the development, added: "The opening of Maryport Business Centre marks the culmination of a huge amount of work to bring this once eyesore sight into meaningful economic use."
