Plans for £13.2m Samlesbury cyber innovation hub progress
Lancashire County Council is on the lookout for a project team to draw up plans for a facility aimed at bolstering the area’s cyber cluster, where the National Cyber Force is due to open its headquarters.
The county council met this week to accept £6m of government funding and provisionally approve providing £7.2m from its own coffers to pay for the £13.2m Samlesbury Innovation Centre.
A report to the county council’s cabinet states that the 20,000 sq ft facility would “enhance the cyber sector cluster, link employment opportunities to Lancashire residents and businesses working with National Cyber Force, and its wider supply-chain”.
In 2021 it was announced the NCF would be based out of a purpose-built facility in Samlesbury and recieve £5bn from government up to 2030. It is unclear when the NCF will move to Lancashire.
The planned hub would feature a mix of office, events, and amenity space and be located close to the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre North West.
The project is one of several in Lancashire to benefit from an initial £20m injection of capital as part of Lancashire’s devolution deal. The others include Silicon Sands in Blackpool, which, like the Samlesbury innovation hub, will receive £6m.
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