Sign-off for £12m Workington Innovation Centre
Armed with planning approval, main contractor Morgan Sindall Construction is set to begin work this autumn on the business incubator complex off Roper Street.
Cumberland Council is behind the Workington Innovation Centre project, which makes up part of the local authority’s successful £23.1m Town Deal bid. The innovation centre is set to have an overall capital cost of £12.4m, according to the council. The money for the scheme comes from the council as well as the Towns Fund, which has also gone to support a digital accelerator hub at Lakes College and a sports village in lower Derwent Park Valley.
The local authority approved its own plans for the innovation centre yesterday. It is targeting an early 2026 completion date.
The Workington Innovation Centre is being built on the site of the Central Car Park in the town centre. While its construction will inevitably result in the loss of car parking spaces, it will retain 21 spaces – of which four will be designated for disabled users. There will also be space for 12 cycles to be stored.
Buttress Architects designed the 19,600 sq ft facility, which will stretch across four floors and offer a mixture of workspaces, meeting rooms, conference spaces, and catering facilities.
The innovation centre is targeting digital, tech, and advanced manufacturing businesses that are ready to grow as its first occupiers. Oxford Innovation Centre is the preferred operator for the space.
“The Innovation Centre will give a huge boost to Cumbria’s business community,” said Cumberland Council Leader Cllr Mark Fryer.
“As a council, we want to attract and retain the very best quality businesses and improve the entrepreneurial opportunities we know already exist here,” he continued.
“It is also in an ideal place to increase footfall to the town centre and make use of Workington’s transport links. This is a new and exciting project that is going to benefit the entire Cumberland community.”
John Coughlan, the chairman of the Workington Town Deal Board, echoed Fryer’s sentiments.
“We know there is a lack of accommodation for those companies which are just starting out, or who want to kick start their growth, in west Cumbria, and grade A office space is virtually non-existent,” he noted.
“The Innovation Centre will provide the foundations for new brilliance in Cumberland, and the facilities to make it happen.”
In addition to Buttress, the project team for the innovation centre includes Mott MacDonald, OFR Consultants, Layer.studio, Virtual Planit, SCP, and MZA Acoustics.
You can see the approved plans by searching FUL/2023/0191 on Cumberland Council’s planning portal for Allerdale.
