Liverpool Innovation Park’s £4M reception and networking hub officially opens for business
Leading business figures, entrepreneurs and academics descended on Liverpool Innovation Park for the official launch of its new state-of-the-art reception and networking hub.
Over 70 guests, including some of the park’s award-winning tenants, gathered for the VIP opening on Thursday April 14 2011.
The £4M project has created an impressive new business gateway to the Edge Lane site and includes new WiFi-enabled training and meeting rooms, exhibition space, semi-private meeting pods, a café-cum-bistro area, and two Grade A office suites comprised of 5,500 sq ft and 9,500 sq ft respectively.
Addressing the audience, Sarah Lindsay, regional director of Ashtenne, which runs Liverpool Innovation Park, stressed the “substantial potential” of the facility, and said: “Liverpool Innovation Park is a vital asset for the city and the Northwest region and we are committed to its continued development.
“By providing the vibrant business environment, accommodation and amenities modern business occupiers seek we can retain home grown talent and economic growth, and this growing cluster in turn becomes increasingly attractive to other knowledge industries outside of the region considering relocation or expansion.”
Professor Dennis Kehoe, CEO of award-winning technology firm AIMES Grid Services, based at Liverpool Innovation Park, gave a fascinating presentation into the cutting-edge work they are undertaking to create 21st Century digital infrastructure in Liverpool.
AIMES is leading the exciting £1M FibreNet project to bring superfast 10Gbps broadband connection to businesses in Liverpool, part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board.
Prof Kehoe told the audience “data centres are the heart of the digital economy” and revealed the company has plans to invest £1.2M constructing a second 10,000 sq ft data centre at the site in 2011 to accommodate future demand for cloud services across the region.
Guest host Max Steinberg, Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic development company which facilitated the application for funding of the project, praised the new facility and said: “Liverpool has a long-standing international reputation for its innovation and creativity and it is this well deserved reputation that formed part of Liverpool Vision’s bid to bring the Global Entrepreneurship Congress to the city next year.
“Liverpool Vision is tasked with keeping the momentum going, looking increasingly overseas to forge stronger relationships in existing and emerging markets and I am determined that Liverpool will become even better known as an international knowledge centre.”
Cllr Paul Brant, Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council, also addressed the audience, referring to the site as a “beacon of innovation in Liverpool and the Northwest region”. He described it as a good example of the public and private sector working together to generate further investment, as seen by the organisations which have recently chosen to locate or expand their operations at Liverpool Innovation Park.
Nutricia, a part of the Danone group and pioneers in medical nutrition, invested €20M expanding its operations on the Liverpool Innovation Park site between 2007 and 2010, and US firm Baxter Healthcare invested £3.5M doubling the size of its premises at the park in 2008.
Liverpool Innovation Park’s new reception stands on the former Marconi HQ and is accessible via a new car park opening off Innovation Boulevard, off Edge Lane.
Liverpool Innovation Park, which includes Wavertree Technology Park, is situated on one of the main arterial routes into Liverpool and is a key component of Merseyside’s knowledge economy.
Contractors, Mansell Construction Services Ltd, carried out the work. The design team included architects Archial, building services engineers Veridian Consulting, civil and structural engineers WYG and quantity surveyors Todd & Ledson.
Liverpool Innovation Park comprises 500,000 sq ft built environment set in 110 acres. It has units available from 100 sq ft to 80,000 sq ft, with approximately 10 acres available for further development.
For more information about developments at Liverpool Innovation Park call 01512614665 or email Mark.Tock@Ashtenne.co.uk or visit www.liverpoolinnovationpark.com
[L-R Prof Dennis Kehoe, Cllr Paul Brant, Sarah Lindsay, Max Steinberg]
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