Driving Sustainable Growth: Insights from MIRA Tech Park

Quoted in a recent national report on the UK’s opportunity for Net Zero growth, and HORIBA MIRA 's recent win of the King's Award for Sustainable Development, MIRA Tech Park Managing Director Tim Nathan talks about how the site is driving growth that is good for both people and planet.

It is a real honour to receive the King’s Award accolade for our work in sustainability building on MIRA Tech Park's previous Queen’s Award in 2018 for International Trade. It marks our journey as a Tech Park location as we continue to provide a launchpad for global businesses to develop world class products for the automotive industry as it transitions to Net Zero from a sustainable location with clean energy, biodiverse habitats, and zero waste to landfill. Recent investments in our engineering and testing facilities also include our Driving Simulation Centre, the first dynamic platform commercially available in the UK, which removes thousands of tonnes of carbon from the product development cycle by reducing the number of physical prototypes required to make a vehicle.

We have made these investments because clean growth is important to us and important to our customers, but we also hope it is important to those around us too. There are incredible opportunities for local people to develop their careers in Net Zero here whether they are just starting out or reskilling from elsewhere. The recent Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit report on the scale and geography of the UK’s Net Zero economy put Nuneaton and Hinckley in the top 25 towns across the UK benefitting from the economic impact of clean technologies both for revenue generated and employment created. Nestled between both towns with 1,000 acres across Leicestershire and Warwickshire, we have contributed to growing prosperity here since 1948 and, since 2012 as an Enterprise Zone, we have been proud to generate upwards of ￡60m of high value local employment per annum by bringing global businesses to the region (and indeed the UK) to develop their world-leading products.

It was great to see one of our tenants Ceres and their Cleantech Test Centre highlighted in the report as a showcase example of how MIRA Tech Park brings together expertise in engineering and testing alongside the infrastructure required to accelerate new clean technologies to commercialisation.?Collectively, since becoming an Enterprise Zone in 2012, our tenants have raised $22 billion in VC investment to fund their R&D in Net Zero transport technologies. The challenge for Government is turning that innovation into commercialisation opportunities for the UK. For example, Ceres have announced their fuel cells will be manufactured with licensing agreements in Europe and Asia. The global marketplace is a competitive one and we have many strengths to shout about; but a lack of coherent industrial policy and investment does hinder UK growth.

The commercialisation challenge is not just for Government to solve. We are playing our part investing for the future and ensuring we have the space required for sustainable business growth. We’ve pushed ahead to secure outline planning on our South Site for 2.3m sq. ft. of advanced manufacturing floorspace and we recently broke ground on a new 72,000 sq. ft. building with 50% pre-let. This new development has only been possible with investment from our Enterprise Zone retained business rates through LLEP and Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, and funding from our parent company HORIBA and our joint venture property partner Evans Randall Investors . We need continued support to realise our masterplan for a combined 4 million sq. ft. campus from incubation to production where the employment potential alone could bring over ￡2 billion into the local economy.?

Critical to the realisation of both the economic and social value of our Tech Park is the creation of a local talent pipeline. We have an on-site training centre of excellence in the MIRA Technology Institute alongside our own Skills Academy through which we play a leading role with our Further and Higher Education partners in electrification skills and increasingly in hydrogen fuel cells. Our STEM Ambassadors visit and host local schools to showcase the opportunities for purposeful and well-paid employment in new 'green' careers.

As recognised by the esteemed accolade of our King's Award, we are doing all the right things for sustainable growth; but we need longer term Government support and backing to really put Nuneaton and Hinckley on the map as the cleantech capitals they have the potential to be.