An £8.1 million pound business centre at the heart of Goole’s emerging rail village has been described as the ‘forum to showcase the very best of British innovation to the rest of the world’.
Rail Accelerator and Innovation Solutions hub for Enterprise has been officially opened, with more than 150 guests joining representatives from the three key stakeholders.
And with Siemens Mobility and University of Birmingham uniting with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, it has been highlighted as an exemplar of public, private and academic sector working.
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The striking three-storey building at Goole 36 Enterprise Zone provides 3,200 sq m of office and workshop accommodation, split between SME space and the administrative element of Siemens Mobility’s huge manufacturing investment.
Town MP Andrew Percy officially opened it, unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion.
He said: “The Goole 36 development and the creation of the new RaisE Centre is levelling-up in action. It shows what can be achieved when business, academia, Government, and the Council work together and pool their efforts.
“Goole is an increasingly attractive place to invest in and we all have a shared vision of making the town the centre of the rail industry of the future."
The official event followed RaisE opening for business last month. It is hoped 90 new jobs will be created by occupiers
Sambit Banerjee, managing director for rolling stock and customer services at Siemens Mobility, said: “It is fantastic to see the RaisE business centre officially launched. We at Siemens Mobility are pleased to have worked together with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the University of Birmingham to make this happen.
“This will be a great space for collaboration as part of the ‘Rail Village’. It will provide a valuable space for providing research and development support for start-ups and SMEs in the UK rail industry. I look forward to seeing the development of RaisE as the forum in the UK to showcase the very best of British innovation to the rest of the world.”
The build, by Willmott Dixon alongside the local authority team, was aided by a £1.5 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund and £1 million from the Getting Building Fund, via the Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Councillor Jonathan Owen, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “It really is fantastic to see the RaisE business centre in Goole become operational and this exciting project, alongside the rest of the ‘Rail Village’ is brilliant news for Goole and the surrounding areas.
“The relationship between the three key stakeholders has ensured we now have an example of how the public sector, industry and academia can work together to ensure Goole continues to be shown as a town on the rise.”
The University of Birmingham is home to the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, Europe’s largest university-based specialist campus. Its engineers, academics and industry experts will have an office base on the first floor.
Phase two of RaisE will now follow on the same site - creating a £50 million centre of excellence for rail research and innovation, developed between Siemens Mobility and the University of Birmingham.
Professor Clive Roberts, head of the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham, said: “We are thrilled to see the RaisE business centre open for business. We have worked very closely with our long-standing partner Siemens Mobility and East Riding of Yorkshire Council to build a centre that will place Goole and local businesses in the area at the centre of rail innovation.
“The open dialogue between the three stakeholders and now a place where we are present together truly provides businesses in the area and beyond an opportunity to see what working with the public sector, industry and academia can achieve for their business and local town.”
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