A £5 million funding pot has been approved to create a Low Carbon Innovation Hub at the MIRA Technology Park on the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border.
The new site will be used to help automotive and other tech companies develop low carbon technologies.
The 850 acre tech park, off the A5 between Hinckley and Nuneaton, is already home to tenants including Aston Martin, Bentley, Bosch, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, and The London EV Company, many of them working on greener tech. It provides work for more than 1,000 skilled engineers.
The money will be used to transform an existing building and create the charging and testing infrastructure needed for the next generation of electric and hydrogen vehicles.
The investment will be made up of £2.5 million from Horiba MIRA to refurbish an existing building and £2.5 million from the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council for electrical vehicle and hydrogen testing infrastructure.
It will be used by engineers and scientists on the tech park with their work on battery development, hydrogen fuel cells and other low carbon and alternative fuel technologies.
Tim Nathan, managing director at MIRA Technology Park, said: “We’re continually investing in maintaining our position as a leading hub for the development of low carbon technologies and R&D.
“With the industry undergoing a revolution in mobility technologies, these investments future-proof our capability ensuring we can best support businesses across the technology, engineering, and advanced manufacturing sectors.”
Interim LLEP chairman Andy Reed OBE said: “The Low Carbon Innovation Hub supports the LLEP’s goal for coming years of supporting economic growth through sustainability and innovation.
“The site offers world-class facilities to the mobility sector. Projects such as this will help it continue bringing in employers and creating quality jobs while also supporting wider low carbon testing and development.”
The LLEP said a planning application for the project has now been approved by the borough council whose chief executive Bill Cullen said: “I welcome this further investment in low carbon technologies at MIRA Technology Park, which is a world class facility on our doorstep in Hinckley and Bosworth.
“This will strongly align to the delivery of the council’s ambitions around climate change and carbon reduction and boosting local jobs in this sector.
“This scheme will be another great example of the impact achieved via the strong collaboration between the council, LLEP and MIRA Technology Park.”
A separate, planning application recently sought permission to build new £6.25 million gateway onto the site which it is hoped will unlock the next phase of planned £300 million expansion of the tech park.
The first phase of the technology park is already established.
