Latest news from Loughborough University
| 9 April 2003 | PR 03/23 |
Loughborough University
completes the purchase of the Ashby Road technology park from Advantica
Technologies
Loughborough University today announced the successful purchase of the
technology park, located on Ashby Road, from Advantica Technologies Ltd.
The £35.5 million deal will enable the University to develop still
further its already significant portfolio of industrial partnerships,
confirming Loughborough as one of the country’s leading universities
for collaboration with business and industry.
Advantica – a subsidiary
of National Grid Transco plc – will continue to occupy part of the
site, which will now be known as Holywell Park, on a leaseback basis.
The University will utilise the remainder of the Park to enhance and extend
its research, innovation and knowledge transfer activities.
The acquisition augments the
existing 223 acre campus by another 163 acres and provides a further 36,400
m2 of high quality building stock. The purchase is the largest single
investment in the University’s history and makes the Loughborough
campus one of the largest in the country.
“We are delighted to have
this opportunity to develop our research and innovation facilities,”
the Vice Chancellor commented. “The Park is a superb site, housing
excellent facilities; this agreement will help to cement the University
as one of the country’s leading institutions for innovation and technology
transfer.”
The University is currently
in discussion with several leading companies, including BAE SYSTEMS, over
potential opportunities to work in partnership at the new Park. A business
plan developed for the site indicates that, in addition to the huge opportunities
afforded for expansion in research, innovation and knowledge transfer,
the technology park has the potential to be a significant income generator.
The purchase of the site will
also provide the University with a unique opportunity to rethink its overall
estates strategy. “This development will provide us with the potential
to increase postgraduate and research student numbers, and could also
have a positive impact on local employment,” said the Vice Chancellor.
“It is not intended, however, that the purchase should change the
University’s current strategy on UK and EU undergraduate numbers,
which is to plan for modest increases at Loughborough, with widening participation
primarily through the University’s further education partners.”
– Ends –
For further information
please contact:
- Hannah Baldwin, Head
of Publicity, Loughborough University,
T: 01509 222239, E: H.E.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk
Note to editors
- Photographs of the site
are available.
- Advantica will lease 22,000
m2 of the Park’s accommodation from the University.
- Loughborough has an established reputation for excellence in teaching and research, strong links with industry, and unrivalled sporting achievement. Assessments of teaching quality by the Quality Assurance Agency place Loughborough in the top flight of UK universities, and industry highlights Loughborough in its top five for graduate recruitment. Around 30% of the University’s income is for research. The University has been awarded four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes: for its collaboration with aerospace and automotive companies such as BAE Systems, Ford and Rolls Royce; for its work in developing countries; for pioneering research in optical engineering; and for its world-leading role in sports research, education and development.