Local Growth Minister Andrew Percy has been in Lincoln to announce the latest Growth Deal
Communities and Local Growth Minister Andrew Percy MP was in Lincoln today to view the developments taking shape on and around the University of Lincoln campus.
His visit coincided with the announcement by the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid of almost £30 million of further funding for Greater Lincolnshire projects in the third round of Growth Deals.
One project which will benefit from new Growth Deal money is the university’s new Centre for Health Science, which Mr Percy heard about during his visit.
The MP for Brigg and Goole and the Isle of Axholmealso toured the newly completed Boole Technology Centre at the Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, visited the Joseph Banks Laboratories and heard about the university’s aspirations for a new Advanced Engineering Centre extension.
He was shown round the facilities by Herman Kok and Ruth Carver from the Greater Lincolnshire LEP and Professor Andrew Hunter, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Lincoln.
Mr Percy said: "This announcement is good news, and it's on top of the substantial Growth Deals we've already provided to Greater Lincolnshire.
"The money will go towards a whole range of projects which will support what we want to see in Greater Lincolnshire, which is economic growth."
Professor Hunter said: “We are delighted to welcome Andrew Percy MP to the Lincoln Science and Innovation Park to demonstrate how Growth Deal funding through the Greater Lincolnshire LEP is driving strategic investments here in the industrial heart of Lincoln.“The science park, a joint venture between the university and Lincolnshire Co-op, has been developed in close collaboration with industry to meet specific needs for skills, R&D capacity and commercial space, delivering strong, sustainable economic growth.
“More than 1,000 science students study in our Joseph Banks Laboratories, where research teams are pursuing world-class research in a variety of fields, from new drug development to the molecular basis of disease. The new Boole Technology Centre now provides space for innovative, high-tech companies to co-locate and grow and has just welcomed its first tenants.
“The latest round of Growth Deal funding will underpin further investments in science and engineering, supporting plans for a new Advanced Engineering Centre for collaborative research with commercial partners such as Siemens and for a new health science centre, which by providing a cutting-edge new home for our Lincoln Institute for Health marks an important step towards our ambition of one day establishing a medical school for Lincolnshire.”
