06 Feb Enormous progress at Harlow Enterprise Zone
The Harlow Enterprise Zone Board was able to see at first hand the enormous progress being made at Kao Park and heard confirmation that publishing company Pearson is to move onto the site in June of this year with around 300 employees. This will bring the number of people working at Kao Park to almost 1,000.
The data centre development is now proceeding at some pace with Goldacre Ventures confirming to the Board that this week they have secured £32m of private investment to complete the first data centre building. This is already under construction and will be complete in December 2017.
To the north of Kao Park, work is completing later this month on the new access road to the Science Park site and this summer will see the utilities infrastructure being installed and the first buildings commencing construction. The Board was keen to see the implementation of a strong marketing campaign for the Science Park and this will commence in the next few months.
The Board had a constructive discussion on options for the future development of the Templefields. The Board’s vision for the area is to create, in the long term, a modern business park which caters for a wide range of businesses and capitalises on its location in the London Stansted Cambridge Corridor. Infrastructure improvements have already been delivered such as the provision of Superfast Broadband. However, more needs to be done such as the construction of a new access road and the provision of better connections to Harlow Mill Station. The Board will now set up a working group to advance these measures as well as looking at what can be done bring sites forward for development into the modern business premises that Harlow needs.
There was also a discussion on Harlow Town Centre led by Councillor Tony Durcan, Harlow Council Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Regeneration & Enterprise.
The Board heard what steps were being taken by the Council to bring forward improvements to the town centre but acknowledged that more needed to be done to provide a town centre that would complement the Enterprise Zone and support proposed housing growth in and around Harlow.
Ideas such a loyalty card schemes for employees of major companies were discussed and the Board agreed that it would take on a wider role of promoting further development of the town centre because of its critical importance to the Enterprise Zone.
John Keddie, Chairman of the Harlow Enterprise Zone Board said, “It is fantastic to be holding the Board meeting at Kao Park at such an exciting period of transformation here. With the development of the new Science Park by Harlow Council and Vinci also taking shape this year, we are now seeing the fruits of the development work of the last few years. 2017 will be an exciting time for Harlow and its Enterprise Zone.”
For more information on progress at Harlow Enterprise Zone visit www.harlowez.org.uk
