Success story

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Hethel Engineering Centre (HEC) is an East of England Development Agency (EEDA) -funded enterprise hub dedicated to the support of advanced engineering and manufacturing businesses in the East of England.

A £5 million partnership project led by EEDA, Norfolk County Council, South Norfolk Council and Lotus, HEC opened its doors in February 2006 offering flexible terms on office and workshop tenancy, specialist business support and consultancy.

Prior to the opening of the centre there was a lack of tailored premises for high-tech start-ups in and around Norwich and Norfolk more widely in which small companies and commercial research outfits could locate and grow. Consequently, there was the real possibility that talent and businesses would leave the locality and/or the East of England region or fail to commercialise and generate economic benefits for the local economy.

Who was involved?

EEDA

Norfolk County Council – partner and full owner of Hethel Engineering Centre

South Norfolk Council - partner

Lotus Group – partner

Business Link – partner

Eastern Daily Press newspaper – media partner for the Launchpad competition

What action was taken?

EEDA’s funding, as well as role in forming a successful partnership from across the private and public sectors, helped Norfolk County Council set up the Hethel Engineering Centre.

EEDA contributed £500,000 to the construction of the Centre. EEDA has worked with the Council, the Lotus Group, South Norfolk Council, and Business Link to establish a centre of excellence at the Centre to support the local engineering sector. Further grants towards equipment mean that EEDA's total contribution to date has been almost £1million.

Impacts and Achievements

The Centre helps the region's high-tech businesses - established and new - by providing a base, equipment, training and other much-needed support to help them grow. The Centre is a base where people in engineering and manufacturing can work, exchange ideas and share their knowledge and experience.

EEDA's funding has also helped to ensure that Centre has helped create an environment in which dynamic young engineering businesses have quick and easy access to a range of in-depth expertise. At the same time, companies can exploit the Centre’s networking opportunities to build relationships that will bring long-term benefits. Hethel has spawned a string of successful research and development companies, such as Sonar Link and Active Technologies.

Currently home to around 30 small to medium-sized businesses, EEDA’s vision behind HEC was to create an advanced manufacturing cluster of national significance in the East of England, focused on low carbon innovation.

To date, business activity in and around HEC has helped to create 105 new high-skill, high-value jobs, safeguarded 16 jobs, created 18 new businesses and supported 906 businesses.

HEC’s Learning Skills Centre is also focused on developing engineers of the future, and has already supported 6,000 students with 4,000 days worth of training in sector specific skills like Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC).

In early 2010  HEC received additional grant funding of over £240,000 through EEDA’s capital equipment competition to provide a communal Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) Centre - a facility expected to serve over 40 SMEs a year.

The centre will provide new and complimentary equipment available to hire including an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeller), Vacuum Casting Equipment, 3D Scanner, Super Mini Mill and an Industrial Robot. This will help small businesses to take their manufacturing projects forward without tying up their early stage capital in purchasing costly machinery.

With a pipeline of businesses looking to expand within HEC or move in, EEDA has pledged £1.2 million towards an extension project early in 2010. The expansion will provide incubator units for a further 11 tenants, and is due to open in September 2010.

Resources

The total cost of the Centre was £5 million. EEDA contributed £500,000 to the construction of the Hethel Engineering Centre. Further grants have taken EEDA’s total contribution to almost £1million.

Timescale

The project took four years to complete. The Centre began opened in February 2006.