£10m For Science Park In Bristol

Tuesday, February 23rd 2010 13:23

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Work can now start on SPark - which will be one of the country's biggest Science Parks.

The South West Regional Development Agency are putting forward the money for SPark which is being built on land near Emerson's Green.

The first building is expected to open about a year after that - when the whole site's complete, around 6,000 jobs will be created.

In total, the project will cost £300m to build and isn't expected to be complete until 2020 - but, the first building should be complete by March 2011.

As well as the jobs that will be created during the construction phase of the project, it's hoped 6,000 people will be employed at the site.

Ian Knight, the Area Director for the South West RDA, told us it's great news for the city.

"Bristol has a great track record and a real unsung story about the strength and depth of its research and development sector - from aerospace, bioscience and the creative industries. Some absolutely amazing innovations have come out of the city but it's the largest in the UK which doesn't have a formal link to a science park so this is a good chance to really build its profile."

At the top of this article listen to the full interview with Ian Knight speaking to our reporter Roz Hutchings.

Below, you can see an animation of how SPark might look.