As we prepare to showcase Kirklees at UKREiiF later this year, the council is progressing plans for the Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor – a scheme that’s all about boosting economic development in Huddersfield, and providing excellent potential for businesses, investors and developers looking for good returns.
What is the Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor?
This scheme represents one the most exciting economic development opportunities in the Yorkshire region and beyond. We’re aiming to grow and attract more high quality businesses to Huddersfield town centre, specifically in the area spanning from Huddersfield Railway Station to John Smith’s Stadium.
The Station to Stadium Enterprise corridor is builds on other investment in Huddersfield, including huge projects like the council’s Huddersfield Blueprint, the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus, and the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
Geographically it extends from Huddersfield Railway Station and St. George’s Square, then stretches down Northumberland Street and Leeds Road towards the stadium, incorporating St. Andrew’s Road, Gasworks Street and the Huddersfield Broad Canal along the way.
What does it cover?
Investment Zone
We already have some incredibly strong industries here in Kirklees, including manufacturing, advanced precision engineering, textiles, and our growing health and wellbeing sector. The Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor is about building on all these strengths, encouraging more businesses to base themselves in Huddersfield, and supporting our industries to further grow and develop. In close proximity to the town centre, businesses will also benefit from rapidly improving rail links to Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
In particular, we’ve just received a fantastic funding boost from the government to help create a West Yorkshire Life Sciences Investment Zone, which will benefit Kirklees businesses in the health, wellbeing and digital industries. Kirklees Council’s proposals for the West Yorkshire Life Sciences Investment Zone have just been approved by the government.
This sector already employs 23,000 people in Huddersfield, with a 15% job increase in the past year. Local companies like Paxman, Thornton and Ross, Kromek, Azbil Telstar, Reliance Precision and Nanosonics have global recognition as being at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
Our proposals for the Investment Zone centre anchored by the National Health Innovation Campus – which sits right next to our flagship business centre, the Glass Box. The campus is a transformative project led by the University of Huddersfield, set to improve health outcomes and lead innovation in healthcare for the north of England, the UK and internationally. The university already has a proven track record of professional courses and pioneering research, so this new campus is both perfectly timed and perfectly placed.
This funding is also supporting our new incubator to support start-ups and entrepreneurs in the health, wellbeing and digital industries – called Thrive – which officially launches in April this year.
You can find out more about all this and more at our UKREiiF fringe event on Tuesday 21 May, titled ‘Huddersfield: The Future of Health Innovation’.
Huddersfield Railway Station and the Transpennine Route Upgrade
The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a multibillion-pound programme of railway improvements, which will bring better, faster and more comfortable journeys to passengers travelling between Manchester, Leeds and York. It’s going to improve connections across the north of England and beyond, and ties in with a lot of other work being done to modernise Kirklees’ public transport.
Kirklees is one of the areas set to benefit most from these improvements, and Huddersfield Railway Station is a key point on the TRU route which is currently undergoing large-scale improvements. The work will double the capacity of the network and reduce journey times to Leeds and Manchester by more than ten minutes, allowing businesses located in Huddersfield even better access to a labour market of more than 7million people.
St. George’s Square
As the gateway to Huddersfield by rail, and one of the town centre’s most recognisable views, St. George’s Square is a key focal point of the Huddersfield Blueprint – that’s the council’s ambitious masterplan for regeneration in the town centre, covering the next decade of investment and beyond.
Most notably, the iconic George Hotel is set to undergo a £20million refurbishment, to reopen under the management of acclaimed hotelier Radisson RED. This will make Huddersfield home to the first Radisson RED hotel in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The first stage of work, to future-proof the Grade II* Listed building’s historic features, has already been completed, and the major refurbishments are set to begin just in time for UKREiiF.
The council are also making improvements to the Byram Arcade (home to a number of vibrant shops, independent cafés and bars), properties on John William Street, and other buildings bordering the famous square, which will create new opportunities for businesses in a prime location.
Northumberland Street
The council has recently received Levelling Up Funding to restore the Grade II* Listed Huddersfield Market on Northumberland Street to its former glory, whilst modernising its facilities. Creating a more diversified market which generates more footfall, from day through to night, is also a key part of the Huddersfield Blueprint, and one of many projects designed to create high quality spaces attractive to both new and established businesses.
Leeds Road
More than 7million people live within an hour’s drive of Kirklees, and we’re slap bang in the middle of the northern powerhouse – so connectedness is a huge priority.
Through its own major transport improvements, the council is aiming to strengthen this connectedness – including investment in Leeds Road, one of the key arteries in and out of Huddersfield. These improvements have recently been completed, and were aimed at reducing traffic build-up, encouraging more people to walk and cycle, and improving public transport links to and from the town centre.
Other similar work is taking place across Kirklees.
Want to find out more?
We’ll be part of the West Yorkshire delegation at UKREiiF this year, based on the event’s West Yorkshire pavilion.
We’ll also be running our own fringe event on Tuesday 21 May, titled ‘Huddersfield: The Future of Health Innovation’. Watch out for more information on this event coming over the next few weeks!
If you’d like to find out more in the meantime, you can contact our team directly by emailing [email protected]
