The development of a new £2 million business centre at Mountfield Road Industrial Estate commenced in January 2021.

The new employment hub is the result of a joint venture between Folkestone & Hythe District Council and the East Kent Spatial Development Company, with support from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)/ Magnox socio-economic programme.

The business centre will comprise flexible business accommodation, with the potential to create twelve separate units. Work on the new business centre which is stage one of the Mountfield Road development, has begun with initial groundworks.

Breem Construction, the contractors building the Mountfield Road centre, has reached a major milestone with the first concrete for the building’s foundations been poured in February 2021.

Construction of the building is due to be completed in October 2021 and ready for the first businesses in January 2022.

F&HDC and East Kent Spatial Development Company (EKSDC) are contributing equally to the development by each funding £735,000 of the cost and an additional £500,000 contribution from the Magnox Socio-economic fund.

In addition, £3.53 million of funding from the government’s Getting Building Fund (GBF) has been secured for a second phase to the Mountfield Road development. This will bring forward the remaining undeveloped part of the industrial estate to unlock plots which could potentially be for new or local businesses to build their own units.

This project, supported by Kent County Council and the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership, is one of six in Kent chosen for being shovel-ready and able to help the local economy to recover.

These GBF funds will enable a new road to be built and utilities installed on the five hectares of land. A condition of the funding is that this work has to be completed by March 2022 and it is expected to bring just under 500 jobs to the local area over the next ten years.

Already interest has been shown in the land by existing businesses and there are aspirations to develop the site to provide studio accommodation for creative businesses in the future.

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