Those driving Exeter Science Park forward believe it will extend the city's science base and bring inward investment into the area. Business editor Liz Parks met its chairman at the site to hear more about his vision for the future

IN A FEW years' time Exeter Science Park will be the buzzing hub of the city's knowledge economy but for now, the site chosen to house the park remains rolling fields populated only by cows and dog-walkers.

But with outline planning permission from East Devon District Council secured last month, that will soon change, with infrastructure work set to begin on site next year.

The scheme is being driven forward by the Exeter Science Park company which includes: Devon County Council, East Devon District Council, Exeter City Council, the Met Office, the South West Regional Development Agency and the University of Exeter.

Each partner has contributed £3.55 million to cover the initial development costs.

The science park's chairman, Sir William "Bill" Wakeham, believes it could attract significant inward investment to the area as well as incubating firms that have spun out of the University of Exeter or the Met Office, two key partners in the park.

The idea of a science park for Exeter was first mooted in the late 1980s. Various sites were considered for the development, before the decision was taken to opt for the Redhayes site, near junction 29 of the M5, to the east of Exeter.

With Exeter International Airport, the Met Office and the Skypark site as well as the new community at Cranbrook all close by, the area is likely to become a significant driver for Exeter's economy in the future.

"The future of the UK's economy is going to be more based around what we know and the intelligence we have," Bill said. "That exists in universities. The growth of the region's economy will be dependent on that, not growing through large-scale manufacturing."

With the recession appearing to have bottomed out, he is keen for work to move quickly on the science park so that it is well-placed to capitalise when investment begins to return.

"There's a long way to go, but there are some things we need to do quite quickly because they are driven by the availability of money. From our point of view, it's key to do it quickly. We need to be ready as a science park as things pick up after the recession," he said.

The first phase of the science park will include units for businesses with laboratory space, a four-star hotel with conference facilities, and a management suite for developers Eagle One.

Bill is keen for construction work to start as soon as possible. "It would be good if we could start in 2010, at the back end," he said.

The idea is that it would become operational in 2012, but the search for tenants will begin before then.

"We need to be out there now finding and helping people who will want to move in there," Bill said. "We understand from our market information that there some organisations that want to move there very soon."

Most science parks forge strong links with the nearest university, but Exeter is in the unusual – and very fortunate – position of having both the research-intensive University of Exeter and the Met Office as partners.

Bill believes this puts the science park in a strong position to attract inward investment from other parts of the UK and, possibly, from overseas.

The combination of two such high-profile organisations also opens up the possibly of creating a very specific focus of expertise with environmental technology a key area, particularly in relation to climate change.

"There will be an enormous business to be made around the risk and assessment of climate change – not necessarily mitigating it," he said. "I think I see businesses which will be looking at increasing detail at the modelling the Met Office can do and suggesting to agriculture and horticulture what they should be doing.

"There's a whole business to be made out of that in the future that is not there yet. It's a technology-based risk assessment business that would use the mathematics expertise in the Met Office."

Other potential areas for specialism could be additive layer manufacturing, in which academics at the University of Exeter are world leaders, as well as medical/healthcare businesses looking to capitalise on the emerging research strengths of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Bill is keen for the science park to pioneer links between business and academia by working closely together on a range of projects.

"I think another possible arrangement is something I have been beating Government with a big stick about for 15 years about," he said.

"It has done many things successfully, particularly with Lord Sainsbury around the innovation agenda, but compared with some continental countries we have failed to create spaces for university researchers and industry to work on development projects rather than just research projects."

Citing the examples of Germany's Fraunhofer Institutes, where scientists and engineers from academia and industry work together on projects, he said it was this interface that would result in innovative, commercial ideas.

"They (the institutes) are spaces where they have university students and staff mixing in the same physical space as R&D people from industry."

As well as the potential for businesses to relocate from other parts of the UK, Bill believes there is significant potential for overseas investment.

Talks have already been held with UK Trade and Investment, and Bill believes the pairing of the University of Exeter and the Met Office will be a considerable draw to overseas businesses.

"There's a great deal of interest in overseas companies in coming to the UK if they can be near a science base," he said.

This process is likely to be helped by the profile of its chairman.

The former Vice-Chancellor of Southampton University is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and the Institute of Physics.

He is also a member of several national science committees, and has pledged to use these links to lobby on the science park's behalf.

"Because I have a national and international stage, I want to exploit that to benefit the science park," he said.

"For example, I will be doing a lecture tour in India in August and I will be talking about it there. I will reach people that I know are wanting to make an investment in the UK."

The 25-hectare site at Redhayes has outline planning permission in place with a detailed planning application due to be submitted next February or March to allow road infrastructure work to begin, hopefully in September 2010.

Because it will be such a key site, a significant upgrade to the infrastructure is needed, including a new road to create better links to the M5, which looks set to be funded by the Department for Transport, with an announcement to this effect likely in December and construction work expected to start in June 2010.

In total, £20 million is being spent on improvements around junction 29 of the M5, with £32 million being spent on infrastructure work on site in the next 18 months.

This will include a new bridge to link the science park to the city for cyclists and pedestrians, with £5 million allocated for this as well as a scheme to widen another nearby bridge.

Work on the science park buildings will be done on a phased basis over the next 25 years, with each new phase only getting under way when the finances and demand levels stack up.

Each phase will be built in a cluster with the rest of the site left as parkland to create a high quality working environment that blends well with the surrounding countryside.

Phase one of the science park will be a 30,000 sq ft development, with the long-term plan to generate between 2,500 and 4,000 jobs as the rest of the science park is built over the next 25 years.

The plan is for the development to be zero carbon, and discussions are now under way about how to develop the site in an environmentally friendly way.

As development gets under way, public transport links will be added to link the city centre and the science park, Cranbrook and the Skypark.

There will also be strong cycle and pedestrian links to Exeter city centre, including a landmark new bridge that will be built to give better links to the site.

This is just one area that is giving the science park partnership a deadline to start work, as the money comes from a central government pot that, once allocated, must be spent by March 2011.

Because it is at such an early stage, the recession has had little impact on the science park, Bill said, although it has meant a change to the scheme's business plan because land values have fallen over the last 18 months.

Plymouth has had a science park since 1998 and its chief executive, Nigel Halford, said the park had resulted in considerable economic benefits for the city.

At present, there are 60 companies based at the Derriford park, which employs 650 people. The park won the UK Science Park Association's award for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 2007.

Mr Halford said: "A science park provides a total business environment – anyone who has the spark of an idea should not fail."

He predicted that the location of the new science park and its relationship with the Met Office and the University of Exeter would see it thrive.

"Exeter has been crying out for a science park for a long time," he said. "It's well-positioned and it has a strong university that will spawn a lot of activity."

Derek Phillips, chairman of Exeter Chamber of Commerce, said: "The science park will be fantastic news for the city – it's something we have needed.

"There have been innovation centres at the university for some time but there's nowhere for the businesses to move to after they start to grow."