Boosting employment property in the East Midlands

Since launching its £35m High Quality Employment Floor Space Fund last November, emda received over 350 enquiries and 113 Expressions of Interest (EOIs) by the mid-February deadline. These came from a range of public, private sector and local community organisations across the region seeking grants ranging from £50,000 to £5 million.

The Fund aims to create and encourage more skilled and high added-value jobs in the East Midlands by providing quality sites and buildings for regional businesses as well as attracting foreign investment.

The EOIs have now been assessed by a panel of emda staff and representatives from our 7 Sub-regional Strategic Partnerships (SSPs). 17 projects were selected to go forward to full application, requesting £39m of funding, with the potential to lever in a further £145m of public and private sector investment. A further 16 projects were recommended to the SSPs to take forward, for a further £13m of funding, plus £5.6m of match funding.

Workshops have taken place to support the applicants as they move into the next phase of the process. emda will continue to offer support in developing these proposals for full appraisal. It is anticipated that many of the successful schemes will commence later this year or in early 2009.

For further information please contact:
Chris Morgan
chrismorgan@emd.org.uk
0115 947 1743