Innovation Centre for Tremough

This story featured in the Falmouth Packet
11 November 2008
By Stephen Ivall 

Plans have been approved for a £12 million high-tech, low carbon business innovation centre next to the Tremough Campus of the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) near Falmouth.

Called the Tremough Innovation Centre, it is one of three such centres being planned by the South West RDA and its partners in Cornwall to support entrepreneurs and businesses in their early stages of development.

The project is a collaboration with CUC partners, the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth (UCF), who jointly manage the Tremough Campus. The aim is to create and support high quality, knowledge-based jobs in new and innovative businesses linked to academic expertise in environmental and earth technologies, and media and design. It is hoped that construction work will start next spring and it will take a year to build.

Theo Leijser, the RDA's director for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: "This is all about investing in fledgling businesses to unlock their potential and foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Cornwall to raise the quality of jobs and the productivity of businesses.

"The building itself will have an excellent environmental rating as part of our commitment to lead the development of a low carbon economy and achieve a net zero-carbon rating for all our investments by 2013."

Professor Matthew Evans, Provost of the University of Exeter's Cornwall Campus said: "The Tremough Innovation Centre represents an opportunity for the University of Exeter to build on its existing work with Cornwall's businesses. We have ambitions to build our research expertise in the environment and sustainability and this development would help ensure that the knowledge we generate in these key areas is translated into commercial opportunities that benefit the region."

UCF's Rector, Professor Alan Livingston, said: "University College Falmouth is committed to fostering a culture of entrepreneurialism and to playing a major role in the regeneration of the county. This major new facility will provide our graduates with enhanced career opportunities and complement the many ways in which we already engage with the creative industries."

The Tremough Innovation Centre is planned on RDA-owned land next to the Tremough Campus and has received planning approval from Kerrier district council. It will include 64 offices available in four different sizes with six shared meeting rooms and a conference facility.

Businesses will receive specialist on-site support to help them turn innovative ideas into commercial reality.

The centre hopes to achieve an 'excellent' BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating, which is the most widely used method for judging the environmental performance of a building.

It will be heated by a woodchip boiler that will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30% compared to a conventional heating system, and use 'wind chimneys' to provide natural ventilation. Rainwater will be harvested to flush all toilets, and a 'green' travel plan has been drawn up to minimise car use. Externally, the centre will include timber and copper cladding.