A £1.3m contract has been awarded for the refurbishment of a building on Enterprise Park Forres to create the new Manufacturing Innovation Centre Moray (MICM).
Developer Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has commissioned Morrison Construction to carry out the works and the Torrance Partnership to oversee the contract.
The works will include creation of business incubator spaces alongside project spaces where existing business can innovate, as well as a demonstrator suite for showcasing the latest concepts in advanced manufacturing technology and equipment.
There are currently around 7,000 manufacturing jobs in Moray in sectors such as whisky and other food and drink, technology and advanced engineering, and forestry. This is more per head of population than any other part of Scotland.
MICM is a Moray Growth Deal project that includes more than £4m of UK and Scottish Government funding and £2.56m investment from HIE.
The facility is expected to support up to 300 manufacturing jobs in the next ten years.
Once completed, it will provide support and advice to manufacturing companies across the area.
The centre’s primary focus will be on stimulating innovation and growth in product and process development, with a strong emphasis on transitioning to low carbon practices.
David Reid, HIE area manager for Moray, said:
“MICM is all about innovation, growth, productivity, and efficiency in Moray’s indigenous manufacturing companies and increasing the number of manufacturing start-ups in the area. It will encourage more research and development and help attract manufacturing inward investment.
“In a wider sense the new centre will be designed to support the creation of higher paid jobs, improve skills among the workforce, attract and retain more young people, and encourage occupational integration and gender balance.
“Planning for the project has been a long and detailed process involving many partners and stakeholders and we are grateful to all those who have helped to get things to this stage. We’re delighted to be awarding the construction contract and look forward to continuing our close collaboration as we advance the project in the coming months.”
HIE is also starting the process of finding a service operator for MICM. The agency has published a Prior Information Notice on Public Contracts Scotland website to gauge interest and get feedback from the marketplace.
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