Blackburn Cyber Skills and Education Campus and Innovation Quarter

The Campus and Innovation Quarter are key to the delivery of a £250m investment framework for Blackburn Town Centre, the largest development of its kind in the North West. Public investment has been secured for the first phase of the Campus development, valued at £60m, including a high-quality office and teaching facility, offering up to 100,000 sqft of new space, and a new cyber business centre with up to 15,000 sqft of contemporary accommodation to meet sector demands. Centred on the regeneration of the former Thwaites Brewery and Council sites, it’s part of the ambitious Blackburn Growth Axis plan which will deliver £1bn of new economic activity in the borough over the next 10 years.

The site is the closest strategic development to the Samlesbury Enterprise Zone making Blackburn an integral part of the Government’s North West Cyber Corridor between Lancaster and Manchester.

The Campus and Innovation Quarter connects with new growth opportunities generated by business clusters and HQ developments anchored by global companies such as Euro Garages and Assystem, and new development opportunities at J5 on the M65 which will deliver up to 1 million sqft in employment space for new business growth. Opportunities for health innovation at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, linked to Burnley Hospital, located near to the M65 Growth Corridor, will further enhance the scale and impact of development plans.