Morgan Sindall Construction has won work on a £50m project to turn a derelict industrial plot in Cleator Moor, west Cumbria, into an enterprise campus intended to bolster the supply chain of nuclear decommissioning company Sellafield Ltd.
Kicking off the £23.6m first phase of the planned Industrial Solutions Hub (iSH), the contractor has begun building units 9 and 12 at the semi-derelict Leconfield Industrial Estate. They’re scheduled for completion by the end of 2027.
Cumberland Council is leading the regeneration project with funding from the Town Deal and Levelling Up programmes. Sellafield Ltd and its overseer, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, are strategic partners.
The campus aims to attract companies doing robotics, advanced manufacturing, engineering and digital technologies.
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking to businesses, partners and the local community about what we want to achieve here, so seeing people and machinery on site finally makes it very real,” said iSH managing director Gary McKeating.
Home for doers, fixers and problem solvers
He said the goal was to make a place “where the doers, fixers and problem-solvers can come together, share ideas and grow”.
Sellafield chief executive Euan Hutton said: “We’re particularly keen for our supply chain to actively engage. My message to our supply chain is simple: engage with iSH, be part of the campus, and help us build a stronger industrial capability here in west Cumbria.”
Cumberland Council leader Mark Fryer added: “Developments of this type support the foundation for future investment.”
Solar PV arrays and heat pumps will help the new double-height units achieve an EPC A rating.
