Silverstone Park and Silverstone Technology Cluster: bringing sustainable innovation to the heart of England
Silverstone Park, at the heart of Silverstone Technology Cluster (STC), is a centre for advanced engineering, innovation and business development. Drive one hour in any destination from the Park and you will still find yourself in the Cluster, which comprises some 4300 businesses, of which 3500 are engineering companies with highly specialised skills. That’s north to Loughborough, east to Cambridge, south to Reading and west to Worcester. Businesses join as members, and it has a CEO, Pim van Baarsen.
Of course, the first thing that springs to mind when thinking about Silverstone is motor racing. There are 7 Formula 1 teams in the area, and one Formula E team, NIO333, which moved there last autumn. While motor racing will remain the lifeblood of the region, as the numbers above suggest, we might be in a situation in the coming years where innovation and technology are first in people’s minds.
So how did this all start? The Silverstone Technology Park was opened in 2004 as a research and development hub for the UK motor sports industry. It was a joint venture between track owners the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) and the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) and was developed by MEPC. The Cluster was already taking shape by then, as alluded to in a contemporary Guardian piece:
“The cluster concept is at the core of at tempts by regional development agencies across the country to foster self-sustaining growth poles. Under clustering, similar businesses group together, collaborate on research and development and capitalise on spin-offs in other industrial sectors.”
Collaboration and the transfer of skills is at the heart of the project and the concept. While motorsport was the catalyst for the innovation, it very quickly became apparent that the activity being generated was being applied across a number of sectors. It was first designated a cluster in a 2016 report by SQW, the economic and social development research firm whose findings first brought the ‘Cambridge Phenomenon’ to public attention. Following on the from this, the STC gained funding from both the government and the private sector. Here is Roz Bird, MEPC Silverstone Park Commercial Director:
“It became clear that a high-tech cluster organisation was needed, for the Silverstone area, to help the companies to grow by offering support, high-tech networking opportunities and promoting the skills and expertise in the area.”
Ms Bird had previously been MEPC’s Estate Director at Granta Park, Cambridge, and she quickly saw the potential for the area to be designated a cluster and to foster the collaboration that such groupings bring – hence taking the decision to bring in SQW.
To bring us up to date, in July 2021 it became one of nine business clusters to form a ‘Super Cluster’ whose aims are to explore ways to connect high-tech businesses and in so doing, unlock through collaboration the potential of the networks found across the government’s Cambridge to Oxford Arc growth corridor. It’s the next logical step.
Innovation Centre at Silverstone Park, Silverstone. Photo: Ian S/licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
To return to the Park itself, as you would expect, MEPC takes its environmental and social impact very seriously. The STC and the Park have to be at the forefront of innovation, and the Park was developed with that in mind. The MEPC site states that “the supply chain and skills pool is local and the business opportunities are global.” To illuminate that further, here is MEPC’s ESG statement:
work with talented teams to design attractive buildings, in key locations
include the latest in sustainable building design thinking in our developments
work with local community representatives to set up and support social impact projects
deliver biodiversity net gain, and environmental net gain, initiatives to ensure a long-term positive impact on wildlife, and its related welfare benefits
As you would expect, this is instilled throughout the Park’s life cycle
“MEPC’s approach to material selection and procurement focuses on life cycle impact and the development of sustainable procurement plans, to ensure that all main building elements are assessed. MEPC aims to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent” for all new developments.”
Here at Mainer Associates we have been part of this process, as we have undertaken BREEAM and LCA assessments for MEPC. Both processes are hugely important: the former is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life-cycle of a commercial product, process, or service, while the latter is a holistic assessment of the sustainability of a construction project.
What happens at the park? What’s currently there? There is a selection of amenities, meaning the employees don’t need to leave to get a coffee, or lunch, or exercise; there is an onsite gym, boot camps and lots of outdoor spaces to explore. There is a monthly pizza pop-up, quiz nights, Christmas parties, and so on, and so on.
The park is home to world class specialist high-tech facilities including the UK’s leading Hexagon Metrology and Digital Manufacturing centres, an anechoic chamber for electro-magnetic testing and a cutting-edge aerodynamic wind tunnel. These are accessible to the various SMEs and start-ups located in the STC.
As intimated above, the business networking opportunities are enormous. Some of the largest names in engineering and manufacturing avail themselves of the Park and put on well-attended networking events. Furthermore, MEPC arranges networking sessions for local business clubs and forums inside the estate’s Innovation Centre. The Park’s own networking events are free for start-ups and SMEs right across the high-tech and professional services spectrum.
Overall, the business-to-business opportunities are top-draw, which is why the STC has become the national trailblazer project for government-backed business advice network, Be the Business. Here’s Roz Bird again:
“[Be the Business] wanted to work with the STC because of our established network of high-growth, advanced engineering businesses, and importantly the great potential of our business community to help improve productivity in UK manufacturing due to our companies’ approach to innovation and specialist capabilities…the Trailblazer project will bring in a wide range of expertise and support to the local area, including training courses, peer-to-peer networking and the insight of a Business Fellow, a senior figure from industry, to champion the STC.”
Networked, collaborative business clusters are the innovation wave that business wants to be riding in the coming years. The last couple of years has brought home to everybody what can be achieved when we pull in the same direction. Silverstone Park, at the heart of the Technology Cluster, is a shining example of that.