Planning consent has been granted by St Edmundsbury Borough Council for The Epicentre, a £5m innovation centre at Haverhill Research Park.

The 30,000 sq ft development is adjacent to the lake in the centre of the park and will provide facilities for start-up and growing businesses creating 300 jobs.

Nic Rumsey of Carisbrooke Investments, said: "The planning permission is very good news. We have worked closely with the council planning officers to bring this consent to fruition and much appreciate the positive support we have been given by St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

"We are continuing to work up the design and expect to go out to tender by the end of June with a view to getting contractor proposals in during August."

The development will comprise high specification offices and dry R&D accommodation in a range of sizes, from 170 sq ft to 7,000 sq ft, together with conference and meeting rooms, training facilities and a shared working area. There will also be a cafe overlooking the lake.

Financing for The Epicentre is expected to be provided by the New Anglia and the Greater Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), both of whom have already funded the recently completed infra-structure for the park.
The Epicentre is expected to be completed by September 2015.