The boss of Chorley Council has pledged to build more space for tech firms if the demand is there.
Gary Hall is the chief executive of Chorley Council and was speaking ahead of a special BusinessCloud event next week entitled ‘Lancashire’s Untold Digital Story’.
Chorley Council’s £9 million digital office park is due to open next May and will offer 51,000 sq ft of office space for start-ups and SMEs.
Hall believes there’s scope to create a digital cluster in central Lancashire as more and more tech firms look beyond the major cities to base their business.
Such has been the interest in the new digital park in Euxton Lane – called Strawberry Fields Digital Hub – that the council has pledged to build more high grade space on adjoining land if the demand is there.
Hall told BusinessCloud: “The tech sector told us that they want flexible office space and that’s what the digital office park will provide.
> Register for Lancashire’s Untold Digital Story here
“It will be able to accommodate someone needing one desk to a large company needing a whole space.”
Hall is one of 13 speakers confirmed for the event on November 14, with the others including Mark Crabtree, founder, AMS Neve; Miranda Barker, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce; Michael Gibson, chair, Digital Lancashire; and Andrew Green, CTO, Utiligroup.
“Chorley is already home to some thriving tech companies but we think that will only grow with the opening of the new digital park,” Hall added.
“I really believe that central Lancashire can become a tech cluster. We’re very close to the motorway and train networks and increasingly people don’t want a long commute into Manchester.
“If this new digital park is a success, and I genuinely think it will be, we’ve got the adjoining land that means we can build more space if the demand is there.”
The three-floor building will feature hot-desking, pods and flexible offices and suites targeted at digital businesses and SMEs.
Spaces are still available to attend Lancashire’s Untold Digital Story event on November 14 in Chorley Town Hall’s Lancastrian Suite but people need to REGISTER HERE.