There is a significant cluster of innovation based at Manor Royal Business District and Gatwick Airport, which works with a range of national and international partners to develop digital and technology ideas. In addition, plans are underway for both a next-generation sustainable science and technology park on a 50-hectare site in Burgess Hill and the Crawley Innovation Centre, which will establish the area’s first advanced engineering and digital technologies fusion centre.
Manor Royal Business District has a concentration of engineering and electromedical manufacturing companies, including the global businesses of Varian, Elekta, Thales and Rockwell Collins.
Engineering and electromedical manufacturing companies at Manor Royal Business District have invested considerably into R&D internally, both in the medical and defence sectors.
Coast to Capital’s plans for Crawley and Gatwick as a centre of global growth include the creation of a world class innovation centre in the heart of Manor Royal Business District to link with new development in Horley and Horsham; and focusing on Gatwick Airport as a large-scale integrated transport hub. The Coast to Capital LEP has received £8.6 million from Government and £2.5m from Crawley Towns Fund for the innovation centre project.
The Crawley Innovation Centre in Manor Royal Business District will establish the area’s first advanced engineering and digital technologies fusion centre. It is one of 10 Crawley projects to have received Towns Funding from Government to develop a business case.
The projects also include:
A next-generation sustainable science and technology park on a 50-hectare site in Burgess Hill will generate 2,500 new jobs in high-growth, knowledge-based sectors as well as develop business infrastructure and create skills for the future. Forty per cent of the site will be retained as green space and green infrastructure is being maximised through a range of innovative connectivity initiatives, including green bus stops which generate power. Since a significant number of homes are within walking distance, it will strengthen the sense of community.
Across the region key players from both the public and private sectors are leading the way in transitioning to a net zero economy.
Gatwick Airport itself aspires to be an exemplar of green development embracing bio-diversity and the concept of low impact construction. By 2019 the Airport had already reduced its net carbon emissions by 54% compared with levels in 1990.
Alongside its northern runway capacity proposals to increase capacity, Gatwick Airport has committed to reach net zero direct emissions before 2040. This involves focusing on 10 sustainability goals over the next 10 years, including working towards net zero emissions by providing 50% of the airport’s heating and electricity needs through renewable sources.
Buses feeding the region’s largest business park, Manor Royal Business District, will be carbon net zero by 2022 – Operator Metrobus has ordered 20 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for Fastway routes in the Crawley, Redhill and Gatwick Airport area. The company is also pursuing a bid for a second tranche to provide a further 34 buses on other Fastway services.
Both Surrey and West Sussex county councils have committed to an ambition of net-zero carbon emissions for their own emissions by 2030. Surrey has pledged to make its whole county net zero by 2050 while West Sussex has almost halved its carbon emissions over the past decade and dramatically increased the amount of renewable energy it generates. It now produces more clean electricity than it consumes in delivering its core activities, excluding schools. This has been achieved through an ambitious programme to build solar farms on council land, integrate renewable energy technology into council buildings and enable more than 80 schools to switch to clean power.