Why this is one of the most exciting developments in Europe
It is ‘one of the most exciting developments in Europe’ and work will start on phase one early next year, but it seems we've misunderstood what the real vision is for the Golden Valley Development.
Dear Readers,
We hope you have had a great week. Welcome to our end of the week edition of The Raikes Journal.
Today our main story is based on an interview with one of the senior figures at HBD, the business brought in by Cheltenham Borough Council to lead on the Golden Valley Development “at the heart of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy”.
You’ll see the Golden Valley described as a £1 billion project and all about cyber, well apparently that’s not actually true. And if you read the story below you’ll see why, but also why that makes it even more exciting for the county - even more inclusive.
We preface it with a couple of stories relating to something else of major importance bubbling away here in Gloucestershire - the potential for the county to find itself at the centre of the nation’s nuclear power industry. It’s no secret those talks have been underway, but it looks like things are moving faster than we might have thought behind the scenes.
We’ve paywalled the main story below, which means it is for the eyes of our paying members only. This is how we help make sustainable what we do here on The Raikes Journal.
For those of you who don’t know, Raikes is a community interest company made possible by its Founding Partners who believe in our aims too - delivering a credible editorially-led platform in the county that relies on journalism to support and champion its business, charity and education and training sectors. Paid for subscribers are an incredible valuable part of making that happen (it’s just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once).
As the saying goes, if you want something good you have to pay for it.
Have a great weekend.
Please do send us your story ideas to andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061.
* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne; our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College; our Founding Members and all our wonderful paying subscribers. If you upgrade to paid too, you’ll be able to see beyond the paywalls we place on many of our second and third email editions of the week and that lock our archive after two weeks. You will be able to view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, comment on our stories and you’ll be helping to make possible this community interest company dedicated to supporting the county, its businesses, charities and education and training providers — all for just £2.30 per week or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once!! For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
More on the nuclear deal expected to supercharge Gloucestershire
Some of you will have seen that the Polish Development Agency, Industria EU, visited Berkeley in Gloucestershire this month. This visit followed the signing of an international collaboration agreement in March between ŚGP Industria S.A (Industria), the Polish Government development agency with responsibility for delivering net zero carbon energy solutions in the Central Hydrogen Valley, and Chiltern Vital Group (CVG), which is in the process of acquiring the SGS Berkeley Science & Technology Park site. Industria has been given formal consent by the Polish Government to apply for licences to build, own and operate the first two Rolls-Royce SMRs in Poland. We run the full press release on this in our PR Wire channel because we think it’s important. It shows the pieces are moving into place in Gloucestershire’s favour. And it leads neatly into the next article (see below), by Ian Mean of Business West, who gives his insight into what’s happening at the Berkeley site and what it could mean for Gloucestershire. You can read more here.
Nuclear deal could be simply massive for the county
This is more about the story mentioned above, the redevelopment of Berkeley Green into a new home for the next generation of nuclear reactors, something that will help put Gloucestershire at the heart of the UK’s nuclear industry and continue a legacy in the county that goes back to the 1950s when building work began on what was then the former Magnox nuclear power station situated on the bank of the River Severn. Ian Mean, of Business West, says confidential talks are underway to transform the site and Raikes understands its sale should go through as early as July. You can read Mean’s insight piece here in our Expert Insight channel.
Why this is one of the most exciting developments in Europe
It is ‘one of the most exciting developments in Europe’ and work will start on phase one early next year, but it seems we've misunderstood what the real vision is for the Golden Valley Development.
By Andrew Merrell
As we delved into the world of cyber for yesterday’s big read story we were able to get a few minutes with one of the bosses of the firm managing the much-trumpeted Golden Valley Development, and felt it made a story in its own right.
Matt Bellshaw, director and head of region at HBD, was good enough to give us a little more insight into the project, and to put us right on an assumption spread far and wide that this is all about and only about cyber.
For Bellshaw, and all those involved in the plans to transform the 47 hectare site beside GCHQ for that matter, the plans are in fact very much about every sector and everyone, and when you understand that it suddenly becomes even more important. It suddenly becomes much, more bigger, as he explains.
Suddenly you realise the idea of the site is to mix up the sectors, for cyber and digital to be recognised as something which has permeated our lives and every business, and that has become vital for all of us.
Raikes understands phase one of the Golden Valley Development - 160,000 square feet of office and event space - will begin in early 2025 with doors opening in 2026, not least because someone is already in line to move in!
From there, HBD will push on to phase two (the architects for which it unveiled this week as Sheppard Robson) and completion of a plan that also includes 1,000 low carbon homes and infrastructure.
Some pretty big claims have also been made about jobs – that it will create as many as 12,000 along the way.
“We have been involved in this project for about two years now and it’s really amazing just how collaborative everyone has been - and it is particularly because of the collaboration mission that I think everyone feels part of the dream and the national mission around cyber and the need to secure the emerging sector of he future,” said Bellshaw.
“Which is a very fundamental part of where Golden Valley is positioning itself.
“It is not just about cyber. It is about all of these technologies and a recognition that all sectors need protection and to benefit from them.
“For a while it was a little disparate, where some of us were telling similar but not the same stories. There’s been a key effort to consolidate that into one key message.
“Golden Valley is the most exciting development in the UK. I would probably say even across Europe in term of the position the ecosystem has managed to get itself in. We are a facilitator of that. We are not creating it. That already exists. But we are in a position to help make sure people understand. We are there to help.”
Why tune the message now? What’s changed? And why is this so much more exciting for the county and the UK?
“We have had conversations with the key stakeholders and talked about what we think the messages around Golden Valley should be.
“Part of it was if we keep on about a cyber cluster and cyber central, two things would happen; we would probably not get enough businesses that we need to fill that space, and also we will miss the many beneficial effects we could get from the development.
“Those are the benefits where the innovations happen, and that is where you get the interactions between the different sectors, whether that is bio-sciences or the medical sector and cyber, whatever, when you get these interactions – that's where the magic happens.
“It is where the new technology and industry are that the magic happens. That’s why we needed to adjust that thread, we wanted to bring in and to work with industry in its broadest sense – all industries, from desk and chair start-ups up to prime businesses, to make sure the space is where those ideas can develop.”
And part of it is simply that to distinguish between businesses based on whether they are digital or not no longer seems relevant.
“I look at it as your digital life and your analogue life, and there is really no difference between the two now. Your digital life is not a separate part anymore, and you need security for both of them.
“It is on every business’s agenda. Whether your business is in tech or did not engage in tech before, every business in some way or another is a tech business now. Some elements of it is on a computer and is digital and the security of that is paramount and the technology can be transformative.”
And that new message also includes new clarity on the meaning of the development for education and training too.
“That also includes academia, which has two flows – research and conquering new frontiers and research science - and then schools; the training and development of talent. That is everything from engaging with local schools to allowing people to retrain.
“People have different phases to their careers now. Having the opportunity to help people get reskilled is important. Particularly with quantum computing and AI coming how we spend our time and how we work will change.
“Giving people the opportunity to retrain and reskill around that is important. And the location of government at the heart of that is central, and the way people inside government can leverage private sector and he private sector can leverage government support will be crucial for industry.”
The scope of the conversation describes also how HBD sees itself and sees the journey it is on with the Golden Valley.
“We are in this for the long term. We are not here to do a deal and disappear. We will be here for the next 10 or 15 years at least.
“One of the things we have learned when working with the public sector is you have to have really straight forward criteria, and you have to appreciate that things are cyclical, you just have to keep working together towards the goal.
“As an organisation, roughly 70 per cent of HBD’s work is via partnerships. We have about 22 partnerships running in the company at the moment. That can be with other developers or with the public sector.
“We have a really good relationship with Cheltenham Borough Council, with Hub8, with Plexal, with CyNam, all of them are stakeholders. We are all in this together and we all want it to be a success.”