Getting Building Fund
The £8.4 million worth of investment that we secured from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, announced in August 2020, has been used to give Oxfordshire businesses and communities a boost following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Working alongside private and public sector partners, we have focused on supporting six programmes around the county. Collectively, these will lead to the creation of 472 new jobs – plus 43 construction roles – and will safeguard a further 324 jobs.
Three of the Getting Building Fund projects support the county’s emerging green economy and low-carbon initiatives to address the climate emergency. Another is focused on the regeneration of high streets in Oxfordshire’s county towns.
There is also recognition of changing work patterns, with a programme to provide greater broadband capabilities to rural areas. A further project is focused on enhancing facilities for a key field in our innovation ecosystem: biomedical research.
By securing £8.4 million of the Government’s Getting Building Fund, we have been able to support projects throughout the county that will benefit our drive towards a green economy, boost our county towns and enhance our already-world leading capabilities in vaccine and biomedical research.
Below is a summary of each project supported by Getting Building Fund allocations in Oxfordshire.
- Total project cost: £785,000
- GBF awarded: £600,000
- Delivery partner: University of Oxford
- Project status: Completed
The Energy Systems Accelerator, known as Mini TESA, has brought together academic and industry researchers in multi-disciplinary hub that focuses on the transition to low carbon energy solutions. The new co-working space, which can host up to 100 workstations, has seen the redevelopment of Holywell House in Osney Mead into a centre for ideas and collaboration.
Teams of researchers from two University of Oxford research groups, social enterprise the Low Carbon Hub and local electricity distributor Scottish and Southern Energy Networks are working together on ways of smoothing the pathway to energy transition in all sectors (electricity, heat and mobility) to help reach net zero.
Home to the University’s MSc in Energy Systems, the Mini TESA has already started to host large-scale ‘SPRINTS’, bringing together many stakeholders from different disciplines to problem-solve key issues surrounding energy transition.
The Mini TESA will create 102 new jobs for the Oxfordshire economy and is a pilot for a full energy systems accelerator which will become a 10,000m2 international facility for up to 800 practitioners, stakeholders and academics to work and interact.
Once the pilot has proved to be successful and further funding is secured, the full TESA will incorporate a 10,000m2 international facility where up to 800 practitioners, stakeholders and academics can work and interact, maximising creativity.
The full TESA is set to be net-carbon negative and located in the new Innovation District, which will regenerate the West End of Oxford.
Project impacts by 2025:
- 102 jobs created
- Facilitate industry and academic collaboration across all energy sectors
- Drive innovation in low carbon technologies and services
- Help UK meet legally-binding carbon targets
- Identify ways of smoothing the path to energy transition
- Bring forward development of full Energy Systems Accelerator by a year
Find out more on The Energy Systems Accelerator pilot (Mini TESA)
- GBF awarded: £2million
- Match funding from businesses: £2.3million
- Delivery partner: OxLEP Business
- Project status: Completed
Overseen by OxLEP Business, the Business Investment Fund has supported 38 scalable, small- to medium-sized businesses with grants of between £25,000 and £100,000 for capital projects with the ability to deliver tangible outcomes aligned to driving economic recovery, growth and job creation.
Over 100 expressions of interest were received following the announcement of the fund in March 2020. After a highly competitive two-phase application process, funds were awarded to the 38 Oxfordshire-based businesses on a one-to-one match-funding basis.
Successful recipients come from a broad range of sectors, including creative industries, food and drink, life sciences, the visitor economy, green tech and high-value manufacturing.
A number have implemented their projects through OxLEP Business’ Peer Networks programme, part of a national peer-to-peer networking programme for SME business leaders. OxLEP Business has worked closely with each business to help them navigate procurement requirements and claims processes.
Project impacts by 2025:
- 220 jobs created
- 230 jobs safeguarded
- Investment targeted at areas facing the biggest economic challenges as a result of the pandemic
- Tangible outcomes aligned to driving economic recovery, growth and job creation
- Total project cost: £2.3 million
- GBF awarded: £1.9 million
- Delivery partners: Makespace Oxford-led consortium, commissioned by Oxford City Council, along with Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire District Councils
- Project status: Ongoing (completes in June 2022)
The Meanwhile in Oxfordshire project is seeing the transformation of vacant retail units in high streets across the county into affordable premises for more than 100 organisations, including independent shops, cultural venues, creative studios and co-working spaces. The project will create or secure at least 300 jobs across Oxfordshire.
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on Oxfordshire’s high streets, with for example Oxford city centre seeing a fall in footfall of over 62% between the summer of 2019 and 2020.
As well as reducing the number of vacant units in the county’s high streets, the Meanwhile in Oxfordshire project is diversifying the offer in Oxfordshire’s town and city centres as entrepreneurs devise new and creative uses for the units, encouraging more visitors to the high streets.
Project impacts by 2025:
- 112 businesses supported
- 300 jobs created
- Economic regeneration of high streets
- Building stronger local economies and communities
- Upgrading premises’ energy efficiency during fit-out
- Providing affordable premises, with priority to those who pay the Oxford Living Wage and offer work opportunities
- Total project cost: £2.25million
- GBF awarded: £1 million
- Delivery partners: Oxfordshire County Council
- Project status: ongoing (completes in summer 2022)
This project has made more funding available to help homes and businesses in rural areas of Oxfordshire get access to much faster and more reliable internet connections. GBF funding has been used to ‘top up’ the vouchers available from the Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS).
The GBVS currently provides up to £3,500 funding for eligible businesses and up to £1,500 for eligible residential properties to install superfast connections capable of download speeds of up to one gigabit per second. Now all eligible properties, both businesses and residential, can apply for up to a maximum of £7,000.
Improving digital connectivity is vital to boost the rural economy and has becoming increasingly essential as many workplaces have moved to flexible working following the pandemic.
Project impacts by 2025:
- Minimum 400 new super/ultrafast broadband connections
- Boost rural economy and aid recovery from COVID-19
- More homes and businesses able to benefit from world class gigabit capable connectivity
Enabling works to expand the Headington-based clinical bio-manufacturing hub. This enhanced facility will support SMEs to undertake clinical trials of new biological medicinal projects.
- Total project cost: £250,000
- GBF awarded: £200,000
- Delivery partner: University of Oxford
- Project status: Ongoing (completes in June 2022)
The Clinical BioManufacturing Facility (CBF) is the University of Oxford’s GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) manufacturing facility. It is a UK leader in the production of vaccines for early phase clinical trials, including the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to combat the COVID-19 virus.
CBF provides the link between academic research and clinical drug development to allow rapid progress into clinical trials. It can manufacture a variety of products including viral vector and recombinant protein vaccines, and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) such as cell and gene therapy products.
The contribution from the GBF has helped the facility refurbish its cleanroom and storage facilities, and will enable works in support of future expansion, which will provide space to deliver up to 10 clinical grade products (gene therapies, vaccines, biologics) to trial per year.
Project impacts by 2025:
- Enable the future expansion of the facility
- Creates the potential to increase the UK's share of the global vaccine and biologics manufacturing market (worth over $1billion)
- Speeds up clinical trials of novel biotech products
- Products can improve patient outcomes with long term benefits
Find out more on the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility enabling works
- Total project cost: £3.5million
- GBF awarded: £2.7million
- Delivery partners: Abingdon and Witney College
- Project status: Ongoing (centre due to open in September 2022)
This new centre in Abingdon will help meet the forecast demand for green construction skills by offering a variety of training programmes in low or zero-carbon new build and retrofit construction. It will offer training programmes for young people in Oxfordshire, including school engagement activities, full-time courses for 16 to 18-year-olds (including T Levels), higher-level programmes and apprenticeships.
The completely new-build facility will also benefit those already operating in the construction sector as well as people looking to enter it, through adult training programmes and upskilling courses.
Courses will be designed with the input from key employers and sector bodies – such as the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) – as well as those with specialisms and an interest in green issues, with training focused on areas such as low or zero carbon technologies for both new build and retrofit construction projects.
Project impacts by 2025:
- 500 new learners assisted
- Addresses a shortage of skills in Oxfordshire
- Supports a greener and cleaner future
- Offers variety of training programmes for young people
- Aligns with the Oxfordshire Zero Carbon RetroFit (OZCRF) programme
