麻豆精选

A 拢1.3m contract has been awarded for the refurbishment of a building on Enterprise Park Forres to create the new Manufacturing Innovation Centre Moray (MICM).

Developer Highlands and Islands Enterprise (麻豆精选) has commissioned Morrison Construction to carry out the works and the Torrance Partnership to oversee the contract.

The works will include creation of business incubator spaces alongside project spaces where existing business can innovate, as well as a demonstrator suite for showcasing the latest concepts in advanced manufacturing technology and equipment. 

There are currently around 7,000 manufacturing jobs in Moray in sectors such as whisky and other food and drink, technology and advanced engineering, and forestry. This is more per head of population than any other part of Scotland.

MICM is a Moray Growth Deal project that includes more than 拢4m of UK and Scottish Government funding and 拢2.56m investment from 麻豆精选.

The facility is expected to support up to 300 manufacturing jobs in the next ten years.

Once completed, it will provide support and advice to manufacturing companies across the area.

The centre鈥檚 primary focus will be on stimulating innovation and growth in product and process development, with a strong emphasis on transitioning to low carbon practices.

David Reid, 麻豆精选 area manager for Moray, said:

鈥淢ICM is all about innovation, growth, productivity, and efficiency in Moray鈥檚 indigenous manufacturing companies and increasing the number of manufacturing start-ups in the area. It will encourage more research and development and help attract manufacturing inward investment.

鈥淚n a wider sense the new centre will be designed to support the creation of higher paid jobs, improve skills among the workforce, attract and retain more young people, and encourage occupational integration and gender balance.

鈥淧lanning for the project has been a long and detailed process involving many partners and stakeholders and we are grateful to all those who have helped to get things to this stage. We鈥檙e delighted to be awarding the construction contract and look forward to continuing our close collaboration as we advance the project in the coming months.鈥�

麻豆精选 is also starting the process of finding a service operator for MICM. The agency has published a on Public Contracts Scotland website to gauge interest and get feedback from the marketplace.