A new initiative to support creative firms in Essex has already attracted over £2.5m in resources.
Colchester Borough Council has come up with in excess of £1m for the scheme, while Essex County Council has raised £1.5m to make the project happen. This could potentially alter the availability of serviced offices in the area.
Start-ups and small businesses are expected to use the facilities when they are ready. It is said that burgeoning SMEs in particular can benefit from serviced offices, because they enable easy networking opportunities.
According to Anne Turrell, who works for the county council on regeneration and growth, Colchester is already a place where there is a significant concentration of enterprises in the creative sector. She has maintained that these organisations already play a role in regeneration, so Turrell wants the new centre to enhance the sector’s contributions to the local economy.
Kevin Bentley, who is a county councillor who focuses largely on economic growth, said:
“This is a great development for the growing creative, digital industry in Colchester. It should lead to 89 new jobs in the centre alone in the first three years – and we have calculated that each of these jobs supports a further 45 in the economy.”
About 1,300 creative firms are situated within the town, offering 5,500 roles to the local workforce. It has been also been claimed that Colchester is home to the best performing creative cluster in the county, with the Essex Means Business initiative playing a role in generating publicity for such companies in the town.
