Major expansion at Siemens in Manchester moves a step closer

The grant will be used as part of a wider planned investment of around £30m by Siemens along with development partners in the site at Princess Road, West Didsbury, to expand operations in Siemens’ green technology portfolio.  Focus areas for the expansion are major grid connections projects housed at the Renewable Energy Engineering (REE) Centre which is currently being built on the site and technologies to reduce carbon emissions in industry and built infrastructure. In light of Government by policies to reduce carbon emissions by 34% by 2020, Siemens’ capabilities in the areas of offshore wind power grid connection projects, electric vehicle infrastructure and sustainable building retrofit technologies are expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

The council-backed scheme for further development of the site includes the construction of an additional new building for use by Siemens, redevelopment of the existing Sir William Siemens House premises into a ‘Sustainable Technology Park’, as well as a number of joint R&D initiatives with local universities focused on environmental technology.

Juergen Maier, managing director of Siemens Industry in the UK & Ireland, said: “This very positive news is an essential step to fully realising our ambitious plans for developing our Manchester site to take advantage of the emerging opportunities of the green economy and to bring the necessary engineering skills here to the North West.

“Confirmation of the funding through our joint bid with the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership means that we can now proceed with obtaining final approvals for the development of the site, which we anticipate will create up to 400 positions over the next three years.”

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Siemens makes a significant contribution to Manchester's economy. This bid demonstrates Siemens' commitment to the city region and we're really pleased that it's been successful and look forward to working with them to drive it forward."

Siemens has a long history of success in Manchester, with the Princess Road site housing a number of important operations for Siemens Industry Sector and Siemens Transmission & Distribution. These businesses have a combined annual turnover of £1.3 billion, employ 800 people in Manchester (plus 4,600 in other UK locations) and constitute a major engineering and technology centre.

As part of its commitment to the North West, Siemens also intends to use the funding to strengthen its partnerships with universities in the Greater Manchester area and to distribute its global portfolio of R&D activities to regional centres.  This will provide indirect funding for training and support of undergraduates and post-graduates, enhancing the locally available skills available for rapidly growing technology companies. 

Additionally, the existing range of community and educational support programmes will be enhanced to provide, for example, additional work experience opportunities, outreach events to stimulate interest in engineering qualifications and support for local institutions such as the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).

 

ENDS

 

Notes for editors

About Siemens in the UK

Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 168 years ago and now employs around 16,000 people in the UK. Last year’s revenues were £4.1 billion. As a leading global engineering and technology services company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world’s major challenges, across the key sectors of infrastructure & cities, energy, industry and healthcare. Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Frimley, Surrey. The company’s global headquarters is in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk.

 

For more information, contact:

Emma Whitaker
Senior PR & Government Affairs Manager
Siemens plc
Tel : 07921 246942
emma.whitaker@siemens.com