Published on 11th November 2020

artwork showing images of the minster project

The £5.2 million flagship scheme in the heart of Cheltenham town centre, known as the Minster Innovation Exchange, was unanimously agreed by cabinet.

At a meeting of Cheltenham Borough Council’s cabinet last night (10 November) members agreed to accept the funding of £3.114 million, via GFirst LEP, from central Government’s £900 million nationwide ‘Getting Building Fund’ and the award of the Tier 2 Growth Hub residual grant of £433,638.

The funding is in response to the impact of COVID-19 and will accelerate the delivery of the much-anticipated ‘shovel ready’ scheme, which will be located next to St Mary’s Church which is Grade I Listed and the oldest building in Cheltenham. This further demonstrates the strength of Cheltenham as a place major inward investment opportunities.

The cabinet also approved the council entering into a joint venture with locally based Workshop Group – Cheltenham, with the incorporation of the new limited liability partnership (LLP). The Workshop Group are also responsible for Hub8, the cyber innovation space located in Cheltenham’s Brewery Quarter. The joint venture partnership will repurpose an under-utilised town centre location through the delivery of 20,000 sq.ft of purpose-built commercial space including flexible workspaces, a 300-person capacity performance arena, cafe, community and education space. The grant will also fund public realm improvements within the grounds of the Minster including lighting, paving, seating and planting transforming it into a desirable place to spend time.

Councillor Rowena Hay, cabinet member for finance, said: ‘’This is an exciting step forward as the funding will have a significant positive impact on the delivery of the project which we have been working very hard to deliver. A due diligence process has been undertaken by the LEP resulting in a green light to support the project.

‘’The exciting delivery of the Minster Innovation Exchange will see environment enhancements to the proposed building, supporting the council’s carbon neutral ambitions. It will also deliver much needed improvements to the area surrounding the Minster that will help create a new and vibrant creative quarter in the heart of the town centre. This scheme is a key project, forming another vital part of the council’s rapid Covid-19 recovery action plan and will provide a significance boost to the local economy.’’

Bruce Gregory, director of Workshop Group said: “This funding will supercharge the scheme and enable us to establish Cheltenham and the wider region as a global centre for cyber-tech and digital innovation.”  

The cabinet recommendations will go forward to the Council meeting 16 November 2020.

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Notes:
Visit our You Tube channel to see Cllr Rowena Hay, Bruce Gregory, and Mark Sheldon, director of corporate projects at Cheltenham Borough Council, talk about the proposals. https://www.youtube.com/user/cheltenhamborough/videos.

Please see the direct video links here https://youtu.be/acP_-tcPZYM, https://youtu.be/05HWPIRECdY and https://youtu.be/9kvkT6PoDos