A masterplan to breathe new life into a former manufacturing site in South Cumbria has been revealed.
The proposal is to transform the 420,000sq m former GSK site in Ulverston into a ‘nationally advanced manufacturing location’.
The vision for the plot includes 80,000 sq m to be kept by GSK for future use, 130,000 sq m ‘previously earmarked for expansion being made available for future use’, and a further 210,000 sq m that requires remediation.
The masterplan constitutes a very early stage in the plan for the GSK site.
It talks of flexible office space for innovators to co-locate alongside manufacturers, a multi-generational skilled workforce, childcare and leisure facilities.
It refers to integrated running, walking and coastal cycling routes, forward-thinking drone and autonomous vehicle facilities, and providing infrastructure for UK on-shore bio-pharma manufacturing capability.
Computer-generated images identify low-carbon and low-energy buildings, retained and refurbished laboratories, office and industrial buildings, and a new business centre.
A spokesman for South Lakeland District Council said the masterplan was a major part of the work of the GSK Taskforce’ made up of GSK, the council, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Cumbria County Council and Ulverston Town Council. It is chaired by Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell.
The spokesman said: “Negotiations are ongoing around land at the site which GSK could donate as a legacy to the community given their changing requirements, which is also linked to the development of leisure facilities at Priory Road.
“When these complex issues have been resolved, the masterplan will form the basis of a business case to feed into an offer to government and the private sector for investment in economic development and supporting infrastructure, and set out how it will be delivered.”
Mr Fell previously said the purpose of the masterplan was to ‘present an exciting and dynamic vision of what could be achieved at the GSK site and the surrounding land in terms of regeneration, economic development and new housing’.
