The UK’s new £5bn cyber force HQ will be built next to Preston – creating more tech job opportunities in the region for thousands of highly skilled experts alongside further significant investment opportunities.
Preston North and Wyre MP, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, announced the project on the eve of the 2021 Conservative Party conference. The new National Cyber Force headquarters will be built in Samlesbury, which is close to the existing BAE site, and just a few miles outside Preston city centre.
It is thought that the new development will employ thousands of highly skilled experts and analysts by 2030. The scheme is likely to have a wide ranging and lasting impact on the economic fortunes of the city. Political insiders have revealed that the scheme will play a significant role in the Government’s “levelling up” agenda for the North of the country. Mr Wallace compared the effect that the centre will have on the city with the transformation that GCHQ made to Cheltenham in the 1950s.
“Cheltenham was a small county town and look what it has done. That’s what we mean by levelling up,” he told the Telegraph.
Preston has already made a name for itself as the UK’s fastest growing city for tech, with a recent study showing that the number of digital jobs in the city has grown a staggering 53% between 2018 and 2020. The data was analysed by job search engine Adzuna for the Digital Economy Council and Tech Nation Shows.
With the arrival of the new £5bn cyber HQ, more and more affluent tech specialists will be looking to relocate to Preston city centre. This will undoubtably cause a significant rise in demand in the city’s lucrative rental market– providing an exceptional opportunity for investors today.
If you’d like to find out more about our property investment opportunities in Preston, then contact the team.
