A £25.9 billion economy and the largest in the East Midlands

If you’re looking to expand or relocate your business, Leicester & Leicestershire offers an attractive commercial location with a healthy pipeline of over 40 investable opportunities.

A combination of outstanding road, rail, and air links, a talented workforce, cutting-edge research and innovation parks aligned to world renowned universities, prime employment sites and properties, strong support services and several strategically significant growth sectors make it one of the UK’s fastest growing business locations and a highly attractive investment destination. Big names like Next, IBM, Access Group, Dunelm and Santander have already made it their home.

The £25.9 billion economy is the largest in the East Midlands and is only forecast to grow with over 42,000 businesses already residing in the city and county. It’s ranked as one of the best places to start a business in the UK and a truly entrepreneurial city and county. A cost competitive location can offer an average saving of £15,500 per annum per employee compared to London.

Global Connectivity

A central location is key to businesses looking for a new business location, which is why Leicester and Leicestershire is the ideal destination. Travel by train to London in 90 minutes and to mainland Europe in four hours.  Businesses can take advantage of being located close to East Midlands Airport, which is the UK’s largest pure cargo airport handling and national hub for DHL, TNT, UPS and Royal Mail.

East Midlands Freeport, the UK’s best connected and only inland freeport was recently announced and sits at the heart of the nation’s advanced manufacturing and logistics economy. This development will attract investment to create a new, world-leading, low carbon, advanced manufacturing, and logistics hub in the heart of England. The Freeport not only benefits from a globally connected location, but three development sites, multi-modal connectivity, tax and customs benefits and a network of partnerships and support.

Leicester and Leicestershire is also home to the East Midlands Gateway Strategic Rail Freight Terminal. Operated by Maritime Transport, the intermodal terminal offers multiple trains 24 hours a day allowing access to all major UK ports including Southampton, Felixstowe, London Gateway and the Channel Tunnel. State-of-the-art logistics parks in the wider area offer a talent pipeline and future workforce of potentially over 1 million people within a 30-minute drive.

Enterprise Zones

Two innovation led Enterprise Zones across four locations including Charnwood Campus, the UK’s first life science opportunity zone and MIRA Technology Park are key to the area’s success. MIRA Technology Park is the largest automotive technology park in Europe and the ideal base for companies developing the latest automotive technologies. Prestigious names like Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover and Bentley are some of the companies you’ll find there.

From start-ups to global organisations, all can benefit from a dynamic innovation community with a world class research base and graduate supply at Loughborough University Science & Enterprise Park, one of the UK’s largest science parks.

A giant leap for Leicester & Leicestershire has been the launch of the new ‘Space City’ cluster which encompasses Space Park, a £100m world leading hub for space and non-space related businesses.  It’s one of the largest and most connected Enterprise Zones for space related activities in the UK. The £233 million investment has already made a positive impact of £89 million to the local economy.

Talent and skills

Businesses located here benefit from an exceptional pool of talent with three world class universities including the University of Leicester, De Montfort University and Loughborough University, providing 60,000 graduates annually. Exceptional talent doesn’t just end with graduates. An extensive workforce with high quality skills that businesses are looking for are in plentiful supply.

MIRA Technology Institute offers a global skills centre delivering specialist skills and qualifications to industry leaders, engineers, and technicians within the global automotive sector.

Loughborough University Science & Enterprise Park is home to an innovative and thriving community in manufacturing, engineering, life science, automotive and sports business clusters.

Leicester & Leicestershire's £25.9 billion economy is the largest in the East Midlands and is only forecast to grow with over 42,000 businesses already residing in the city and county. It’s ranked as one of the best places to start a business in the UK and a truly entrepreneurial city and county. A cost competitive location can offer an average saving of £15,500 per annum per employee compared to London.