The Design and Implementation of a Remote Regional Science Park

Plymouth (population c. 250,000) is located in the South West of England and is the major city in a long peninsula projecting into the Atlantic Ocean. This peninsular situation imposes particular constraints upon the ease and cost of communication which is further exacerbated by the fact that a comparatively small population is spread more or less evenly across the Region. This means that costs of travel and the movement of goods to and from the Region is relatively high whilst the levels of service are comparatively low. Whilst the quality of Life is high, these other factors have mitigated against any significant inward investment by traditional industries into the Region. Historically, the communities that inhabit the region have looked to the sea both as their most convenient method of travel and as one of their principal means of earning a living through fishing. Other traditional industries are mining (principally tin and china clay), farming (principally livestock),and, in modern times, tourism. Fishing is now in serious decline due the fall in fish stocks and mining is also virtually at an end due to the exhaustion of the mineral resources. The City of Plymouth has been, and remains, the economic engine of the Region. For many centuries, Plymouth has been a major strategic naval base and this, together with the associated dockyard and support services, has provided the main source of employment for the city. This status is now much reduced due to the changing nature of defence requirements, and most of this source of employment is no longer available. This has occurred quite rapidly since the end of the Cold War and has forced a fundamental change in economic planning for the Region. The City has two major and critically important resources in this context however.The University of Plymouth is a major institution comprising some 6 Faculties (see Appendix A) with 2,608 staff and 26,991 undergraduates and post-graduates. Derriford Hospital is also located in Plymouth and besides providing a regional service it is also a major teaching and medical research facility. A consortium of sponsors established Tamar Science Park Limited in 1995 as the vehicle to undertake this project, and construction work began in 1996.