WIREDGOV

The Westcott Space Hub has officially been opened in Buckinghamshire. Backed by £5.8 million of UK Space Agency funding and £15 million in match funding, this facility will support small and medium-sized businesses, major industry players, academia and others in the local space ecosystem to collaborate.  

Located at Westcott Venture Park, a site with over 50 years of heritage as a rocket engine test site, the Hub spans 62,000 square feet and offers state-of-the-art testing facilities, training spaces and commercial workspace providing cutting-edge facilities to help space businesses grow and creating up to 300 jobs.   

The hub includes:  

• 42,000 square feet of flexible commercial space including offices, labs and workshops with 33% already pre-let  
• A 10,000 square foot training facility with a 150-seat lecture theatre, 15 classrooms and a fully equipped workshop  
• 10,000 square feet of shared facilities including a clean room, mechanical environmental testing facilities, and propulsion testing facilities, with a vacuum chamber for testing electric propulsion engines. This is the only facility of its type in the UK and one of the largest in the world.  

These facilities will address a critical gap in research and development infrastructure in Buckinghamshire and is one of the few campuses in the world with world-class assembly, integration and testing facilities to hire. This will allow companies to access world-class testing and development facilities without relocating abroad and offer more companies from across the UK's space sector the opportunity for development.   

Read the official press release here.