Harwell Science and Innovation Campus

The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is a science and technology campus near the villages of Harwell and Chilton, Oxfordshire, England. The site is about 16 miles south of Oxford. A large part of the site was formerly the main research establishment of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, but it has seen a transition to its new role as a science and business park as the nuclear facilities have been decommissioned.

History

Atomic Energy Research Establishment

The northern part of the Campus was formerly the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, which was created after the Second World War on the site of RAF Harwell. It was the main centre for atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1990s, latterly being amalgamated into the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. A number of test nuclear reactors were sited on the Campus over the years. The nuclear facilities are currently in the hands of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. As parts of the site are decommissioned, they are declassified and become part of the publicly accessible site, the area "inside the fence" thus gradually shrinking. It is planned that the entire site will be decommissioned by 2025. [ [http://www.nda.gov.uk/documents/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&pageid=3977 Harwell Lifetime Plan 2006/07] , Nuclear Decommissioning Authority]

Harwell International Business Centre

As the former UKAEA site was being decommissioned, a new role became necessary to maintain levels of employment in the area, building on the site's reputation for pioneering research, and ensuring that Harwell remained one of the UK's major centres for science and technology. Therefore, in 1996, it was relaunched as a business park. [ [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/sites/harwell_history.shtml Harwell history] ] One of the businesses on-site is the UKAEA spin-off company AEA Technology. As well as attracting numerous other hi-tech businesses, the Harwell IBC also boasted numerous amenities such as a bank, post office, hairdresser, sports facilities including a cricket pitch, and its own bus station. [ [http://harwell.org.uk/amenities/ Harwell Science and Innovation Campus: Amenities] ]

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

In 1957 the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory (now the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, RAL) was established on a site immediately south of the AERE. This was followed in 1961 by the Atlas Computer Laboratory, absorbed into the Rutherford in 1974. The southern site, including the RAL, became known as the Chilton/Harwell Science Campus. RAL is presently operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and its facilities include the ISIS neutron source. Between 2003 and 2007 the Diamond synchrotron was constructed on the RAL site, the UK's largest scientific investment for 30 years. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5178034.stm BBC News, 14 July 2006] ]

Creation of the Campus

In March 2006 the government announced plans to transform the Harwell International Business Centre and the adjacent Chilton/Harwell Science Campus into the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. [ [http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/7/8/bud06_science_332v1.pdf Science and innovation investment framework 2004-2014: next steps] para 3.13] In August 2006 the government announced an investment of £26.4 million to construct new research facilities on the campus. [ [http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/7203/print Press release 16 August 2006] ]

The campus today

Over 4,500 people work on the campus in some 100 organisations. [ [http://www.harwell.org.uk/ HSIC website] ] Major companies and organisations on the site include:

* United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
* AEA Technology
* The STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
* Diamond Light Source
* Medical Research Council
* Health Protection Agency

The campus is owned by the UKAEA, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Health Protection Agency. [ [http://www.harwell.org.uk/about_us/ HSIC website] ]

In August 2008 the government announced a public private partnership with the Goodman Group, an Australian property company, to develop the site. [ [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/news/2008/14-08-08.shtml UKAEA press release, 14 August 2008] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.harwell.org.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/sites/harwell_site.shtml UKAEA – Harwell]
* [http://www.scitech.ac.uk/KE/SICamp/HSIC/HSIC.aspx STFC website: Harwell Science and Innovation Campus]