Newcastle University - Boosting collaboration and innovation for the North East

Newcastle University’s Helix is a joint endeavour between Newcastle City Council, Legal & General and Newcastle University, and has redeveloped a 24 acre, former industrial site in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne into a new campus that brings together businesses, spin-outs, researchers and other regional actors.  

 The £350m scheme is aimed at boosting collaboration and innovation in the North-East, with a particular focus on developing research, business and impact in data, life sciences, ageing and urban sciences. So far, the Helix hosts 60 different organisations, including four National Innovation Centres and Observatories, comprising over 1,800 professionals. Newcastle Helix is home to researchers and businesses working in strategically important sectors such as AI, with the development now set to host a new hub for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). Building on existing work on accelerating innovation in data that is being carried out by Newcastle University's National Innovation Centre for Data, DSTL will help keep the UK safe by supporting research into the responsible adoption of AI across the defence sector.

Embedded in the community, the next phase of the development will also provide affordable homes for hundreds of local families. Planned residential apartment blocks will include a mix of properties for social rent, and for sale through Rent to Buy.

 The Helix is also home to a District Energy Centre, utilizing emerging technologies to provide energy to businesses in a more sustainable way – the scheme is projected to save 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over 40 years.  

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