ENVIRONMENTAL
TECHNOLOGY
Contact Details

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY IS POISED TO BECOME ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING BUSINESS SECTORS

IN NORTHWEST ENGLAND, AND FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT

TO WIND FARMS, RECYCLED PLASTICS TO CLEANER TECHNOLOGIES AND PROCESSES,

THE REGION IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE INDUSTRY.

Helping to lead growth is the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) which is
one of Europe's largest environmental research centres and incorporates the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

LEC brings together more than 300 environmental researchers from natural and applied science, humanities, management research, and engineering.

The Northwest Environmental Technology and Services cluster employs 53,000 people in more than 1,500 companies and generates annual sales of around £1.3 billion.

  • Envirolink Northwest exists to promote, strengthen and support the environmental technology sector in the region playing a pivotal role in improving the competitiveness of companies and raising the profile of the sector in local, national and global markets.
  • The Northwest intends to become a leading player in environmental technology sharing in a global market worth £515 billion equivalent in scale to pharmaceuticals or aerospace and forecast to grow to £688 billion by 2010.
  • LEC is helping companies of all sizes, from two employees to several hundred, to expand their business through R&D and environmental compliance.
  • Dedicated facilities for business co-location within LEC opened in January 2007, enabling collaborative research and development with individuals and teams from across the University.
  • LEC works in partnership with businesses of all sizes in sectors as diverse as food production and engineering, agriculture, waste management and nuclear decommissioning. The diverse range of expertise both within the University and its partners provide an attractive location for businesses who recognise R&D as essential to their future success and survival.
  • The D.E.S.I.R.E. (Delivering Environmental Solutions into Regional Enterprise) programme makes LEC's knowledge available to all Northwest SMEs, providing a broad range of tailored environmental solutions - from advice on legislative compliance and the introduction of environmental management systems to waste minimization and the development and application of new processes and technologies.
  • The LEC encompasses five specialist centres, covering Energy; Environmental Informatics; Agriculture; Water Management; Chemical Management and brings together expertise from University departments across the University.
  • Alongside its degree programmes, the LEC runs practical training courses for businesses.

Northwest England has a strong regional process engineering base, providing huge potential for sectoral collaboration.

The scale of wealth-creating potential close to Lancaster is almost boundless: from the south Cumbria-based Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, with its multi-billion pound budget, to sensitive coastal issues and wide-ranging rural initiatives.