Page 6 - NMEA Annual Report 2019-2020

Section 2
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION
2019-20 NWMINEA- WACorTkIVInITNYewREryPORT
Construction of the ThinkLab during the year
1.2 ThinkLab
In July 2019 we received a letter of offer from the Department
For Communities for £236,795 to enable us to convert two
vacant units at the front (i.e. the Canal Quay–facing side) of WIN Business Park into a community innovation centre and then to equip it. We have called this facility the ThinkLab. We applied
for funding for this project three years earlier in 2016 after we had received the unanimous support of all the partners sitting on the “Newry Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership” including the eight community associations representing the various parts of Newry West (an area which is designated as being amongst the 10% most economically disadvantaged areas in Northern Ireland) for our idea to build an innovation centre for the use of the community and voluntary/social enterprise sector in Newry. The grant covered 100% of the construction costs and 100% of the specialist equipment costs while we covered the cost of the architect and other professional services (civil engineering, mechanical and electrical). That team was led by Eamonn Larkin of Milligan Reside and Larkin Architects. The project tender was issued in November 2019 by the government Central Procurement Directorate. Tyrone- based McCusker Construction was appointed as the contractor in December 2019. They duly completed the build and fit out by the end of March 2020 at a price significantly below the grant award.
Because of the global pandemic from March 2020 we were unable during the rest of 2020 to work with community groups and social enterprises in the ThinkLab as intended. However,
we were able to use the facility and its equipment to produce online content to support the virtual delivery of our training and mentoring programmes during 2020. The ThinkLab is a hi-tech resource at WIN Business Park like no other in the region which we can deploy to support the development of our economy for the benefit of all in our community during what are likely to be difficult years ahead.
2. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION
2.1 Business Start training and counseling during financial year 2019/2020
Developing the skills of business owner/managers is the key to their future business success.
In the period from April 2019 - March 2020 Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency continued to provide a comprehensive service package to support the creation of new businesses in the Newry & Mourne area (i.e. South Down, Newry City and South Armagh). Our strategy remained:
· To raise the number and quality of business starts in Northern Ireland.
· To provide support to all entrepreneurs including those who will trade exclusively within the local market.
· To provide one-to-one assistance.
To increase survival rates for all new starts.
To stimulate a more enterprising society through promotion of self-employment.
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The ThinkLab in action