Multi-million pound Cyber Centre to respond to skills needs in county

The Board of GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, has approved £3 million of funding from the Gloucestershire Growth Deal to be spent on a new Cyber Security Training and Conference Centre, to build Gloucestershire’s skills base in this fast-growing sector.

The Cyber Security Training and Conference Centre is a joint initiative between the University of Gloucestershire (UoG) and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGSC) and will create new Cyber Security facilities in Cheltenham and Berkeley Green. 

The new business facing facilities based at Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park will be used to deliver Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) skills development, and will support business development and training in Gloucestershire. It will be connected into existing activity in the region and be part of making Gloucestershire a regional force in cyber security training, employment and expertise.

The Cheltenham site will become the main regional hub for higher education courses and research in computing and cyber security at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level, enabling the University of Gloucestershire to carry out impactful research to inform the curriculum and to support business needs.

Professor Kamal Bechkoum, Project Lead and Head of the School of Computing and Technology at the University, said: “The Cyber Centre and the University will have facilities to get involved in ‘real world’ problem solving and simulations using ‘open’ and digitally sealed ‘dirty’ labs for resilience training and scenario testing with both sites connected via a secure link for collaboration and resource sharing.”

The centre on the Berkeley Green site will also benefit from the inclusion of a conference centre, which will be used for specialist high security cyber events as well as events for businesses, schools and the general public.

The facility will offer significant employment routes into the rapidly growing area of cyber security, in response to evidence of high demand for training and specialist facilities from employers.

Martin Bruton, Business Sector Manager at GFirst LEP said: “This is a very exciting project that will greatly enhance the STEM skills provision so desperately needed by employers. It’s a great addition to the Gloucestershire Growth Deal funding - which has also funded STEM facilities at Gloucestershire, Hartpury and Cirencester Colleges, and the Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering and Nuclear (GREEN) skills centre at Berkeley to support STEM in the county.”