Environment cluster

Peterborough has a thriving, exciting and varied cluster of organisations involved in the supply of environmental goods and services.

We are one of only four Environment Cities in the country, one of four Sustainable Transport and Demonstration Towns, the location for one of three pilot Sustainable Energy Centres and the site of English Partnerships’ second Carbon Challenge. We aim to build on these attributes to become the nation’s ‘environment capital’. by providing for the needs not just of the current generation but also for future generations.

Peterborough is also home to a number of environmental organisations such as Peterborough Environment City Trust and the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development. Organisations such as the Environment Agency , Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee have large offices here.

These factors have helped to create a cluster of environmental businesses and organisations – and, at the same time, the presence of the cluster has itself contributed to wider environmental achievements.

The members of the cluster range from public sector agencies providing the government with policy advice to firms actively engaged in waste recycling. There are companies developing and using world-leading technologies and consultancies selling their expertise throughout the world.

The cluster employs more than 4,500 people and accounts for over five per cent of the city's GDP, selling its products and services worldwide.

Research has shown that the main strengths of Peterborough’s environment cluster are:

• Natural environment management/science
  
• Water management and water/wastewater treatment
  
• Energy management and emissions control
  
• Public sector initiative
  
• Small-scale innovation

Pressure from governments and consumers, together with the progressive environmental activities of leading companies, is accelerating the demand for cleaner technologies. It is clear that the environment sector has the potential to make a significant contribution to economic growth and prosperity while at the same time promoting environmentally and socially sustainable development.

Peterborough’s environment cluster has been recognised as a potential driver for economic growth not just by the city itself but also by regional and national government.

Opportunity Peterborough is working with companies in the cluster to identify ways to stimulate growth among the companies already here. It is also working with members of the cluster on encouraging environmental companies based elsewhere to relocate in order that they can gain the benefits of joining this growing cluster.

At the same time, Opportunity Peterborough is working with partners to develop new facilities to encourage and support the growth of the cluster.  An innovation centre has just been opened which will support and nurture start-up businesses in the environment sector. Planning is progressing for a ‘green quarter’ near the railway station which will include a 25,000 m2 low-carbon office development and an environmentally-based retail store.

Food cluster

The rich farmlands of the Fens to the south and east of Peterborough have given the city a natural base for a cluster of food-related businesses.

The area’s agri-food industry generates around £2 billion of food-related trade – split between £0.8 billion in ‘farm gate’ sales of raw ingredients and £1.2 billion in manufacturing sales.

Around 4,200 farms support 11,400 farming jobs while 100 food manufacturers and 350 other food-related firms – including machinery and equipment manufacturing, cold storage, packaging, labelling and haulage – contribute an additional 7,300 jobs.

Research has shown that many of our local food companies are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair by developing new, higher value products to meet changing expectations from UK consumers. Sub-sectors such as chilled food, ready-to-eat meals, dairy products, and pre-prepared salads and vegetables have enjoyed double-digit percentage annual growth.

Research has also shown that there are new export opportunities for both food technology and prepared food products. One such area is new EU member countries where consumers increasingly demand convenience foods to support ‘Westernised’ lifestyles.

Demographic and lifestyle changes in the UK also represent new business opportunities for food companies that target higher value, higher growth product areas. Increasing numbers of people are often willing to pay extra for the convenience of ‘meal solutions’ rather than preparing raw ingredients. At the same time, gourmet cooking television shows are stimulating a ‘recreational cooking’ trend, creating new sales opportunities for quality food producers.

A new consumer focus on the nutritional value of food also offers the prospect of improved profitability for growers and processors. Consumers are concerned about fat content, green issues, organic production and animal welfare so producers are introducing less intensive farming methods and using fewer chemicals and other additives in food.

Food industry suppliers are also benefiting from consumer demands for improved labelling and traceability systems.

Opportunity Peterborough is helping to expand the city’s existing cluster of food related businesses by supporting companies which operate at the higher added value end of the market. It is also encouraging more such firms to move into the city to further increase the size of the cluster. The aim is to move the cluster away from being primarily a group of low wage, low value-added companies to one employing a wider range of skills and technologies.

Media cluster

New digital technology is radically transforming the whole media sector – and in Peterborough we have a cluster of businesses which are leading and profiting from the changes.

The media cluster in Peterborough ranges from multi-million pound publisher EMAP plc (which has a corporate office and many operating companies here) to small firms working in areas such as website design. We have radio and TV studios and production companies, magazine and newspaper publishers, designers and printers.

Opportunity Peterborough is currently trying to ‘map’ the cluster, to gain a better understanding of its actual composition and its value to the local economy. It is already clear, however, that the cluster accounts for thousands of local jobs and millions of pounds of turnover.

Once the mapping is complete, our task will be to see how we can add value to the cluster. How do we help the companies which are here already to expand and how do we attract new ones?

Financial services cluster

There are a substantial number of businesses in Peterborough – between them employing more than 7,000 people – involved in different aspects of financial services.

The companies include Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, which is headquartered here, foreign exchange firm Travelex, life and pensions fund operator Diligentia, BGL (parent of Budget Insurance), securities firm BNP Paribas and many others.

The larger companies directly involved in dealing with customers are supported by many smaller suppliers of specialist services ranging from technology to research and broking.

As with the media cluster, Opportunity Peterborough is currently trying to gain a better understanding of the composition of the financial services cluster. We will then seek to find ways in which we can add value in order to help it expand and attract new companies.