CONSTRUCTION work on a new £40.5m Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus started this week at Gogerddan, near Penrhyncoch.

The Innovation Campus will foster collaboration between business and academia, providing world-leading facilities and expertise for the food and drink, bio-processing and biotechnology sectors.

The construction contract for the ambitious development has been awarded to Willmott Dixon Construction Limited and is expected to take two years to complete.

Prof Elizabeth Treasure, vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University, said: “Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus is an exceptional development that will bring new industry partnerships and jobs to the region.

"It is an example of the university working collaboratively to ensure that the excellent research carried out here – particularly within our Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences – acts as a catalyst for innovative practice which has an impact on the wider economy.

“We are grateful to the Welsh Government for their support through the Welsh European Funding Office and to BBSRC, part of UK Research and Innovation, for their support, as well as to Ceredigion County Council who have worked with us on infrastructure improvements for the benefit of the area.”

The university and Ceredigion County Council have worked together to deliver highway improvements to widen the road leading to the Campus from the main A4159 crossroads and these works were successfully completed by the county council in May.

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition on Wednesday