Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) the organisation behind the world’s most efficient large aircraft, Airlander, announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore financing opportunities with the South Yorkshire JESSICA Urban Development Fund to invest in the Airlander production facility at Carcroft Common, South Yorkshire.
JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas), which was once part of an EU initiative, provides effective development debt funding for commercial property and regeneration projects in South Yorkshire at commercial lending rates.
HAV and the SY JESSICA Fund will focus on enabling economic growth through sustainable development in South Yorkshire; enhancing long-term growth prospects and competitiveness of the region through enterprise, employment, regeneration and sustainability; providing the infrastructure required to generate jobs; and working closely with public sector partners to draw in and leverage private sector capital.
Earlier this year, Hybrid Air Vehicles announced the site location for its production programme for Airlander 10, at Carcroft Common, an opportunity area in the South Yorkshire Investment Zone. Here, Hybrid Air Vehicles will begin developing its flagship facilities for Airlander 10’s production, testing and certification operations, with the goal of scaling up to a production rate of up to 24 aircraft per year at the site.
Carcroft Common will become a hub of advanced manufacturing, creating over 1,200 direct and highly skilled jobs at a GVA of £90,000, and catalysing an export opportunity worth in excess of £1bn a year.
Hybrid Air Vehicles has chosen to base its production in South Yorkshire because it represents the perfect combination of skills base and entrepreneurial desire to spark a green aerospace cluster in the region. This announcement builds on the progress made towards the City of Doncaster’s Economic Strategy 2030, and the success of the South Yorkshire Investment Zone, focused on improving investment into advanced manufacturing through planning, development and skills support.