Aldershot Games Hub

Project description

The aims of this project are to: 

1. Bring an iconic landmark building back into productive economic use, contributing to the wider physical and socio-economic regeneration of Aldershot 

2. Enhancing the competitive advantages of Aldershot by promoting immediate short-term and interim development of the games/digital economy, providing the physical and support infrastructure to facilitate the retention and growth of this priority sector

3. Ensure the long-term viability and expansion of the Rock and Pop Foundation, a key institution and employer in Aldershot Town Centre, contributing to the wider economic regeneration of Aldershot 

4. Support the long-term growth and development of the digital economy in north Hampshire and the wider EM3 LEP area, contributing to the growth of a priority sector in the EM3 LEP area).   

These aims will be achieved through the creation and provision of a physical base for a supportive and collaborative, shared working environment, offering a combination of “state of the art” facilities (including Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) services developed in partnership with the 5G Innovation Centre in Guildford that game developers can use for future marketing and sales activity), and flexible working arrangements together with essential support services for new and fledgling businesses, in order to support an increase in the number of business start-ups in this key sector and help existing businesses ‘scale-up’, and so build upon the strength of the sector along the Guildford-Aldershot axis whilst contributing to the growth of the digital sector within the EM3 sub-region

Project output

The scheme will deliver: 

1. Almost 100 new jobs created in the Games/Digital Hub together with 370 jobs safeguarded in the wider digital economy by 2021 

2. Secure office premises with meeting rooms, collaborative working space, supporting services including accountancy, legal, marketing, branding, Intellectual Property, and a Virtual Reality Suite

This initiative will act as both a catalyst to the wider economic and physical regeneration of Aldershot – an EM3 LEP “Step Up” town – through encouraging increased investment in the town, whilst also benefiting from the impact of this regeneration – in terms of new residential development and resultant population growth as well as increased commercial, retail and ‘night-time’ economy development - in the longer term.