TELECOM giant Ericsson moving to Ansty
01/08/2007

TELECOM giant Ericsson is to build a new research and development centre at Ansty and close its New Century Park site in Coventry. Ericsson - which took over parts of Marconi - will be using just a fraction of the Ansty site which was once reserved for a new Marconi global HQ.

Eventually it hopes to employ 650 people there - including research and development staff from Coventry and its other research base at Beeston.

But about 140 of the 300+ people working at New Century Park face an uncertain future - although the firm isn't talking about any redundancies. They're likely to be offered jobs within other parts of the Ericsson - possibly at Guildford, Basingstoke, Newbury or Manchester plus some may even be offered the opportunity to work from home.

Advantage West Midlands is backing the plans - despite originally pressing for the 40-acre Ansty site to be sold to a single employer. AWM chief executive John Edwards now accepts that's "highly unlikely".

Jacqueline Hey, managing director of Ericsson UK, said: "The site at Ansty will enable us to create an operating environment, specifically designed to suit the needs of our business both now and for the future. "We recognize both the skills that we have in theUK and the importance of maintaining the capabilities we have. This is an important step securing employment in the area that is likely to create new job opportunities."

Planning permission already exists for a campus-style collection of eight buildings on the old airfield next to the Rolls-Royce factory at Ansty.

A new application has been put into Rugby Borough Council by Highbridge Properties plc on behalf of Ericsson, for the first two buildings.