The Midlands' Capital City of Espionage: Hereford
Where is the U.K.'s capital city of security, spooks and cyber security? The answer turns out to be Hereford, where the 24-acre Skylon Park has won the right to host a £9M Cyber Security complex.
The site, promoted by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, is already close to the SAS base in Hereford and a cluster of nearly 100 businesses operating in the sector including nearby QuinetiQ in Malvern and GCHQ in Cheltenham.
Now a joint venture between Wolverhampton University and Herefordshire council is behind the development of the new Centre of Cyber Security, Insider reports.
The University of Wolverhampton is providing £1.5M for the 30K SF development, another £4M is coming from the Marches LEP Local Growth Fund and £1.1M from the European Union which Herefordshire voted resoundingly to leave. Another £3.5M is coming from the local council.
Hereford is already alive with security types, made conspicuous by their city suits (or, sometimes, vaguely outward-bound attire) in a city mostly populated by shoppers and tourists. Some believe the security industry is Hereford's largest private sector office occupation sector.
