The International Investment Summit secures £63 billion

“Nearly 38,000 UK jobs are set to be created across the UK after a total of £63 billion of investment was announced around today’s International Investment Summit, turbocharging growth and innovation across the country.”

(…)

“Please see below for a list of all the investments announced in the run-up to and during today’s International Investment Summit:

• Iberdrola doubling their investment in the UK, through Scottish Power, from £12 billion to £24 billion over the next 4 years. This includes £4 billion for the East Anglia 2 wind farm off the Suffolk coast which was unlocked by this Government’s expanded allocation at the most recent wind auction round. Iberdrola Executive Chairman Ignacio Galan CBE confirmed on Friday that the UK has become their largest Investment destination.
• Blackstone confirmed a £10 billion investment in Blyth, Northumberland to create one of the largest artificial intelligence data centres in Europe, creating 4,000 jobs, including 1,200 roles dedicated to the construction of the site.
• Amazon Web Services announced an £8 billion investment last month which is estimated to support around 14,000 jobs per year at local businesses, including those across the company’s data centre supply chain such as construction, facility, maintenance, engineering and telecommunications.
• CCUS investors (including Eni, BP and Equinor) reached a commercial agreement with the government that will unlock £8 billion of private investment to launch carbon capture clusters in the heartlands of the North West and North East of England, directly creating 4,000 jobs and supporting 50,000 jobs in the long-term.
• Orsted and Greenvolt confirming that the Government’s recent expanded offshore wind auction means their projects will unlock £8 billion (Orsted) and £2.5 billion (Greenvolt) of investment respectively in their planned offshore wind farms. Orsted says its commitment will see thousands of jobs for local people, while Greenvolt says it will create up to 2800 construction jobs.
• CyrusOne, a leading global data centre developer headquartered in the United States, announced plans to expand their investment into the UK to £2.5 billion over the coming years. Subject to planning permission, the two data centres should be operational by Q4 2028, projected to create over 1,000 jobs both directly and within its immediate design and construction value chain.
• Octopus Energy have committed to a £2 billion investment in renewable energy generation, including four new solar farms in Bristol, Essex, East Riding of Yorkshire and Wiltshire that will power up to 80,000 homes as well as breaking ground on a new 12 MW battery in Cheshire which Octopus say will store enough power for nearly 10,000 homes every day.
• SeAH Wind has made an additional £225 million investment into wind technology manufacturing in Teesside, thanks to new backing from UK Export Finance, and expects to create 750 direct jobs by 2027. This brings their total investment into the site at Teesworks up to £900 million and will help them make their ongoing factory build – one of the biggest facilities of its kind worldwide – even bigger.
• CloudHQ is developing its new state-of-the-art £1.9 billion data centre campus in Didcot. The hyper-scale data centre is currently in development and will help meet the UK’s growing demand for AI and machine learning. It will create 1,500 jobs during construction, and 100 permanent jobs once fully operational.
• Macquarie supporting investment of £1.3 billion into new green infrastructure including its Island Green Power solar farm in Stow, as a result of planning consents having been granted by the Government, and its Roadchef portfolio company installing electric car ultra-fast charging points across its sites along the UK motorway network.
• ServiceNow also confirmed its commitment to the UK market, with plans to invest £1.15 billion into its UK business over the next five years. The investment will not only support the future development of AI in the UK, expanding its data centres with Nvidia GPUs for local processing data, but also support new office space as the company significantly grows into employee base beyond its current headcount of 1,000 employees.
• Manchester Airports Group is investing more than £1.1 billion in London Stansted Airport to expand its existing terminal by around a third, help secure new air routes to key business and leisure destinations, boost local supply chains and create 5,000 jobs. This includes around £600 million to extend the terminal and £500 million to deliver a suite of improvements to the existing terminal building and wider airport estate.
• Eren Holdings confirmed a £1 billion investment in the redevelopment of Shotton Mill in Deeside, North Wales which is set to become the UK’s largest recycled paper manufacturing campus. This is expected to safeguard 147 jobs and create a further 220 when the site is fully commissioned.
• Network Rail and London & Continental Railways are creating a new property company which will attract additional private and public sector investment with the potential to deliver brownfield regeneration schemes across the rail estate with a value exceeding £1 billion.
• CoreWeave is building on its £1 billion investment announced in May and the opening of its European headquarters in London by investing a further £750 million-plus in the UK to support the demand for critical AI infrastructure. The investment in the UK is CoreWeave’s second largest investment in a country following the USA.
• DP World are investing up to £1 billion in their London Gateway container port operation. This new investment will fund two additional berths and a second rail terminal. Once built, the berths will add vital transport capacity and increase the resilience of UK supply chains, enabling businesses to access domestic and international markets and supporting the Government’s growth and decarbonisation missions.
• Holtec, a major US advanced nuclear engineering company, has confirmed a significant investment of £325 million in a new factory in South Yorkshire which will supply materials for civil and defence nuclear industries. They say this will create up to 490 direct and 280 indirect jobs annually during the construction phase and 1,200 direct engineering jobs created over 20 years.
• BW Group proceeding with a £500 million investment, which includes new battery energy storage projects in Hampshire and Birmingham.
• Eli Lilly and Company is collaborating with government through a memorandum of understanding which will see the pharmaceutical giant intending to commit £279 million to tackle significant health challenges – including obesity. Lilly also plans to launch the first’ Lilly Gateway Labs’ innovation accelerator in Europe to support early-stage life sciences businesses to develop transformative medicines and technologies.
• Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s largest port operator, has announced a £200+ million joint investment with Stena Line in a new freight ferry terminal at the Port of Immingham, boosting the capacity and resilience of UK trade with Europe. This is expected to create around 700 jobs during construction and 200 permanent jobs once operational.
• Imperial College London investing £150 million to build The WestTech Corridor – a new innovation ecosystem in West London which will act as a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation at a local, regional, and national level.
• Haleon has received planning permission to develop a new £130 million Global Oral Health Innovation Centre in Weybridge, Surrey. This state-of-the-art facility will primarily support Haleon’s global oral health business by developing new products that advance consumers’ better everyday health.

Sources:

Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury (Government of the United Kingdom), 14 October2024. Record-breaking International Investment Summit secures £63 billion and nearly 38,000 jobs for the UK (Press release). [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-breaking-international-investment-summit-secures-63-billion-and-nearly-38000-jobs-for-the-uk
[Accessed 14 October 2024].

Prime Minister’s Office (Government of the United Kingdom), 14 October 2024. PM International Investment Summit Speech: 14 October 2024. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-international-investment-summit-speech-14-october-2024
[Accessed 14 October 2024].

Iberdrola, 14 October 2024. Galán confirms Iberdrola’s commitment to the UK at the International Investment Summit with Starmer. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iberdrola.com/press-room/news/detail/galan-confirms-iberdrola-commitment-uk-international-investment-summit-starmer
[Accessed 14 October 2024].