Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland has announced an agreement has been signed which will allow the construction of the North West Regional Science Park at Fort George.

The North West Regional Science Park will be a satellite of the highly successful Northern Ireland Science Park, based at Titanic Quarter in Belfast. The signing of the agreement will allow construction work to begin on the 50,000 sq ft commercial and research centre science park facility. The work is expected to cost £12million and take 12 months to complete.

-- Advertisement --

Making his announcement, the Minister said: "Today marks a key milestone in establishing the North West Regional Science Park. This project is a very exciting development for Londonderry as it has the potential to create hundreds of new high quality jobs.

"I am glad that the Northern Ireland Executive through my Department is able to sign the agreement to transfer the lands for the Science Park at the Fort George site to allow the project's construction to get underway."

Frank Hewitt NI Science Park Chairman, said: "On behalf of the Partners involved in the North West Regional Science Park Project, I want to thank the Department of Social Development for their support in bringing project to Derry~Londonderry. The city now has the opportunity to build on the success already achieved in the Northern Ireland Science Park on Queen's Island, Belfast."

(CD/MH)