Focus North celebrates award win from Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
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The organisation charged with delivering "transformational initiatives" in the far north has been recognised at the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group employee awards.
Focus North won the award for ‘Best Socio-economic Initiative’, which celebrates a project or initiative that best encapsulates the NDA’s approach to socio-economics – working with local partners and drawing in additional investment to "support improved outcomes for site communities".
NDA recently launched its group employee awards for 2023, recognising the achievements of its people. The NDA group employee awards offers all parts of the NDA group the chance to share and showcase the standout successes and contributions of individuals and teams. The awards were held virtually on Wednesday, July 5.
Peter Faccenda, Focus North programme manager said: “This is a fantastic win for Focus North, and great recognition of the team and our partners hard work and commitment to deliver for the region.
“It was also another significant opportunity to showcase what we are doing to generate economic growth and lead the net-zero carbon economy in our region to a key business audience.”
The Focus North programme is jointly funded by Dounreay, a Division of Magnox Ltd and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, with the NDA contributing additional funding to provide greater resources for delivery.
Additional partners include the Caithness Chamber of Commerce, Highland Council, Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Government and the University of Highlands and Islands.
In recent years, the programme has helped to deliver Sutherland Spaceport – one of two vertical launch sites, or spacehubs, in Scotland – which broke ground in May.
To support the activity, the programme delivered the North Highland and Moray Space Cluster study jointly funded by Focus North partners, Dounreay and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. A northern space cluster could create 740 jobs in the Highlands and Islands and boost the regional economy by £56m per year by the end of this decade.
Focus North was also the driving force behind the successful creation of a Public Service Obligation for Wick Airport, protecting air travel for Caithness and north Sutherland, a vital lifeline service for communities and businesses in the area.
Focus North was established to deliver transformational initiatives in the north of mainland Scotland to generate economic growth and lead the net-zero carbon economy.
Programme goals are to:
- Develop a fairer, resilient, more balanced economy
- Expand the working population
- Grow and diversify a sustainable economy
- Increase the number of private sector businesses operating locally
- Attract investment
It works towards these goals through a schedule of projects and supporting activities to maximise the benefits to the local population. Current projects are focussed on skills and talent attraction, and the low carbon transport strategy. Partners coordinate their local activities and develop collaborative programmes of activity to meet these regional goals.
Dounreay, a division of Magnox Ltd and the NDA, has "leveraged millions of pounds of additional investment from across the public and private sector" and with Focus North continues to explore opportunities to develop funding models to stimulate sustainable economic growth.
