Government opens £700m Strategic Sites Accelerator for six to 10 industrial sites

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has started deploying around £700m through the Strategic Sites Accelerator, a programme to unlock up to 10 industrial and commercial sites across the UK, the department said on Monday 2 November.

The Accelerator will combine loans, equity and targeted grant funding with technical expertise to tackle barriers including planning, grid connections and access to finance, according to the department. It said the programme aims to crowd in up to £2bn of private investment and could support tens of thousands of jobs over time.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the programme "will get the ball rolling for up to 10 of the UK's most important potential sites, attract billions in investment".

The release headline refers to up to 10 sites, while the department's background note and the official programme page on business.gov.uk give a range of six to 10. Individual investments will be subject to commercial assessment, due diligence and approvals, the department said, and it added that employment outcomes will depend on which sites and investments are ultimately brought forward.

Who is delivering it

The Accelerator brings together the Office for Investment and the National Wealth Fund, with CBRE as National Delivery Partner, according to the department. Turner & Townsend announced in September 2026 that the Department for Business and Trade had appointed CBRE to the role, and that Turner & Townsend would provide technical, cost management and project management support.

The department said the Accelerator is already engaging on potential sites in Glasgow, Burgess Hill and Sheffield with technical support. It is also exploring investment opportunities in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, South Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, the North East, Glasgow City Region and Cardiff Capital Region, building on the National Wealth Fund's strategic partnerships in those regions.

The National Wealth Fund launched its first regional partnerships in October 2025, including with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and in September 2026 agreed further partnerships with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, North East Mayoral Strategic Authority and Cardiff Capital Region. The partnerships run through its Regional Project Accelerator programme, and projects supported so far include Clyde Metro in Glasgow City Region and the Sports Quarter in the West Midlands, the fund said.

Bev Craig, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: "But too often viable developments are held back by complex infrastructure, remediation or delivery challenges."

Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, said the region was working with government to unlock opportunities across the Don Valley Corridor, including at Runway Park. Paul Bristow, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, said viability remained one of the most pressing concerns in the market.

How sites apply

The business.gov.uk programme page describes the Accelerator as a pilot that will invest in six to 10 sites over this parliament, with over £700m of finance made available. It offers a blended finance model for otherwise commercially viable sites and may provide targeted technical assistance where sites face specific delivery barriers.

The closing date for submissions to the pilot is 19 January 2027 at 11.59pm. The first sift form has around 20 questions and should take about 20 minutes to complete, according to the page. The page gives an email address for queries about the programme.

Target sectors named in the department's release include advanced manufacturing, digital and tech, defence and life sciences. The programme page also lists clean energy industries and financial services among the sectors in scope.

Background

When Turner & Townsend announced CBRE's appointment in September 2026, it described the programme as having over £600m of government funding; the department's 2 November release and the programme page now put the figure at around or over £700m.

No10 North will work alongside the programme and local leaders, exchanging pipelines of priority projects in support of the National Economic Council, the department said. GCHQ said Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced its Heron House building in Manchester as the location of No10 North on 24 July 2026.

The department's release also said a further £285m will support areas moving towards devolution deals or Strategic Authority status, including £120m of capital funding. HM Treasury's Budget 2026 regional factsheet refers to a £120m share of Good Growth Fund incubator capital funding, and to a first wave of Mayoral Strategic Authority Business Rates Retention Zones with nine authorities.

According to the Treasury factsheet, mayors will receive 20% of business rates from April 2027 and income tax assignment for all mayors begins in 2028, with an aim of making business rates a fully locally retained tax by the end of the decade.

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey said local leaders know their communities best and that only trusting them with real power and resources would bring change.

Submissions to the Accelerator pilot close at 11.59pm on 19 January 2027.