Sector Strengths

Hull has a long and rich history in the food sector and is a leading centre for the industry as the home for many global brands and artisan producers. We have a holistic supply chain that incorporates cold storage, laboratory and engineering services as well as state of the art packaging and labelling producers.

The sector employs 4,500 people in manufacturing related roles and generates £310m GVA which is boosted by the strong growth in the independent restaurant, bar and cafés, part of the strong cultural and visitor scene.

Malmo food park provides specialist facilities including food grade accommodation for SMEs and early-stage businesses and the University provides integrated scientific support for businesses, including the effect of nutraceuticals in humans. We’re home to household names such as Aunt Bessie’s, William Jackson, and McCain, producers such as Cranswick, Maizecor, AAK, Humdinger, Bright Blue foods and many more.

Hull is a predominantly manufacturing city and many global brands have been created here over many decades; and still are today. Recent large scale private sector investments in R&D and developing new technologies such as Reckitt’s £200m and Indivior’s £23m demonstrate the confidence large corporates have in the city. Collaborations between our largest companies and some of our smallest are encouraging entrepreneurship and ensuring home grown talent as well as the significant presence of the Hull York Medical School and support from C4Di and The University of Hull. Exciting plans to develop a medi-tech innovation hub are currently in the pipeline.

We boast one of the fastest growing digital sectors, supported by our incredibly fast and reliable infrastructure. Our gigabit per second download speed puts Hull at the top of the UK rankings and amongst the fastest in the world. Our local telecoms company KCOM has invested millions to put the city ahead of its competitors, delivering a full fibre to the premises roll out to across the entire city. This infrastructure has been further strengthened by the installation of the city-wide long range wide area network (LoRaWan) by Connexin to support business connectivity and internet of things devices. The City also has a 5G network. Hull is the most cost-effective places to run a tech company and currently there are around 7,000 people are employed in the sector with an average turnover by employee of £133,000. As a Smart City, we are working in partnership with Microsoft, Connexin and Cisco to develop a smart city platform and data lake. The tech incubator C4Di helps technology businesses develop and traditional business innovate. Blue chip companies such as PWC, Reckitt and Siemens Gamesa have all developed tech solutions working with the centre, which is the largest facility of its kind in the country. The Ron Dearing UTC, rated as outstanding by Ofsted, specialises in teaching 14–18-year-olds digital technology and provides a talent pipeline

The University of Hull plays a leading role nationally in the sector, the Viper supercomputer is the highest rated High-Performance Computing (HPC) centre in the North of England and has been used in global Covid 19 research. The Hull Immersive Visualization Environment (HIVE) provides researchers and industrial clients with advanced technologies such as a virtual reality immersive cube, VR theatre and gigapixel wall facilities.

43,000 homes and recycle 250,000 tonnes of waste per annum. The University combines academic expertise with energy industry know how at the Aura Innovation Centre where businesses can access innovation and collaboration support. A dedicated masters programme provides essential knowledge for the industry, where 27,000 new jobs are expected by 2030. Plans for the Yorkshire Energy Park, creating 4,000 jobs and providing low cost energy, business park and other developments are in the pipeline. Leading energy supplier E.ON, Asanti Datacentres, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities, BYD, Dell, WMG and local education provider Hull College, have already announced their support for the energy park plans.

We are an engineering and manufacturing powerhouse, home to global names such as Croda, Willerby Caravans, Siemens Gamesa, Reckitt, Ideal Heating, Daifuku Logan to name a few. 15% of the population is employed in this sector which is almost twice the national average.

Our strengths are in engineering, renewable energy and environmental technologies, the manufacture of caravans and modular buildings, healthcare products and printing and packaging. As a manufacturing city, we have a strong existing skills base and recent investments in R&D centres are creating real opportunities for the future. Our university has a number of research institutes and works with companies to develop IP rich products and processes in addition to providing specialist education and talent in line with industry needs. 80,000+ people are employed in manufacturing and 80% of the UK’s holiday home market is manufactured here.

Hull really is a UK leader in renewable energy with Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm just off the coast, we are perfectly placed for this growing industry as UK content becomes ever more important. We are home to Siemens Gamesa who already employ 1000 local people and are growing. They have invested significantly over recent years, keeping apace as the industry develops and now doubling the size of their facility to manufacture the next generation of offshore wind turbine blade. Future proofing operations and enhancing the longevity of the industry in the area is testament to the company’s commitment to the city. Suppliers and sub-contractors also operate around the port supporting the operations such as A2Sea and ALE. Significant developments in hydrogen production are also underway to the east of the city with Equinor developing facilities to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS). We are also home to one of the largest energy from waste plants in the UK that will produce enough energy to power

43,000 homes and recycle 250,000 tonnes of waste per annum. The University combines academic expertise with energy industry know how at the Aura Innovation Centre where businesses can access innovation and collaboration support. A dedicated masters programme provides essential knowledge for the industry, where 27,000 new jobs are expected by 2030. Plans for the Yorkshire Energy Park, creating 4,000 jobs and providing low cost energy, business park and other developments are in the pipeline. Leading energy supplier E.ON, Asanti Datacentres, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities, BYD, Dell, WMG and local education provider Hull College, have already announced their support for the energy park plans.

The Port of Hull is one of the UK’s leading ports handling 12 million tonnes per year across a variety of cargoes including lo-lo and ro-ro and 100,000 containers a year and is supported by a highly integrated cluster of logistics assets and expertise incorporating freight forwarding, distribution and warehousing. Specialist facilities such as the Siemens Gamesa terminal offering a range of port facilities including deep water berths, storage and heavy lift marine operations to a full turnkey service for wind farm and vessel operators are available. The Logistics Institute is a world-renowned centre for research, education and expertise in logistics and supply chain management.

The University of Hull plays a leading role nationally in the sector, the Viper supercomputer is the highest rated High-Performance Computing (HPC) centre in the North of England and has been used in global Covid 19 research. The Hull Immersive Visualization Environment (HIVE) provides researchers and industrial clients with advanced technologies such as a virtual reality immersive cube, VR theatre and gigapixel wall facilities.

43,000 homes and recycle 250,000 tonnes of waste per annum. The University combines academic expertise with energy industry know how at the Aura Innovation Centre where businesses can access innovation and collaboration support. A dedicated masters programme provides essential knowledge for the industry, where 27,000 new jobs are expected by 2030. Plans for the Yorkshire Energy Park, creating 4,000 jobs and providing low cost energy, business park and other developments are in the pipeline. Leading energy supplier E.ON, Asanti Datacentres, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities, BYD, Dell, WMG and local education provider Hull College, have already announced their support for the energy park plans.