Multi-million project putting town at centre of health education and innovation

THE NATIONAL HEALTH INNOVATION CAMPUS WILL BE ACROSS SEVEN BUILDINGS

- By ANDY HIRST AND WAYNE ANKERS

HUDDERSFIELD is on track to becoming the UK’s health education and innovation hub with millions of pounds and other support available to attract businesses to the town.

The town already has a pioneering partnership with the local health trust and has the first community diagnostic centre on any university site in the UK, with part of it now open and the rest to follow in January 2026.

The University of Huddersfield is building a National Health Innovation Campus which will eventually have seven buildings - the second is now on course to open at the beginning of 2026 - offering huge scope for health and wellbeing-related businesses to move next to the training and research expertise developing within the campus and benefit from it, along with other teaching hospitals and universities across the north of England.

Liz Towns-Andrews, regional and business lead for the National Health Innovation Campus and board member at Huddersfield Unlimited - the organisation that champions Huddersfield’s businesses, investors and communities - revealed that several businesses are showing an interest in the opportunities in the town.

“We will have access to acute care, primary care and community care all on the same campus which is really unusual, highly innovative and which is why it’s sparking such interest among businesses looking to move here,’ she said.

“Huddersfield is also ideally placed in a central spot between Leeds, Greater Manchester and Sheffield with all that knowledge and expertise to draw on alongside what we can offer here.

“Access to knowledge is a key driver for businesses and Huddersfield is so central to a talent pool and Knowledge pool in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Manchester.