Envoy conducted an evaluation of the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (“CEME”). The evaluation focused on the social and economic impact created by the provision of rented office and workshop space to tenants, and the business support provided to tenants on the CEME site.

The evaluation highlighted how and why CEME impacts its tenants, and highlighted the factors that were fundamental in driving business growth and development.

The evaluation showed that:

• Job growth at CEME is seven times higher than for the UK overall,
• Tenants believe that CEME has made a positive contribution to their organisation. In particular, the high quality of the CEME campus gives tenants credibility to their customers, and aids their recruitment,
• The total economic impact of businesses based at CEME is around £53 million per year,
• £4 of social and economic value is created for every £1 invested by CEME.

Bill Williams, CEO of CEME, said:

“The best things about Envoy’s work were: their enthusiasm to undertake a high quality and accurate project and report. A very flexible approach to scoping and the workstreams, and excellent communication throughout the process. The Envoy team communicated equally well with customers and CEME staff as well as the CEME board and key stakeholders.”

The evaluation included a Social Return on Investment (SROI) and Gross Value Added (GVA) analysis. Primary research was conducted with tenants’, tenants’ staff, the CEME board, CEME staff, and wider stakeholders such as local authority representatives. The GVA was built on an analysis of CEME’s accounts and publicly available accounts from CEME’s tenants, as well as feedback from tenants.