Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Wages: the mean salary in 2012 was $ 85,000
21
this is against the national mean
wage of $ 36,200
22
in the UK as a whole. A significant number of employees have
been drawn from the local community as companies have expanded. Many of the
posts are higher added value compared with the regional average, salaries are also
higher than the regional average and the level of qualification of the employees is
higher than comparable companies not on the Park. This is consistent with the
finding of the UKSPA study on the performance of science parks
23
which was
based on a study of matched samples of over 800 companies that clearly showed
companies on science parks had better qualified staff compared with their equiv-
alent non park based companies.
Numbers of companies on the Park: the current number of companies on the Park
is currently 180; however, this includes those in SET Squared and ISIC pre-
incubators. The number of those with contracts for occupation of space on the Park
is 123 and a proportion of these operate a number of subsidiaries which are
developing a range of technologies giving in the region of 140 companies. This
includes new companies in the pre-incubation phase. The number of companies
that have signed contracts directly with the Research Park Office, which does not
include those in pre-incubation, is over 580 since 1986.
The growth of tenant companies on the Park is shown in Fig.
10
. This includes
some companies that have technology based subsidiaries operating from the site
and those in the pre-incubation programme with SET Squared and the ISIC
pre-incubators.
Tracking companies over time has proved to be difficult because many com-
panies are acquired by larger companies or competitors in their sector. In this
process they lose their identities very quickly.
A number of the original occupiers of new buildings constructed on the Park
remain and have renewed their occupancy contracts. This demonstrates that the
companies are stable and that they are able to secure the skills that are necessary to
continue to develop their business.
Length of life: 80 % of the companies on the Surrey Research are more than
5 years old. The survival rate of Surrey companies is 80 % which is much greater
than the UK 5-year business survival rate of 44.4 %.
24
Capital raised: including IPOs and acquisitions it is estimated that around £1 bn of
investment has been made in the companies that currently operate or have operated
from the park in the period since its creation.
Company turnover: a study on the turnover (gross sales/number of employees) per
employee of the companies on the Surrey Research has shown that the average
21
Data from a sample of accounts of companies on the Surrey Research Park.
23
UKSPA 2002 The evaluation of the past & future economic contribution of the UK Science
Park Movement.
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