Doug Millington, General Manager, of Westlakes Properties says "We are delighted to be working with Net North West to provide our tenants with powerful Broadband access.   This development will ensure that the Park is in a position to take advantage of the general growth in knowledge based industries in the North West and the recent announcement that the headquarters of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is to be located in West Cumbria .   We will be offering tenants comprehensive, cost effective Broadband access later this year."

The service, which is scaleable, is initially based on non-contended access to the internet at 34Mb/s and can be quickly upgraded to support 155Mb/s, or greater, without further civil engineering.

ICON Controls have acted as Project Managers and Consultants for Westlakes.   Bob Allison, Managing Director of ICON said, "As a Tenant of Westlakes it has been very exciting for us to manage this Project as the provision of Broadband will be beneficial to us.   I am hopeful that ICON will be amongst one the first companies on the Park to take advantage of this tremendous service."

Net North West is the major provider of leading edge connectivity to the creators of Knowledge in the North West, including Universities, Higher Education Institutions, Research establishments, Science Parks and Incubation Centres. It is committed to the support of the Knowledge Economy for the whole region and is delighted to welcome Westlakes to its powerful regional network as well as providing access to the rest of the World via the Internet. It is working with Your Communications, another major regional supplier of modern communications resources, to install the connection and feels confident that the outcome will lift Westlakes and its surrounding communities to a new plateau of opportunity

Wilf Gardner, Business Development Manager, for Net North West said "We have worked long and hard with Westlakes and key regional agencies to facilitate this challenging connection in West Cumbria. It is great to see such an outcome and Westlakes tenants will now be directly connected to the motorway of the future with the same resources as are available anywhere else in the NW, in the UK or indeed in the World.

For further information please contact:

Mr Tim Hirst, Chief Executive Officer, Westlakes Properties Limited, Ingwell Hall, Ingwell Drive, Westlakes Science & Technology Park, Moor Row, Cumbria, CA24 3JZ, telephone number: 01946 595290, e-mail: dat@westlakesproperties.co.uk

Wilf Gardner, Business Development Services, Net North West Ltd,

Tel: 01204 307346, e-mail: wilf.gardner@wilfdotgardner.co.uk