After a year of strong progress in supporting economic growth across East Anglia, Freeport East is setting out plans for continued investment and innovation this year.
n 2025, Freeport East:
Advanced around £250m of private sector investment and employment opportunities across its development sites.
Enabled over £200m of international inward investment into the wider East of England
Invested nearly £20m in skills, innovation and business growth programmes, supporting high-value jobs and new commercial space
Strengthened industry collaborations across maritime, clean energy, digital and logistics sectors to drive innovation
Set out plans to deliver up to 500MW of new electricity grid capacity to support regional investment
Secured strong backing from the UK Government as East Anglia’s only Industrial Strategy Zone, supporting delivery of the Industrial Strategy and priority sectors.
Steve Beel, CEO at Freeport East, said: “2025 has been about turning prospects into delivery on the ground. We’ve focused on unlocking infrastructure and grid capacity, supporting international investors, and ensuring long-term growth benefits communities and businesses across the region.
“The ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich continue to act as a key attraction for many advanced manufacturers, traders and clean energy companies looking to grow in the UK. In addition, the growing depth of digital technology and defence capabilities in the region, together with alignment with our world-class Universities, presents a range of high value opportunities we look forward to pursuing into 2026.”
Strengthening East Anglia’s role in trade, manufacturing and logistics
2025 saw continued investment activity that reinforced Freeport East’s position as a gateway for international trade and advanced manufacturing.
Highlights include:
Supporting Ukrspecsystems, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer, to establish a new facility in Suffolk, strengthening the region’s defence and advanced digital technology capabilities. The investment will help to strengthen East Anglia’s position as a centre for defence and advanced digital technology.
In May, Assan Panel, Turkey’s leader in sustainable construction materials, broke ground on its £45m UK manufacturing facility at Gateway 14, Stowmarket, creating more than 100 high-value jobs and strengthening UK-European trade links. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed to highlight a shared commitment to sustainable construction.
In July, Gateway 14 saw the completion of a new distribution centre for Bauder Ltd, supporting further investment in the company’s long-standing Ipswich operations and reinforcing Suffolk’s role in sustainable construction and green technologies.
Skills, innovation and business growth
Investment in skills and innovation remain a central focus. At Gateway 14, development continued on the £18m Stowmarket Innovation Gateway, a 35,000 sq ft Skills and Innovation Centre due to open in mid-2026.
Across Freeport East sites, more than 21 hectares of employment and innovation space are now operational or in development, supporting almost 2,000 direct jobs and wider benefits for local communities.
Freeport East also launched its new Head Office and Innovation Hub in Harwich, delivered with co-funding from the UK Government’s Prosperity Fund, strengthening collaboration between businesses, research organisations and local stakeholders in clean energy, maritime and digital sectors.
Alongside physical infrastructure investment, Freeport East expanded its business support programmes along with regional education and research institutions.
These included the launch of Cyber Innovate to Elevate with the University of Essex, supporting SMEs to strengthen cyber resilience, alongside skills and clean growth programmes delivered with Suffolk New College, the University of Suffolk and Tech East.
To date, 15 businesses across clean energy, infrastructure, agriculture and MedTech have been supported through Freeport East innovation and business funding programmes, with nearly £500,000 in grant funding awarded, supporting job creation, skills development and the adoption of new technologies across East Anglia.
Alongside its business support activity, Freeport East continues to champion practical clean energy solutions, including the launch of the From the Rooftops solar campaign with Ipswich.co.uk to promote rooftop solar adoption across the region.
Ongoing opportunities in clean energy
The recent award of development consent for the Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm, just off the Harwich coastline, marks another major step forward for offshore wind in the East of England, highlighting the scale of future opportunity for ports, supply chains and advanced manufacturing across the region.
Clean energy remains central to Freeport East’s long-term growth ambitions with ongoing development at Sizewell C, a range of ongoing developments in green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels, and continued transport decarbonisation demands, all offering new development and investment opportunities.
During 2025, Freeport East continued to strengthen East Anglia’s position as a hub for offshore wind, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. Activities included supporting sector engagement through clean energy cluster events, a successful summer reception in Harwich, engagement with a range of businesses and investors, and participation at major industry forums such as Global Offshore Wind and Offshore Energy.
Looking ahead: future growth aligned to the Industrial Strategy
As East Anglia’s only designated Industrial Strategy Zone, Freeport East plays a central role in delivering the UK’s Industrial Strategy and attracting funding and investment to support regional growth. Its focus spans clean energy, digital, advanced manufacturing and defence, alongside its core strength in ports and logistics, translating national policy into regional investment and growth while supporting high-potential local businesses to scale, including through international export opportunities.
Looking ahead to 2026, Freeport East will focus on facilitating strategic growth across Ipswich and Colchester, including new commercial space linked to garden communities, university-led innovation hubs, and research-based economic development. Supporting critical transport infrastructure, from regional to local levels, will also be a priority, with recent approval of growth plans at London Stansted Airport highlighting the importance of connectivity improvements such as the A120.
As Freeport East enters its fourth year, it remains focused on leveraging its Industrial Strategy Zone status to attract international investment, drive innovation, and ensure sustainable economic growth that benefits businesses and communities across East Anglia.
