Locate in Kent

Kent has a number of advantages which contribute to our success and investor offer:

• Highly strategic location for quick access to London and Europe – through Channel Tunnel and high-speed train links running from Ebbsfleet and Ashford.
• Cost competitive location - up to 30% reduced operating costs in some sectors and significantly more cost effective than London and some other South East hubs.
• Home to over 400 foreign owned businesses - Kent offers all the business advantages that make the UK the 4th most popular destination for investment globally.
• Significant additional capacity in Kent - through major re-generation activities such as those at Ebbsfleet and Ashford.
• Kent is an excellent place to live - known as the “Garden of England”, there is over 360 miles of unspoilt coastline, 1000 sq miles of countryside and 67 golf courses.

Assistance and Support For New Business Investors

Best Service

Locate in Kent’s service is free and confidential - all enquiries are dealt with sensitively and professionally.

Our service is impartial and we only suggest solutions that are suited to your needs.

During the relocation or expansion process, Locate in Kent will work with you every step of the way, and then provide you with an aftercare service to assist in your integration, development and growth in the county.

Best Knowledge

Over the last 10 years, Locate in Kent has assisted over 500 companies to relocate or expand in the county. We have a team of experts with more than 50 years of experience between them, who understand the challenges and issues that a company faces when considering relocation. We also offer:

• Advice and guidance on available property.
• Access to our online commercial property database, covering the whole of Kent and Medway.
• Ready-made business networks to tap into.
• Customised research data to support a location decision: rent levels, demographics, salary costs etc.
• Information about eligibility and application for financial assistance.

Best Connected

We have excellent connections with Kent property agents, local authorities and businesses such as banks, HR specialists, legal firms and marketing companies. We can organise site visits, liaise with estate agents and get you talking to the right people.

We have strong relationships with the companies we have assisted, who are able to join our partnership scheme, offering them access to the people they want to do business with in Kent.

Existing Business Base

London and the South East have the largest pool of labour in a single region in Europe, with over 11 million potential workers. Kent and Medway itself has a population of over 1.6 million and a workforce of more than 780,000 people. More than 100,000 people commute from Kent into London, who in many cases would rather work closer to home.

There are some significant geographical clusters of employment in Kent:

• Transport and communications sector in East Kent (Ashford, the ports and the Channel Tunnel).
• Hotels and restaurants in Canterbury, Maidstone, Rochester and Tunbridge Wells (the primary tourist and conference centres of the region).
• Construction, banking, finance and insurance sectors in North and West Kent.
• Manufacturing (engineering) and contact centres in Medway and the rest of North Kent.

The area has established centres of excellence in food processing (Brake Brothers, Geest, RHM Frozen Foods), hi-tech engineering (BAE Systems, Delphi Automotive Systems, Fuji Copian), financial services (NatWest, Fidelity Investments, Lloyds of London, Alliance & Leicester, Jupiter, Man Financial), biotechnology and pharmaceuticals (Pfizer, Abbott, Genzyme), contact centres (Saga Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Telegraph Group, Eurostar, P&O Ferries), ICT (Computer Associates, JDA International, ISG Webb, Weidmuller, Telewest) and the automotive industry (Intier Automotive - formerly Magna, Cummins Power Generation).

Kent and Medway have a number of high performing sectors, which include knowledge based industries, for example, ICT, engineering, business and financial services, and life sciences. These sectors account for a fifth of Kent and Medway's workforce.