Southern Regional Office
Our Southern Regional Office is located in Newry, Co.Down. The team works with businesses within the Ards and North Down Borough Council, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council areas.
We work in partnership with stakeholders to drive economic development, providing support to help export focused businesses think strategically and achieve greater export sales.
In the southern region we work with local and international businesses. The main sectors within the region include: Advanced Engineering & Manufacturing, Financial, Professional & Business Services, Agri-Food, Construction and Life & Health Sciences.
Southern Regional Office supported business performance
Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, we made almost 3,400 offers to local and international businesses. This support enabled over 1,100 businesses to bring forward projects that have the potential to create 3,230 new jobs in the area, and generate £448m of investment in the local economy.
More detail on our work in each specific council area is detailed below.
Council areas covered by the Southern Regional Office
Ards and North Down Borough Council
In the last five years we have provided support to 258 businesses in the council area to help them bring forward growth and expansion projects. Our support of £17m, combined with company investment, has the potential to generate £87m of investment in the local economy and create 628 new jobs.
Investment by international companies in the local District Council area has increased by 373 percent, up from £0.74m in 20-21 to £3.5m this year.
The local area has a strong Advanced Engineering & Manufacturing sector, with companies from the sector making up 72 percent of investment in the area this year.
Our work with businesses, and our support to help them invest in growth and create jobs is a significant contributor to the Ards and North Down area community plan targets.
You can find more detail on the business make-up of the area and our specific support in the following briefing:
Download the Invest Northern Ireland Council Briefing for the Ards and North Down Borough Council area (PDF)
Our support included £540k of Local Economic Development funding to the council to develop a range of key programmes. This support was part funded by ERDF, under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020. These programmes have helped businesses with digital support, exporting, EU Exit, procurement and COVID-19 advice and support.
Council led programmes include:
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council
Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, we provided financial support of £37m to 389 businesses based in the council area. As well as helping companies bring forward projects that will help them grow our support will potentially contribute towards almost £156m of investment in the local economy and the creation of 957 jobs.
Investment in R&D by local companies totalled £1.33m in 2021-22, an increase of 38 percent in the last 3 years.
Our support is also a significant contributor to the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council community plan targets.
You can find more detail on the business make-up of the area and our specific support in the following briefing:
Download the Invest Northern Ireland Council Briefing for the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area (PDF)
Our support included £1.2m of Local Economic Development funding to the council to assist business digital services, exporting, EU Exit, procurement and Covid-19 advice and support. This support was part funded by ERDF, under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.
Council led programmes include:
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
We are committed to helping businesses to grow and compete and to working with local stakeholders to drive economic growth. We work in partnership with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council to support it to support its Living Well Together community plan ;targets for investment and growth to the area.
Over the last five years we provided support of £37m to 469 businesses based in the council area. Our support combined with the company investment has the potential to generate £205m of investment in the local economy and help create 1,645 new jobs.
Last year we made 260 offers of support, which will contribute to almost £29m of investment commitments in the area, which will result in 230 jobs. This included a significant increase in investment by externally owned companies – an increase of 273 percent in the last year, from £1.33m in 2020-21 to £4.96m in 2021-22.
You can find more detail on the business make-up of the area and our specific support in the following briefing:
Download the Invest Northern Ireland Council Briefing for the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area (PDF)
Our support included £1.1m of Local Economic Development funding to the council to develop a range of key programmes to meet local business need including digital, exporting, EU Exit, procurement COVID-19 advice and support. This support was part funded by ERDF, under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.
Council led programmes include:
Entrepreneurship
We are keen to hear from entrepreneurs who want to start, build or scale new businesses or ideas; so if you have an idea for a new business, a new product, service, business model or a new market opportunity, the Southern Regional Office can help. We provide advice, guidance and financial assistance to support entrepreneurs through the business development process from ideation through to commercialisation.
We also work in partnership with councils, local enterprise agencies, accelerators and further education colleges, providing early stage business startups with a growth pathway that ensures access to the right advice and support at each crucial stage of development
Find out more about support for Innovation on the innovateni.com website
Invest Northern Ireland support
We work directly and indirectly with businesses across Northern Ireland.
Our approach to supporting businesses is based on three key elements:
- Providing information and advice, directly and through a range of information services
- Providing support to people wanting to set up their own business and helping new and existing businesses grow and move into new markets
- Providing tailored support to businesses that can make the greatest contribution to increasing productivity, innovation and export growth in Northern Ireland
Regional Manager - Mark Bleakney
Mark is the Invest Northern Ireland Southern Regional Office Manager. He has been in the role since 2004 and has extensive knowledge and experience in economic development and international business. He started his career in a global manufacturing business as an Industrial Engineer and has particular experience in the plastics, light engineering and heavy engineering sectors.
Not sure that this support is right for you? Contact us and we can explore options for your business together.
