University of Northampton issues tannery challenge to UK leather industry
31/03/2015
A tannery is already in place at the current site occupied by the university’s Institute for Creative Leather Technologies (ICLT). However, the current location has been sold to help fund the move to Waterside. This means a change of location for the ICLT is unavoidable, but concerns have emerged about re-establishing the tannery on a new site.
Speaking in Hong Kong on March 30 at a meeting of former Northampton leather students, Mr Petford made it clear that there will be space at the Waterside site for the ICLT and for the tannery, but he called on the leather industry to help the university raise enough money for the project.
“We remain totally committed to leather provision,” he said, “but money is an issue. The university is working on a business case to set up a fundraising programme and this will involve bringing the tannery and other aspects of Northampton’s leather heritage, such as museum collections and conservation, together. Some funding is available, including from the European Commission, but for us to have an industrial voice as part of the bid is important.”
He said that tanners and other companies in the leather sector had a vested interest in providing help because the ICLT’s role is to prepare trained young people to come into the industry. “Between us,” he said, “we can form a very powerful group of partners and we can create something truly outstanding at Waterside; it’s an opportunity to build up a complete offer that covers the leather supply chain in its entirety.”
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