CityFibre’s investment in Yorkshire set to provide major economic boost for region

CITYFIBRE plans to bring jobs and investment to Yorkshire by dramatically improving the quality of internet access for business leaders and home owners.
Councillor Peter McBride of Kirklees Council with Kim Johnston and Stephen Moore of CityFibreCouncillor Peter McBride of Kirklees Council with Kim Johnston and Stephen Moore of CityFibre
Councillor Peter McBride of Kirklees Council with Kim Johnston and Stephen Moore of CityFibre

The company has appointed locally-based Kim Johnston and Stephen Moore as new city development managers (CDM), to support the implementation of a £150m project to transform Leeds and Huddersfield with a new full fibre digital infrastructure.

Cityfibre has also become the latest big corporate name to support The Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business awards.

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Work has started on a £30m Huddersfield project to extend the existing full fibre network to almost every home and business by 2021, enabling both residents and businesses to enjoy unlimited bandwidth and internet speeds of up to 1000Mbps.

The Leeds project will mark CityFibre’s largest scheme to date, with a £120m private investment and the construction of six new data centres to power the network across the city. An additional nine other locations in Yorkshire have also been earmarked as possible future locations for the rollout.

Ms Johnston worked as Leeds City Council’s business development officer for the health and wellbeing service for six years. In previous roles, she was the communications and marketing manager for Leeds Chamber of Commerce and the international sales co-ordinator for a fibre optic transmissions manufacturer.

Mr Moore has spent the last 10 years working for Kirklees Council, managing the council’s business engagement team. He was on the board of Superfast West Yorkshire and chairman of the Leeds City Region Digital Infrastructure Group through which partners engaged with the Government’s Local Full Fibre Network programme.

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Ms Johnston, CDM for Leeds, said: “I feel passionate about my home city of Leeds and am excited to be working with CityFibre to bring full fibre connectivity across the city.

“I am a strong advocate for community engagement, digital inclusion and partnerships to help make Leeds the best city to live, work and visit.”

“I’ll be collaborating closely with Leeds City Council to ensure a successful rollout and ensure the local community is kept informed at every stage of the process.”

Mr Moore, CDM for Huddersfield, said: “Huddersfield has much to gain from fresh investment in its broadband infrastructure.

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“I am thrilled to be joining CityFibre and would like to thank Kirklees Council and the wider community for the support that they have provided to date, which has helped to set the project off to a fantastic start.”

CityFibre is also sponsoring the Technology & Digital Award at The Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business Awards.

The winner of this category will have harnessed new technologies to give their firm the edge over the rest.

The 2019 event sees professional services giant Grant Thornton once again back the Companies with a Turnover of between £10m and £50m and Yorkshire Bank is sponsoring the Companies with a Turnover up to £10m category.

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They are joined in the main sponsors list by private equity giant LDC who are backing the Entrepreneur category.

Elsewhere, rail operator LNER will sponsor the Young Business category, and Openreach will back the Innovation Award. The closing date is June 7.

To enter visit www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/businessexcellenceawards/.