Environment Awards: Green Champion Award Winner: Matt Jukes

Matt Jukes, the port director of Associated British Ports (ABP) in Hull, has spent much of the past two years locked in negotiations with some of the world’s leading technology firms in a bid to convince them to locate their planned new manufacturing plants at his port.

The untold hours of work finally paid off earlier this year when Siemens announced it had chosen the port of Hull ahead of others further up the east coast as the preferred location for a massive new wind turbine factory, creating hundreds of new jobs for the area.

“It was a very competitive process,” Mr Jukes said. “The discussions started back in 2009 with all the big wind turbine manufacturers and there was a whole team effort going into this.

“But we felt we had a lot of positives going for us, and that our site really fitted the bill. If Yorkshire is the heart of the UK, then the Humber is the artery that serves that heart.”

It was back in late 2008 that the global recession began to severely impact the market for sea containers, forcing Mr Jukes to look for other opportunities for his business.

The Government’s announcement of several vast new wind farms off the east coast the following year, requiring thousands of 400ft turbines to be built and serviced over the years to come, was the spark for the creation of the new industry he was looking for.

Several major international firms announced plans to locate new turbine factories at port locations along the coast – and a scramble was under way between different regions to attract them to their own sites.

The stakes could hardly have been higher. Experts believe the arrival of one major factory will create potentially thousands of jobs along a regional supply chain – which will, in turn, encourage other major manufacturers to base themselves nearby.

The announcement from Siemens earlier this year that Hull was its port of choice was therefore a genuine coup for Yorkshire. “I would say this is the single biggest opportunity we have,” Mr Jukes said. “In somewhere like Hull, where the unemployment rates are higher than almost anywhere in the UK, this will create long-term jobs.

“The other point is that we believe this will be a catalyst – if manufacturers like Siemens come to Hull, then we expect others to follow. It’s our ambition to create a cluster here.”

Mr Jukes called on the coalition Government to now reiterate its commitment to renewable energy and “secure the investment for Yorkshire”. And he was quick to stress that while Siemens has announced Hull is its preferred location, the final deal is still to be agreed.

“We haven’t got a done deal yet,” he said. “But we are going the right way.”