Work
Nuclear and clean energy, aerospace and advanced engineering, food and drink, creative firms and business services.
Read about WorkSomerset, England
Helping businesses relocate and thrive in Somerset
Somerset 3D is the county's inward investment service. We help firms find the right place to work, the people to grow with, and a life that is not organised around a long commute.
A work and life balance has always been part of the Somerset 3D offer. Photograph from the Somerset 3D archive.
570,000+People living in Somerset
About 2 hoursRail from Taunton towards London Paddington
£500m+Food and drink economy long highlighted by Somerset 3D
100+Businesses in energy and environmental technologies
Four ways in
The original site was organised around four questions every relocating business actually asks.
Grow
From sole traders to international groups, with advice on premises, planning, networks and the move itself.
Read about GrowConnect
The M5 and A303, mainline rail, two regional airports, and the business networks that make introductions useful.
Read about ConnectLife
Coast, levels, hills and market towns, with schools and homes that make a relocation realistic for a family.
Read about LifeFrom the news archive
These are the stories carried on the last full Somerset 3D homepage. Years follow the original events. A 2024 copy of the site had rewritten several of them to 2024.
New future for Great Western House in Taunton
How the Grade II listed Great Western House at Taunton station was restored as a hotel, conference space and small-business workplace.
£1.3bn Hinkley contracts ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ for South West
South West firms had won more than £1.3 billion of Hinkley Point C contracts by July 2018, with a longer supply-chain opportunity still opening.
Marks & Spencer reveal opening date for Bridgwater store
Marks & Spencer opened a Bridgwater Foodhall at Gallagher Retail Park on 20 June 2018, adding food retail and Click & Collect.
Sectors with room to grow
Companies move here to join clusters, not just to rent a cheaper building.
Nuclear and clean energy
Hinkley Point C, near Bridgwater, is one of Europe's largest construction projects, with about 900 operational roles expected over a 60-year life. Alongside it, Somerset 3D counted more than 100 firms in technologies from anaerobic digestion to solar.
Aerospace and engineering
The Yeovil area remains a centre for helicopters and advanced engineering, historically employing around 9,500 people in the wider sector Somerset 3D described, with a supply chain of smaller manufacturers around Leonardo and neighbouring primes.
Food and drink
Somerset has long claimed more farmers and food producers than anywhere else in the UK, feeding an industry the service valued at more than £500 million. Cider, dairy and specialist foods are made for export as well as for local markets.
Creative industries
Described on the original site as the county's fastest-growing sector, with small firms together contributing about £314 million. Design, digital, publishing and making cluster in towns such as Frome, Bruton and Glastonbury.
Business services
Somerset 3D put employment in business services at more than 31,600, many of them people who had moved out of Bristol, Bath or London. Taunton in particular gained professional services over a decade.
Visitor economy
Exmoor, the Quantocks, the Mendip Hills, Wells and the Somerset coast support hotels, food businesses and attractions that also make the county easier to sell to the staff you need to hire.
Property search
The original site linked to a live commercial property database. This rebuilt site keeps the same path and sets out the locations businesses still ask about, including strategic land, innovation centres and town-centre offices. An adviser confirms what is actually on the market.
Get in touch
Whether you are hunting for premises, checking transport, or asking what support is open, start with an email. There is a short film, Seize the opportunity, from the original service if you want the two-minute version first.
Areas of Somerset
Five geographies the original partners used. They are now part of one council, and the characters of the places have not merged.
Mendip
Wells, Frome, Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet and Street.
Sedgemoor
Bridgwater, Burnham, Highbridge, Cheddar and North Petherton.
South Somerset
Yeovil and the towns around the aerospace and food economy.
Taunton Deane
The county town and Wellington, on the Paddington main line.
West Somerset
Minehead, Watchet, Williton and much of Exmoor.
Questions businesses ask first
What is Somerset 3D?
Somerset 3D is the inward investment service for Somerset. It gives independent, practical advice to entrepreneurs and companies that want to move all or part of a business into the county, and to firms already here that want to grow.
Who is the service for?
It is for sole traders, growing small firms and larger organisations. The original service was delivered with Somerset's councils and covered premises, planning, networks, skills, and the practical side of moving a household.
Which industries are strongest?
Somerset 3D has long highlighted advanced engineering and aerospace, nuclear and clean energy, food and drink, creative businesses, and business services. Hinkley Point C, the Yeovil aerospace cluster and a large farming and food economy sit behind that mix.
How do I look for premises?
Use the property search to review the kinds of locations the county is known for, then send an enquiry. The old live property database is not connected to this rebuilt site, so an adviser needs to confirm what is actually available.
Do the old district councils still run the service?
No. On 1 April 2023 Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton (itself formed from Taunton Deane and West Somerset) were replaced by the unitary Somerset Council. The area guides on this site still follow those familiar geographies.
Who has delivered the service
Somerset 3D was created as a partnership between the public sector and people who wanted the county taken seriously as a business location. The crest line on the old homepage showed the county council and the five district councils. Those district councils no longer exist as separate authorities.
- Somerset Council
- Formerly Mendip
- Formerly Sedgemoor
- Formerly South Somerset
- Formerly Taunton Deane
- Formerly West Somerset