A new 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) innovation centre to help support entrepreneurs and start-up firms is to open in the centre of Oxford.

Due to launch in March, Science Oxford confirmed that the facility will form part of the site that will feature a £30m science centre designed by Foster + Partners. Science Oxford has acquired Macclesfield House - a former county council building - that is to provide the location for a cultural centre for enterprise and will open by 2015.

Macclesfield House will be rebranded as the Oxford Centre of Innovation and will provide offices and business support for up to 30 firms. Oxford Innovation will run the facility, Science Oxford chief executive Dr Ian Griffin said: "Our plan is to give Oxford a public face for science and enterprise and to create a major tourist destination."