Latest News | 25 November 2020
Midlands spotlight turns on Infinity Park Derby
The investment opportunities at Infinity Park Derby took centre stage on the second day of the Midlands UK Forum for Growth.
Earlier today, Rachel North, strategic director for communities and place at Derby City Council, delivered a pitch at the event, which is being held entirely online, detailing the opportunities at the 100-acre site.
A designated Enterprise Zone, at the heart of the development is the iHub, an £11.8 million managed workspace and business incubator, managed by Connect Derby.
Speaking at her pitch, Rachel, who is also deputy chief executive at the city council, said: “In a post-Covid world, where we need to build back better, where we need to create the environment for real creativity and innovation in our economy, there is an opportunity to use the capacity at Infinity Park Derby to diversify, to decarbonise and to support the economic growth we so desperately need to maintain our economy into the future.”
Infinity Park Derby is just one of 17 major investment opportunities which have been included in a new 26-page Investment Prospectus, put together by the city council.
Yesterday, on the first day of the three-day Midlands UK Forum for Growth event, Councillor Matthew Holmes, Derby City Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transportation, along with the city council’s chief executive, Paul Simpson, delivered a presentation called Investing in Derby – UK Capital for Innovation.
They outlined ongoing projects, shovel-ready schemes and pipeline developments that have the potential to give the local economy a major boost – and gave an airing to a new three-minute film, which gave more details of each scheme.
Among them was Infinity Park Derby – home to the iHub, which houses a variety of innovative start-ups and SMEs across the high-tech manufacturing and engineering sectors.
It is set to be joined by another impressive building – an advanced manufacturing research centre.
Recently, the £15 million development took an important step forward after Derby City Council approved plans to deliver the new facility with its partners Nuclear AMRC, the University of Derby and IPD LLP.
Creating up to 70 high value jobs, it will be operated by Nuclear AMRC, part of the national High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which helps companies develop new techniques and processes to win work in the nuclear sector.
Upon completion, the facility will create a permanent base for Nuclear AMRC and become a base for the University of Derby’s Institute of Innovation in Sustainable Engineering.
Rachel said: “Infinity Park Derby is about being a catalyst for growth. It aims to create an environment for nurturing and fostering and promoting advanced manufacturing.”
Infinity Park Derby is a greenfield site to the south of the city, adjacent to Rolls-Royce’s global civil aerospace headquarters.
Also speaking at the Midlands UK Forum for Growth today was Nicola Swaney, education outreach manager at Rolls-Royce.
She was part of a panel discussion called Skills and Education – Building a Brighter Future.
To view both the Investment Prospectus and the new promotional film please click here.
