Derby to showcase £1.2bn of projects as property summit returns

Derby is to showcase £1.2 billion of investment opportunities when the Derby Property Summit returns next month.

Featuring a top line-up of respected keynote speakers and panellists, the event will take place in Derby city centre on Wednesday 14th July.

Over the last five years alone, £2.8 billion has been invested in Derby, while current public sector funding projects in the pipeline total is £267 million.

Sponsored by Adair, Scenariio and Faithful + Gould, it is set to attract business leaders, key decision-makers and investors from across the region and beyond.

Once again, the Derby Property Summit will be hosted by business journalist Declan Curry – but for the first time ever, it will be a hybrid event.

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The networking element will take place in the award-winning Market Place Al Fresco Dining Experience, with the conference held in the comfort of the QUAD cinema.

This year, the event has attracted an enviable line-up of keynote speakers – Paul Simpson, chief executive of Derby City Council, Paul Morris, development director at St James Securities, which is delivering the £200 million Becketwell regeneration scheme and Ken Ford, advisor to Cale Street, which owns the Derbion retail centre.

Derby City Council has been helping to spearhead Derby’s economic recovery following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Towards the end of last year, Derby launched a new Investment Prospectus and film.

The prospectus outlines 17 key investment opportunities in Derby, worth over £1.2 billion with the potential to create 8,000 jobs.

Great progress has already been made on many of the projects featured in the prospectus – and at the property summit, Mr Simpson is expected to give an update on these schemes – and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Mr Morris will share some updates on Becketwell – a regeneration project that is currently enjoying some real momentum.

This long-awaited mixed-use development, right in the heart of the city centre, is set to deliver new homes, offices, public space and a stunning new performance venue.

Phase one involves the construction of 259 build-to-rent apartments, along with a new public square.

Becketwell was boosted by the recent news that Grainger plc, the UK’s largest listed provider of private rental homes, had agreed to forward fund, acquire, and operate the build-to-rent element of the scheme at a cost of £37.375 million.

The second phase will involve creating a new 3,500-capacity performance venue – and recently it was announced that ASM Global had been named as preferred bidder to operate and manage it.

Another major investment Derby attracted recently is from Cale Street – the London-based Kuwait Investment Fund – which last year took full ownership of the Derbion shopping centre from Intu.

It has pledged further investments in the centre to enhance the customer experience.

At the Derby Property Summit, Mr Ford will explain why the fund was drawn to Derby as a place to invest – and outline some of its future plans.

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The summit will also include a panel discussion featuring Vicky Critchley, chief executive of Bam Boom Cloud, which recently moved its global headquarters to Derby city centre, Ruth Hobbs, whose company, Urban Sister, has been investing in transforming empty spaces in the city centre into high quality apartments, Kamil Omoteso, from the University of Derby, which recently unveiled its vision for a new business school in the city centre and Mike Wingfield, from Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust, which has an ambitious vision to make more of the city’s waterways.

John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said: “The Derby Property Summit has become a landmark event in providing delegates with insight into the investment journey and future pipeline.

“This year, we have an incredibly exciting line-up of speakers and panellists – all of whom are playing critical roles in repurposing Derby for the future.”

For safety and to facilitate quality networking, numbers at the Derby Property Summit will be limited to 120 delegates attending in person with unlimited numbers online. To date, over 300 people have registered to attend.

Tickets to the live event and face-to-face networking area are limited to event sponsors only.

To find out more about sponsorship opportunities e-mail Katie Wells at katie.wells@marketingderby.co.uk.

For more information or to register for the event please click here.