‘Building on Derby’s credible investment momentum and confidence in the city’

Derby has made a positive start to 2025, despite the challenging global economic climate – not to mention geopolitical uncertainties. Its largest private sector employer Rolls-Royce has recently landed a £9 billion submarines contract – while several major city centre developments are poised to come to fruition. Here, John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, the city’s award-winning investment promotion agency, explains how the city is planning to build on this “credible investment momentum”.

Derby is one of the UK’s economic success stories, which is why we promote it to investors as the UK Capital for Innovation.

This is beautifully illustrated by a couple of facts that I heard last year.

First, at the launch of the Derby Rail Campus, it was confirmed that the city is home to Europe’s largest rail cluster.

Here in Derby, we invent trains, design trains, build trains, procure trains, test trains and supply all the hi-tech systems needed to run trains.

The securing of a future for Alstom in the city last year and the arrival of Great British Railways both strengthen this fact.

Second, at our Marketing Derby London Embassy, held at Mansion House in the autumn, it was revealed that Rolls-Royce in Derby now accounts for an incredible 20% of all of the region’s exports.

Derby has always punched above its economic weight and when it comes to the city’s economy, my glass is most certainly half full.

The ongoing success of our major global OEMs – Alstom, Rolls-Royce and Toyota Manufacturing UK – provides a perfect platform for the many dynamic SMEs we host across the Derby area.

These companies are the real engine-room of any economy, and most certainly ours.

From an inward investment perspective, the attraction of innovative companies remains a Derby sweet spot.

Our greater challenge is focused on the city centre. It’s often said that Derby is the world HQ of Rolls-Royce, but its city centre doesn’t feel that way.

Last year, Which? magazine described Derby as the UK’s worst large city for visiting, and it’s been really interesting seeing the wider reaction to that unfortunate moniker.

First, many of London’s media came up to Derby to see for themselves, the result being gushing stories, in the Independent, Metro, Guardian and Times, of their surprisingly positive city experiences – a certain case of ‘undersell, overdeliver’.

The simple truth is that the triple whammy of the 2008 crash, growth in online sales and the Covid pandemic, hollowed out many UK city and town centres, including that of Derby.

For some time, there has been recognition that the city centre needs transforming and while that’s easy to say and very hard to do, over £1 billion has already been invested over the past decade or so.

2025 has been touted as Derby’s ‘olympic’ year, as the next wave of regeneration schemes see the light of day.

Between them, the Becketwell Live performance venue, Victorian Market Hall, University of Derby Business School and Eastern Gateway account for a further £150 million of investment, attracting hundreds of thousands of new visitors into the city centre.

Like many cities, Derby is having to pivot its centre to the diverse uses of living, working and visiting.

The Derby City Lab, currently in the Derbion and poised to relocate to Derby Market Hall, has been able to showcase much of the ambition to radically transform the city centre.

Public reaction has been phenomenal and more than 15,000 Derbeians have come into the lab to find out more about the city’s regeneration.

Yes, there are plenty of tough questions asked and many challenges made, but the bottom-line message from the public on the future city centre is an urge to ‘be brave’.

It seems most people want to see more change, bigger change, faster change.

The idea that Derbeians have no ambition for place has been well and truly buried in the thousands of interactions held at the lab.

Marketing Derby is currently working closely with the city council on pitching the next generation of investment opportunities to investors and government.

Next month, ‘Team Derby’ will once again be heading out to MIPIM to showcase these opportunities to an international investor audience.

We need to keep up the momentum of increasing the numbers living, working and visiting the city centre.

We have a strong and credible case to make based on a narrative that encompasses the nature of our economy and opportunities such as the northern gateway, north riverside and the station area, among others.

Attracting investment is a confidence building exercise and having created a credible momentum over the past few years, my glass is half full for 2025.