All hail Derby city centre’s residential revolution!

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate magazine we delve deeper into the city centre’s residential boom.

In recent years, several major residential developments have sprung up in the heart of the city.

Some are complete, some are a work in progress, while others are in the pipeline.

Innovate takes a closer look at this phenomenon – and asks some of the developers behind these schemes what is driving demand for city centre living.

We speak to Donna Smith, sales director at Wavensmere Homes, the developer behind the stunning £170 million Nightingale Quarter development, which is being built on the site of the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

Featuring more than 900 new homes – not to mention the beautifully restored ‘pepper pot’ buildings – Nightingale Quarter is one of the biggest and most important UK city centre residential-led regeneration schemes carried out in recent times.

Demand is such that eight phases of the scheme are being undertaken simultaneously during 2023 and 451 homes are scheduled  to be completed this year alone.

Donna told Innovate: “We had a lot of people saying to us, ‘We’ll believe it when we see it’. But here we are. We have proved it. We have 265 homes occupied and interest remains so strong that we can’t build quickly enough.

“That’s why we have so many phases going on at the same time this year because sales are going so well.”

Just a stone’s throw away, Compendium Living is continuing to make progress with its £100 million Castleward regeneration scheme, which involves creating a brand new community on land between the railway station and Derbion.

Explaining why residential is booming in Derby at the moment, managing director Bruce Lister told Innovate: “There has been a move away from just looking at the high-profile cities in favour of those places which, without being rude, may have previously been considered to be secondary locations.

“I think cities like Derby have been a bit overlooked in the past and this is their day.”

And the revolution does not stop at Nightingale Quarter and Castleward.

Elsewhere in the city, Grainger Plc is about to launch its 259-apartment build-to-rent scheme, The Condor, at Becketwell, in the city centre.

Meanwhile, Elevate Property Group is building 258 apartments off Liversage Street.

And Wavensmere’s next venture will be to take forward development of the 11.5-acre historic Friar Gate Goods Yard off Uttoxeter Road, which is owned by Clowes Developments.

The intention is to build 275 homes, to restore the Grade II-listed Bonded Warehouse and Engine House buildings for mixed use commercial space, and to create green ‘pocket parks’ and a pedestrian link through the site.

Derbion owner Wilmslow is also getting in on the act with plans for hundreds of new homes on two key city centre sites.

Welcoming all the new residential developments, John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, told Innovate: “One only has to look at cities close to Derby, such as Sheffield and Nottingham, to see how you need people who live in the city in order for the centre to have vibrancy.

“Derby is next in line – and what is interesting about Derby is the pace has surprised us all.”

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