Derby’s investment success in delivering the ‘live, work, visit’ ambition

At this year’s UKREiiF, delegates heard some of the success stories behind the £1.83bn invested in the last ten years in Derby city centre which are bringing in more people to live, work, and visit.

Derby’s ‘residential revolution’ is resulting in thousands of new homes being built in the city centre.

Currently, almost 8,000 city centre residential units are proposed, in planning, under construction or completed.

John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby said: “Those figures will have an incredible impact on the city centre, with around 10-15,000 additional people living in the DE1 postcode, building new communities and bringing footfall to the streets.”

“And that is an attractive proposition for businesses locating in the city centre looking to attract new customers and recruit staff.”

Speaking as part of a panel discussion held at UKREiiF, investors and experts explained why the residential property market is booming in Derby and why they were attracted to invest in the city.

Wavensmere Homes is a Birmingham based company, which is investing heavily in Derby. The firm has almost finished delivering the £175 million Nightingale Quarter scheme, which will see 925 new homes built on the site of the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary in just five years.

And Wavensmere, working alongside Clowes Developments, has recently received planning permission for a £75 million project to transform the derelict Friar Gate Goods Yard site into a mixed-use scheme, featuring 274 homes.

Speaking at the panel, managing director James Dickens said he was particularly excited about bringing forward the Friar Gate Goods Yard scheme.

He said: “The star of the show on this site is the Bonded Warehouse. The building is so special – and will create around 100,000 sq ft of high spec commercial space, including a restaurant and co-working space.”

Wavensmere is also hoping to build a major apartments scheme in Full Street, on a site near to the River Derwent.

James continued: “We love Derby. The planners at Derby City Council have been great and John (Forkin) and the team at Marketing Derby have been very good to us after bringing us in originally.”

And when asked why Wavensmere decided to invest, James said: “It is a city with the highest average salaries outside of London and the South East – they got me at ‘hello’!”

Also on the panel was Paul Morris, director at St James Securities, the company which is delivering the £200 million Becketwell regeneration scheme.

Phase one of the scheme, which consists of The Condor – a building belonging to Grainger Plc, which is made up of 259 build-to-rent apartments – and a new public square.

Phase two, which involves the creation of a new 3,500 capacity performance venue, to be operated by ASM Global and being constructed by Bowmer + Kirkland, is due to be completed in early 2025 – a year which Councillor Baggy Shanker, the leader of Derby City Council, has described as Derby’s ‘olympic’ year.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Paul said: “2025 is very, very real.

“When we first came to Derby, we couldn’t quite believe the opportunity that we found here.

“The Becketwell site was six acres in the city centre suffering from dereliction. We could see the area was ripe for regeneration and investment. There was a vision to reenergise the city centre and our mantra was ‘live, work, play’ – we’ve been true to that in bringing forward the site.

“Since then, over the past seven years it has changed beyond recognition – and that change is still happening.”

Opportunities to invest in the final phases at Becketwell are available, which could include Build-To-Rent, office, commercial space and an up-scale hotel as the scheme continues to deliver against the city’s live, work, play ambition.