iHub celebrates landmark anniversary with new arrivals

The iHub innovation centre on Infinity Park, which is managed by Connect Derby, is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a raft of new arrivals.

Since the £12 million centre was launched, the 45,000 sq ft facility, has gone from strength-to-strength, attracting some of the biggest names in the region’s automotive, rail and aerospace supply chain industries.

Tenants now include global aerospace giant Airbus; Composite Braiding, which specialises in thermoplastic composite braiding and VRCO, an advanced aviation company, which is developing the world’s first British-made flying car.

New tenants include leadership training and consultancy firm Project4 Learning Lab; French multinational technology consulting and engineering company, Alten and WePower Consulting, which helps businesses in the energy, construction, transport and recycling industries work towards emission reductions.

An agreement with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC) is set to bring yet more investment to the area.

The NAMRC has set up home at the iHub while a multi-million pound innovation facility on Infinity Park is being developed.

The iHub provides high quality, flexible workspace for start-ups, early stage businesses and high growth SME’s looking to expand their role within the transport engineering and hi-tech sectors.

As well as offering 18 traditional office workspaces, the managed workspace provides 14 ground floor workshops for businesses seeking a more hybrid working environment.

Ann Bhatti, head of Connect Derby said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the high level of success the iHub has achieved since it joined the Connect Derby portfolio of buildings.

“To maintain occupancy levels and be welcoming new tenants in the current economic climate is a fantastic achievement and reflects the high-quality accommodation and range of support services we have available.

“The iHub provides the exact kind of quality, diverse workspace that is in high demand in Derby.

“We look forward to the future and to seeing the iHub attract a whole new range of world-leading companies to Derby.”

Councillor Jonathan Smale, cabinet member for finance, assets and digital at Derby City Council, said: “The iHub continues to deliver year after year, even during testing economic climates, attracting some of the biggest names in the automotive, rail and aerospace supply chain industries.

“This success reinforces Derby’s reputation as the UK ‘capital for innovation’.

“The diverse portfolio of tenants demonstrates that there is strong demand for high quality workspace, facilities and partnerships.”