The £9bn deal – how nuclear sector will propel Derby’s UKREiiF pitch

Team Derby is taking an unrivalled pitch to this year’s UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds (20-22 May) due to the city’s dominance in the UK’s nuclear sector and its impact on the city’s investment prospects.

Derby is home to Rolls-Royce’s nuclear defence operations and in January, the engineering giant signed the largest Ministry of Defence contract in its history, worth £9 billion.

Dubbed ‘Unity’, the contract stretches for eight years and will result in hundreds of new jobs at Rolls-Royce Submarines’ Raynesway site, in Derby, which designs, builds and maintains all of the nuclear reactors that power the Royal Navy’s fleet of submarines.

It comes on the back of the MoD’s AUKUS submarines deal, worth over £1 billion, in 2023.

John Forkin, managing director at Marketing Derby, said: “This is one of the UK’s biggest single investments and will prove transformational for Derby and the wider region.

“The city is already the longstanding global hub for Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division and the current growth of the company’s nuclear operations is a reflection of the talent and expertise of the Derby workforce.”

The investments are already having an impact in Derby and are catalysing a range of investable opportunities across asset classes, including industrial/logistics, office and residential, with several infrastructure projects already underway to support developments in the nuclear sector.

AtkinsRéalis has been appointed by Rolls-Royce, along with Mott MacDonald, as its new fissile design partners for the expansion of its Raynesway site.

The globally renowned engineering and development consultancy is supporting Marketing Derby in its programme at UKREiiF this year.

On Tuesday 20 May, AtkinsRéalis will join a Derby showcase panel at UKREiiF looking at the impact of Rolls-Royce’s major nuclear submarines contracts on the city’s economy and other investment opportunities across all classes in Derby.

And on Wednesday 21 May, AtkinsRéalis will support Marketing Derby in running a private roundtable event with a group of its private sector Bondholders from the property and investment sectors.

A full write-up of the discussion will be published in the autumn edition of Innovate Magazine.

Derby is also home to Rolls-Royce’ Nuclear Skills Academy, which opened in 2022 on Infinity Park Derby and is working with the University of Derby and the National College for Nuclear to create a pipeline of nuclear engineering talent.

Infinity Park Derby has been announced by the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) as one of the sites in the new East Midlands Investment Zone, which will offer various incentives to advanced manufacturing businesses and green industries locating there and aims to drive growth and generate thousands of high-value jobs.

EMCCA is working with Derby City Council and local partners on an allocation of funding from its Investment Fund for a R&D facility on the Investment Zone to support the advanced manufacturing and nuclear sectors.

Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward and Councillor Nadine Peatfield, leader of Derby City Council and deputy mayor of EMCCA, will join Derby’s showcase panel at UKREiiF to talk about their support for key sector developments in Derby and the pipeline of opportunities.

To register your interest, as a UKREiiF delegate, in attending the Derby panel, contact Christopher Tebbs at christopher.tebbs@marketingderby.co.uk