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Derby Perspective is an annual business publication covering the work of regeneration and development organisations across the city of Derby in England's East Midlands.
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pers
pective
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Derby’s regeneration m
agazine
www.derbyperspective.com
Derby’s regeneration magazine /issue number five
derby’s £250 million – the second wave of investment
Good vibrations
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© 3Fox International Limited 2012. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of 3Fox International Limited is strictly forbidden. The greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy of information in this magazine at the time of going to press, but we accept no responsibility for omissions or errors. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of 3Fox International Limited.
Editor: Siobhán Crozier Art direction: Smallfury Designs, Katrin Smejkal Production editor: Rachael Schofield Freelance editor: Sarah Herbert Trainee reporter: James Wood Head of business development: Paul Gussar Business development manager: Dan Leyland Production assistant: Jeri Dumont Subscriptions manager: Simon Maxwell Office manager: Sue Mapara Managing director: Toby Fox Published by: Lower Ground Floor, 189 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TB T: 020 7978 6840 Subscriptions and feedback: www.derbyperspective.com Printed by: Trade Winds Images: Marketing Derby, Tristan Poyser Photography, Venture Xtreme, Faulkner Browns Architects, Rolls-Royce plc, Network Rail, Bombardier, Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited, ASK Italian, Tracsis, HEROtsc, Tioga, Neale Haynes / Contour by Getty Images Front cover image: Music equaliser blurred graph ©istockphoto.com/franckreporter
04 UPDATE Who is investing and what is being delivered through Derby’s £2 billion regeneration programme
08 MARKETS Commercial, retail and residential sectors – the numbers
10 RETAIL AND RELAXATION Derby businesses are defining distinct quarters
16 PUBLIC SECTOR INVESTMENT Derby City Council kickstarts schemes with £250 million investment
23 TECHNOLOGY Innovation in trains, planes and automobiles
28 ACCESSIBILITY Derby embraces multiple modes of transport, with plenty of parking
32 MAP Delivered, under way and coming soon – what’s happening
34 PROJECTS A snapshot of major schemes in the city’s regeneration
40 INWARD INVESTMENT Three of Derby’s recent investors on what attracted them to the city
46 MADE IN DERBY Tioga thrives after surviving recession
CONTENTS ISSUE 05FIV
E
Derby’s regeneration magazine
16
QUOTE OF THE ISSUE:
“Derby is a city with business at its heart, which
is why global icons such as Rolls-Royce made their home here”
SIR NIGEL RUDD
10 40
HEROtsc has opened a new operations centre on Pride Park, representing the biggest investment in the city since the arrival of Toyota in 1989.
The new contact centre for Sky customers started operations in late January 2012, with more than 1,000 calls being taken on the first day.
The company will initially bring over 800 new jobs into Derby, with the site eventually employing 1,500 new staff within 18 months.
At the opening HEROtsc chief executive David Turner revealed that a key factor in choosing Derby was a belief that there was a ‘vibrant and talented’ labour market available in the area.
news
Update Latest news from the £2 billion regeneration programme totransform Derby’s city centre
04
Bombardier back on track
INDUSTRY
COMMERCIAL
Derby’s biggest business boost for 20 years
Derby train manufacturer Bombardier has secured a £188 million contract, supplying 130 Electrostar train carriages to Southern Railway – which operates in South London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent – for December 2013.
This improved security is particularly welcome following the controversial loss of a £1.4 billion Thameslink deal to Siemens, a rival company from Germany, which resulted in hundreds of job losses.
Justine Greening, the transport secretary, said the contract was brilliant news for Derby and Bombardier.
She said: “I look forward to the Bombardier workers in Derby being among the winners of this important deal. Our determination to invest in British railways – and our support for Southern – will boost capacity while helping British jobs. I can’t think of a better outcome.”
Bombardier is also bidding for two other vital contracts: building 60 trains for the London Crossrail project, which would be worth £1 billion; and eVoyager, which involves converting a fleet of diesel-powered trains to hybrid electric power.
HRH The Prince of Wales visited Bombardier’s Derby site in February, where he spent more than an hour talking with engineers and apprentices.
In Casino Royale, James Bond’s bespoke Aston Martin DBS has interior and exterior components produced by epm:technology for Aston Martin. In this – Daniel Craig’s first 007 film – epm’s defibrillator saves Bond’s life.
The Draycott-based group plans to expand its 70-strong workforce to 100 employees throughout the next year. The firm produces carbon fibre composites for high performance customers, including three Formula 1 teams.
Bespoke projects include support for British Olympic
watersports teams, as technical partners to UK Sport. For Beijing, epm manufactured lightweight paddles and oars matched to canoeists’ and rowers’ individual techniques, helping these UK teams to nine-medal success.
Managing director and owner of epm Graham Mulholland says: “Manufacturing and engineering is finally getting the credit it deserves for the huge contribution that it makes to the country’s economy – showing that the UK isn’t just about the service sector – we do actually make things.”
F1 and Olympic champions
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Pride Park could see rock-climbing, motocross and skydiving if plans for a £70 million extreme sports centre – the first of its kind in Europe – come to fruition. A private company would develop the site – near the Derby Velodrome and Pride Park Plaza – to be built in the next two years, creating 460 jobs.
INDUSTRY
Rolls-Royce powers on
Rolls-Royce has won a share of the £400 million nuclear contract between the French and UK governments to create eight power plants. It will partner Areva in supplying nuclear reactors and engineering for the plants.
Robert Davies, vice president of new builds at Areva UK, said: “Rolls-Royce will become our prime manufacturing partner to supply some £100 million of key critical components of the reactor for each next-generation nuclear power plant constructed in the UK.”
Winning the contract has built on February’s good news that Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engine (pictured below) completed its first test flight in France. With more than 1,110 already sold, the engine has become the fastest-selling Trent engine ever.
Station renewal Work has begun on the first part of Derby City Council’s £2.2 million scheme to improve public realm in front of the railway station. Plans include an enhanced bus interchange and taxi rank and better lighting, new public art, increased cycle storage and an altered parking layout.
Denby expansionDenby Pottery is planning to expand its visitor centre, increasing retail and tourist facilities, building an 80-bedroom hotel, a ‘village inn’ and outdoor activity, creating up to 600 jobs.
Political changeWith political control of Derby City Council shifting to Labour on 23 May, as Perspective went to press, leader-elect Councillor Paul Bayliss confirmed his party’s commitment to regeneration. He told the Derby Telegraph that his priorities are economicgrowth, looking to build more social housing and pushing the neighbourhood agenda.Bayliss plans to build on the impact of the council’s £10 million regeneration fund: “The fund has been very good at attracting developers into the city. I think there is an opportunity to work with existing employers to allow Derby’s unique mix of hi-tech engineering firms to generate jobs and training opportunities.”Derby is also to gain investment of £40 million as part of the nationwide £950 million Regional Growth Fund, supporting projects that create jobs.
£70m extreme sports cubeSPORT
06
Silk Mill Hijacked
Derby’s 18th century Silk Mill has reopened to host an international photography exhibition. The industrial museum within the building was temporarily shut down in 2011 for refurbishment and to help develop a new vision.
The third biennial Hijacked series showed until May 2012, featuring work from 32 photographers from the UK and Australia. Hijacked III ran simultaneously with QUAD in Derby and a partner version at PICA in Perth, Australia.
Derby City Council has appointed Bauman Lyons architects to help develop the concept for the building.
Stuart Gillis, head of transforming Derby Museums said “Derby Silk Mill is an incredibly important building and we are undertaking major changes to realise its potential.” The building has the remarkable claim to be the site of the world’s first factory and it is an integral part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
REGENERATION
EDUCATION
Expanding minds and campusesPlans are being drawn up by the University of Derby for a £9 million sports development at its Kedleston Road campus. Serving both students and the community it will include a sports hall and a football and tennis arena, overlooked by a two-storey pavilion.
It is the latest in a series of major projects by the university, which include acquiring Derby Theatre and opening a business arm in Bridge Street, called University of Derby Corporate.
The university also announced in February that it has invested a seven-figure sum into buying Lonsdale House, near its Enterprise Centre and Banks Mill Studios.
Meanwhile, Derby College could establish a new Ilkeston campus for 1,000 students and staff, if multimillion pound plans get the go-ahead. On the former magistrates court in New Lawn Road, the campus would be funded by the redevelopment of the existing campus on Field Road into a 6000sq m supermarket, plus 44 houses.
The plans went out to public consultation in March 2012, with the idea of completing the campus by September 2013.
St Modwen has been selected as partner for a joint venture (JV) with Network Rail to develop the 28-ha Chaddesden Triangle next to Pride Park, the largest brownfield site in Derby. Plans for the site include shops and a large supermarket, and will create hundreds of new jobs.
Stuart Kirkwood, head of development for Network Rail, said: “Network Rail is committed to realising the potential of its estate in order to invest in the railway. This development will create jobs in Derby and drive regeneration.
Kirkwood added that competition was strong: “But St Modwen presented the best
overall combination of attributes and as a result, has been selected as development partner to form the joint venture.”
Bill Oliver, chief executive of St Modwen, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been chosen by Network Rail as its partner on this prestigious and strategically important development opportunity and look forward to progressing the regeneration of the site.”
There was strong interest in the opportunity, with the initial round of bidding producing 15 expressions of interest. A shortlist of seven was then compiled, of which St Modwen was selected as the preferred bidder.
Derby has returned from MIPIM promising £300 million of capital investment in the city over the next 12 months.
Adam Wilkinson, chief executive of Derby City Council, said: “It’s probably our best MIPIM ever. We’ve had a great deal of interest from the level of investor that probably hasn’t engaged with Derby much in the past. It’s very positive.”
David Turner, chief executive of HEROtsc, which has recently moved into Pride Park (page 4), was a keynote speaker at the Cannes property event. He said: “We were impressed with the professionalism and enthusiasm of Marketing Derby and Derby City Council. Their attitude was both refreshing and invigorating.”
There was news of additional investment in affordable office space in the city centre to encourage start-up businesses. So far, the council’s £10 million regeneration fund has created more than 1800 jobs.
Network Rail chooses St Modwen as JV partner
£300m investment in the Cannes
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STRONG MANUFACTURING AND HIGH EARNINGSDerby’s economy has a good record of growth fuelled by a healthy private sector and strong manufacturing exports, especially in aerospace and transport engineering. The financial crisis and recession has inevitably had an impact, but the city still has good reason to be confident for the future. The Centre for Cities thinktank tracks the economic performance of 64 UK cities, and its report in January 2012 puts Derby in third place for manufacturing jobs.
The city also has relatively high ranking for its GVA per capita (19th) and growing population (22nd). Average weekly wages are higher in Derby than elsewhere in the East Midlands and the city’s residents also have higher NVQ4 qualifications than regionally.
Advanced manufacturing remains Derby’s
greatest strength, accounting for 20,000 jobs, and high technology employs almost 12% of the whole workforce.
The city’s employment profile in 2011 included 31.3% in the professional and technical occupations (higher than elsewhere in the East Midlands) and 12.1% in skilled trades and administrative work (higher than the national average).
Derby’s hi-tech focus is clearly reflected in the greater than average level of earnings enjoyed by full-time employees in the city. Like everywhere else, unemployment has inevitably hit the city in recent times and the JSA claimant count was 5.3% in January 2012. On a more positive note, however, the rate was almost 5% two years ago and Derby’s increase in unemployment during the second half of 2011 was no higher than the national average.
Vital statisticsDerby’s performance in the office, retail and leisure sectors – David Gray looks at the figures
Engineering has a status here. People appreciate working in engineering and manufacturing and there is a tradition of good labour relations, and harmonious management.TONY WALKERDeputy managing director, Toyota UK
What they say about Derby…
Great Britain £26,135
East Midlands £23,990
Nottingham £23,700
Birmingham £25,995
Derby City £32,250
Source: NOMIS, 2011
AVERAGE ANNUAL GROSS EARNINGS PER FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE, 2011
09
Derby £9.00
Birmingham £25.50
Nottingham £19.50
Sheffield £15.00
Leicester £14.00
This is a city with a vision, that has a strategy. For those people looking to invest in a city, you will be pleasantly surprised by what Derby has to offer today and what it can offer in the future.DAVID TURNERChief executive of HEROtsc
Derby is a city with business at its heart, which is why global icons such as Rolls-Royce made their home here.SIR NIGEL RUDD
Derby is attracting an influx of well-qualified professionals seeking a higher quality of life.FINANCIAL TIMES
COMPETITIVE SPACEOffice space in Derby is highly competitive in relation to other cities in the region, especially for premises in the city centre. Prime new offices achieve rentals of £16.50 to £18.50 per square foot (psf) and this is also lower than cities such as Nottingham and Birmingham. Pride Park
AVERAGE CITY CENTRE RENTAL VALUE 2011 (£PSF)
AFFORDABLE HOMESDerby is one of the most affordable UK cities in which to live. Land Registry figures for January 2012 show the average property price in the city (£104,157) was just 64.5% of that for England and Wales (£161,545).
Looking at different types of property, sale prices in Derby in January 2012 were:
delivered a good supply of Grade A stock, but this is fully developed and there is demand for quality space in Derby’s city centre, which needs greater choice to match Nottingham and Leicester. Planning consent was in place by late 2011 for 775,000sq ft of space. Work has begun on a major project in Friar Gate, Derby’s first speculative office scheme in 20 years.
There is currently 650,000sq ft of floorspace available within the boundaries of Derby City Council’s area, most of it in out-of-town locations. Office yields in 2011 are estimated to have been 7.5%, compared to 6.75% in Nottingham and 6% in Birmingham.
Derby’s retail ranking is 26th nationally, according to Colliers, but it has been revitalised by Westfield shopping centre. Prime city centre retail rents 2011 were £170psf, considerably lower than either Nottingham (£210psf) or Birmingham (£275psf).£152,013 nationally
£67,059 for flats
£121,860 nationally
£69,284 for terraced
£153,729 nationally
£99,211 for semi-detached
£254,943 nationally
£198,867 for detached houses Source: Thomas Lister Office Market Assessment for Derby City Council 2011
retail and relaxation
Derby’s varied retail offer is reflected in its thriving shopping streets.
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Derby’s historical Cathedral Quarter has charmed its way into the pockets of the city’s spenders since becoming a Business Improvement District (BID) – now St Peters has been given the green light to follow in its footsteps. The result is a city centre with many vibrant sides. Elizabeth Pears reports
Something in the quarters
Shoppers are tough customers. They like the traditional feel of the high street, just as much as they enjoy the convenience of a gargantuan shopping centre. They appreciate the affordable fashion chain stores provide, but still want to reflect their individual flair.
And they don’t want to simply shop, they want an experience: a cafe to relax in and take a load off their feet or their mind, or to find a hidden gem they never knew they wanted in a side street they normally walk past.
In a world where they say you can’t be all things to all people, Derby’s response is, actually, you can. Considering the city has jumped from 63 to 31 in the national CACI retail rankings, the evidence proves Derby has earned bragging rights.
Without a doubt, the arrival of the £340 million Westfield shopping centre in 2007 was a major coup: one million square feet of retail heaven, a 12-screen cinema and a choice of eateries to please all palates, which sees 25 million visitors treading its gleaming floors each year.
Janine Bone, Westfield Derby centre manager, said: “The centre has been recognised as a key factor in the regeneration of the city, helping to attract both new visitors and further investment.
“Our marketing is focused on secondary and tertiary
12
retail and relaxation
was smaller, independent, premium, slightly quirky stores you won’t find in a large shopping mall. For St Peters, it is a family friendly high street space that is ripe for an outdoor cafe culture.”
BIDs, first introduced in the UK under the Local Government Act 2003, allow businesses to implement measures in their locale from street cleaning to security, as well as marketing the area to promote its brand – the key to unlocking an area’s potential, says Forkin.
“As consumer tastes become more sophisticated, shoppers want to know the identity of a place, what it stands for and what their experience is likely to be,” he explains. “They don’t want the same thing everyday.”
Cathedral Quarter is certainly in a league of its own. A mixture of Victorian arcades, Georgian and Renaissance buildings overlooked by Derby’s 18th century cathedral, it is a hub for culture and sophisticated living with authentic period charm.
The Market Place, the public space at the heart of the Cathedral Quarter, lends itself to open-air events and on 29 June, will host a programme of festivities to mark the arrival of the Olympic Torch into the city.
One third of businesses are retail – vintage boutiques and luxury brands like Bang and Olufsen – while the rest is made up of restaurants, leisure and professional services.
By day, it is Derby’s major business district and a magnet for tourists, who want to explore the museums and heritage sites. Come nightfall, it transforms into the heartbeat of the city’s thriving evening economy.
Here 300,000 people every year visit the impressive QUAD – a visual arts gallery and independent cinema, screening art house films, as well as theatres like the Assembly Rooms and the Guildhall.
You can enjoy the decadent luxury of a sumptuous three-course champagne breakfast at Bennetts Brasserie, or an evening of live music at gems like Number Five, Derby’s answer to Soho’s Ronnie Scott’s.
Spread across two floors, the jazz bar is true to the quarter’s heritage brand and is based in a renovated Victorian engineering works. Its uber-trendy cocktail bar is decorated with artwork from street artists Banksy and Bambi – a perfect blend of old meets new.
Ian Ferguson, project manager for Cathedral Quarter, said: “It is amazing to think how far the quarter has come.
“Shoppers want to know the identity of a place, what it stands for ...”
catchment areas, targeting shoppers who might otherwise be tempted into competitor cities such as Nottingham.”
It’s one thing to attract a fresh crowd, but is there a compelling enough case for out-of-towners to venture beyond Westfield and explore what else Derby has to offer?
The answer rests in the city’s Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) which has paved the way for two new public realms – the historic Cathedral Quarter and the traditional high street, St Peters Quarter – both designed not to compete with the shopping centre, but to complement it.
“When Westfield opened in Derby in 2007, businesses were thrown quite a challenge. How do they react to that?” asks John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby.
“Derby’s businesses took the high road. They set up a Business Improvement District (BID) and established their unique selling point (USP). For the Cathedral Quarter that
13
“The area is very individual in its nature. It’s for people who want to be slightly different, who enjoy a certain lifestyle. Derby enjoys some of the highest salaries outside of London. One in eight people here work in hi-tech roles.”
The BID comes at a price – businesses pay higher rates to fund improvements – but is returning dividends.
Footfall in the Cathedral Quarter has increased, particularly in Iron Gate and Sadler Gate, to levels last seen in 2006 – pre-recession and pre-Westfield. In fact, footfall in retail centres excluding Westfield was 25.6% higher in December 2011 than in the preceding year, according to figures published by Derby City Council.
For Ferguson, the 2.3% increase in retail spend over 2011 is even more indicative of the area’s success as well as the arrival of 26 new businesses over the past year, and 90 since being established in 2009.
He adds: “The city centre is segmenting into different areas that attract particular types of people. Businesses are moving from elsewhere to be in the Cathedral Quarter, and I’m sure that pattern will be repeated with St Peters because of the benefits.”
The newly-approved St Peters Quarter – stretching from the River Derwent to Green Lane and Macklin Street in the west, and the junction of Osmaston Road and Bradshaw Way in the south – came into being on 1 September 2011.
If the Cathedral Quarter is unashamed about attracting Derby’s high-end clientele with plenty of cash to splash, St Peters Quarter prides itself on being a more family-oriented location, offering good value for money.
The area is almost pure retail, an attractive mix of multinational and well-known regional brands, aimed at the mid to value market. The area is also attractive to Derby’s 35,000-strong student population.
St Peters Quarter includes Eagle Market, one of the largest indoor markets in the UK, small independent retailers in Green Lane, and St Peters Street, the city’s traditional high street.
Stephen Jeffery, chairman of the St Peters BID, said: “One of the most positive things for us is that St Peters is absolutely the heart of the city, wedged between Westfield and the Cathedral Quarter. It is incredibly diverse and will appeal to a lot of different people.”
He added: “Our key focus is to take this area of the city and turn it into a destination; somewhere you would want to spend the whole day. That relies on us being able to attract a wider range of businesses, not just retail.”
An Olympic-sized swimming pool, proposed for the city centre under Derby City Council’s £50 million leisure strategy, will be a key attraction.
St Peters Quarter has other tricks up its sleeve, too, like the multimillion pound Riverlights development, home to the luxurious Genting Club, which channels old school glamour in the form of a hi-tech casino, the Fahrenheit Grill and Cai cocktail bar – which is open until 6am.
Riverlights is located next to two hotels – the Hampton by Hilton and Holiday Inn, with the bus station nearby.
Genting’s Malaysian owners injected £7 million into the venue, which is a resounding endorsement of the area’s
Top: Westfield Derby hosts almost 200 shops.Opposite: Cafe society: the vision to regenerate St Peters Quarter.
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retail and relaxation
potential in the judgement of foreign direct investors – and others are right behind it.
The popular Jimmy’s World Bar and Grill, opened a 400-seater restaurant in the Riverlights complex in 2012, in response to a need for more family friendly restaurants on the ground floor.
Forkin says: “Getting in quality names is part of the vision to bring the Riverside area to life – making Derby a city that looks towards the river rather than away from it. Companies like Jimmy’s are buying into that vision and will help make this area a vibrant part of the city.”
Costa Coffee has submitted a planning application for a new shop in St Peters Quarter, inside the former New Look store, which would help restore the Grade II-listed premises to their former glory. A pan-Asian buffet, Cosmo, is set to open in the old Zanzibar nightclub, which closed in 2010.
One of the most significant plans in the pipeline is the redevelopment and expansion of Derby City Council’s headquarters on the River Derwent which will bring 2,000 council workers together under one roof – and create a ready-made customer base for St Peters and the Cathedral Quarter, both of which are within walking distance.
This project has also been a catalyst for a rejuvenation of the neglected riverside.
Forkin says: “Over the years, Derby turned its back on the river, which is very attractive, but we are getting ready to face it again. An investment of half a million pounds will see River Gardens become a much nicer place for families or for office workers to sit and eat their lunch.”
Also in the pipeline is the other element of the council’s leisure strategy – a £20 million, multisports arena, a mile from the city centre, next to Derby’s Pride Park Stadium.
If the project is approved, it would open in early 2014. It will offer fitness suites, badminton halls and the highlight of this flagship facility, a state-of-the-art velodrome.
As well as being an Olympic legacy for the city, it is also part of a wider ambition to position Derby as a regional centre for cycling.
The design also allows it to transform into a concert arena or exhibition centre holding up to 5,000 people – all of which consolidates Derby’s attraction as a destination for leisure, culture and retail.
Forkin adds: “Derby is constantly changing. We plan to take the momentum and keep it.” ◆
“Getting in quality names is part of the vision to bring the Riverside area to life – making Derby a city that looks towards the river rather than away from it. Companies like Jimmy’s are buying into that vision ...”
Top: The River Derwent flows through the centre of the city.Right: The proposed Olympic-sized swimming pool next to the multimillion pound Riverlights development.
From our Derby Office we have been supporting Derby City Council (DCC) in creating their vision: ‘A City for All Ages’. We have also been providing Environmental Planning services to a variety of public and private sector clients across the East Midlands. Our recent projects include:
• ‘Our City, Our River’ Masterplan for DCC and the EA
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Plan Design Enable
For more information please contact:
From our Derby Office we have been supporting Derby City Council (DCC) in creating their vision: ‘A City for All Ages’. We have also been providing Environmental Planning services to a variety of public and private sector clients across the East Midlands. Our recent projects include:
• ‘Our City, Our River’ Masterplan for DCC and the EA
• Victory Road Public Realm Strategy for DCC and Rolls Royce
• Unlocking the Development Potential for Residential Development, West Hill Road, Bassetlaw for Bassetlaw DC
• Securing planning permission for a Hazardous Area Response Scheme HQ for the East Midlands Ambulance Service
• Darley Abbey Mills & Stables Regeneration Strategy for DCC
• Full Street Public Realm Improvements for DCC
• Design Leadership of the Avenue Mixed Use Development Site, Chesterfield for the HCA
• Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Stage 2 for DCC
• Project Management and Support for DCC Property Services
• Ambergate Reservoir Environmental Impact Assessment and Public Consultation for Severn Trent Water
• Nottingham City Centre Parking Study for NCC
We are one of the UK’s largest environmental consultancies, offering local expertise from our local offices. Our services include:
• Planning
• Masterplanning
• Urban and Landscape Design
• Economics
• Heritage
• Flood Risk and Drainage
• Geo-Technical Engineering
• Transport
• Ecology
• Sustainability
• Public Consultation
• Surface Water Management
• Sustainable Urban DrainageSystems (Suds) Design and Advice
• Graphic Design
We are committed to providing innovative yet practicable solutions tailored to meet local needs.
Louise ThorneTel: 01332 225 701 / 07803 259 [email protected]
Paj ValleyTel: 0121 483 5815 / 07834 507 [email protected]
Find out more at www.atkinsglobal.com
Plan Design Enable
For more information please contact:
16Long an investment hotspot, the credit crunch in 2008 hit Derby’s prospective developments hard. Like other cities, market conditions stalled schemes and important sites languished – then Derby City Council worked out a strategy
of investment to kickstart crucial developments and energise the market. Ben Willis finds the second wave of regeneration rolling into Derby
Central Derby’s first new office block in two decades is now under construction. A groundbreaking ceremony in February marked the beginning of building work on the first
part of Friar Gate Square, a two-phase development that, when complete, will bring over 7,000sq m of much-needed prime office space to the city centre.
While the scheme itself is of significance to a city centre office market starved of recent new additions, it is also the first
physical manifestation of a much broader wave of regeneration that is about to get under way in central Derby. As the first recipient of a council fund specifically designed to stimulate new regeneration schemes in the city centre, the expectations for Friar Gate are high.
“It is widely quoted that we haven’t had office development in Derby city centre for 20 years,” says Nick Hosking, a director at Innes England, one of the Friar Gate agents.
“If you wanted an office building in the last 15 years, you had to go out of town to
Pride Park. It’s been incredibly successful, but against that the city centre has struggled,” says Hosking. “We’ve had the first phase of city centre regeneration with the Westfield shopping centre; now the council is trying to kick-start the next phase and Friar Gate Square is a key catalyst in that.”
The story of Friar Gate Square began in the aftermath of the credit crunch, when council executives were looking for ways to reinvigorate the stalled regeneration of central Derby. In the middle of the last decade, Derby’s city centre renaissance
The new wave
public sector investment
17 was well under way, with such landmark schemes as Westfield and the new bus station promising great things to come. But with the credit crunch of 2008, that process came to a grinding halt.
“A number of speculative office and housing schemes in the city centre had got planning consent,” says Derby City Council chief executive Adam Wilkinson. “But then of course the market dropped out, and in essence all the sites that had been cleared and assembled, in particular for office developments, just stopped overnight.”
When he was appointed chief executive in 2009, Wilkinson says one of his priorities was to devise ways of restarting Derby’s regeneration. To help him in this aim, he established the public-private sector Derby Renaissance Board, which was set the task of producing a new economic development strategy for the city and revisiting the city centre masterplan in order to identify the future development opportunities.
One outcome of this process was a
consensus that the city centre needed new office development to stimulate activity in other sectors such as retail and leisure – a suits-on-the-street strategy, as Wilkinson calls it. But with the office market facing the same challenges as the wider economy, there was a realisation that such development would not happen without some form of support from the council.
“Something was needed to entice developers to start an office block or two – we felt there was demand out there, but the difficulty, obviously, was funding,” he explains. “I suggested to council members a £10 million regeneration fund to give developers sufficient confidence to take a risk and start a development or two. So the regeneration fund was born, and we requested bids from developers initially concentrating on office development.”
Wilkinson says that as the first recipient of this pot of regeneration funding, Friar Gate is a “flagship” for Derby, and the hope is that it will bring momentum to the city’s regeneration once again. Others agree it is a vital scheme because it redresses the
balance of its office market and brings life back to a neglected part of the city centre.
“You’ve got Pride Park to the south of the city centre, you’ve had Westfield effectively dragging the city centre further south – and nothing really to the west,” says Hosking. “Friar Gate Square is in what has traditionally been the city’s professional office area. However, over 25 years large firms of accountants and lawyers have moved out to Pride Park, because the buildings around [the Friar Gate] area have been either dated, multi-let space, or Georgian accommodation that is attractive but doesn’t necessarily meet modern office space requirements.”
According to Ashley Hancox, a senior
Below: Transformation in the city centre – Friar Gate Square.Bottom: Derby’s Georgian business quarter, Friar Gate.
continued overleaf
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public sector investment
Top: Shape of things to come – the new Velodrome could be a regional attraction.Right: The new sports arena next to Pride Park Stadium and the proposed Plaza@Pride Park development.
Below: New democracy – Derby’s Council House will allow rationalisation of the authority’s property portfolio and create a landmark HQ.
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a raft of new leisure facilities and other infrastructure to the city.
When the Derby Renaissance Board reviewed the city centre masterplan, Wilkinson says the view was that a more “rounded” offer in the city centre was needed. “We felt the leisure and cultural offer wasn’t sufficient for a city of Derby’s size and ambition,” he says.
With this in mind, the authority has agreed a £50 million leisure strategy for the city. This will result in a new £22 million multisport arena, housing a velodrome and performing arts space, a £24 million, 50-metre swimming pool plus various other neighbourhood leisure facilities.
Although times are hard, Wilkinson says there is a strong business case for the council to capital-fund these developments. “Our leisure stock is 60s and 70s, and we’re keeping it open with sticking plaster,” he says. “We could have spent £37 million bringing stock up to scratch, but for £50 million we could get brand new, state-of-the-art, regionally significant facilities. And from income streams we will generate, it will pay for itself in the long term.”
In addition to these developments, the council is also spending £30 million on redeveloping its own premises, the Council House. Apart from bringing the building up to modern office standards, the redevelopment will also increase the capacity of the council’s headquarters,
director of CB Richard Ellis, Friar Gate’s other letting agent, with its high design and construction standards, the scheme will bring a new calibre of office space to Derby. “The last developments in the city centre were 20 years ago, but the specification of those buildings is old and they’re almost defunct. This is a different quality of space and working environment, and it will show people what they could have,” he says.
And Friar Gate is by no means the only show in town. Derby Council is also about to embark on a capital spending programme of £240 million, that will bring
allowing the authority to relocate staff from seven of its other properties across the city into one building.
“That makes for more efficient service delivery, as well as rationalising assets that we can then use for regeneration purposes,” Wilkinson says.
Adam Wilkinson, chief executive of Derby City Council, hopes that the regeneration work about to take off in the city will draw other developers at a time when many are waiting for market conditions to pick up. “Developers are sitting around waiting for something to happen because they don’t want to take any risk,” Wilkinson says. “So it’s really important we do these things, because it stimulates the local economy, creates extra jobs locally – and of course success breeds success: if developers see things being built in Derby and that the council is proactively stimulating development, hopefully they will get up off the sidelines and bring forward their own schemes.”
Ultimately Wilkinson wants to see Derby competing with the country’s other major cities, to which in the past it has perhaps played second fiddle: “This is about Derby taking its place as one of the major cities rather than being in the shadow of some of the others,” he says. ◆
“Our leisure stock is 60s and 70s and we’re keeping it open with sticking plaster. We could have spent £37 million bringing stock up to scratch, but for £50 million we could get brand new, state-of-the-art, regionally significant facilities. And from income streams we will generate, it will pay for itself in the long term”
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Compendium ALL 19 1 Derby Perspective Magazine C 270x420 26/1 Jaz 0 0 2
Something exciting is happening in the heart of Derby! Compendium Living is developing the forgotten corners of Castleward. They are building a living, working community with a sense of place, purpose and direction. New and stylish homes are being designed to accommodate those working in the area. The route from the station to the city centre is evolving into a smart boulevard flanked by family homes and apartments. Coffee shops and retail outlets will also feature, making it a pleasant place to browse. Opportunities for new and existing businesses will complement its residential offering. Very soon it will take shape and be a destination where residents, professionals and people passing through will
want to meet friends, enjoy lunch or simply relax.
Watch this space! Castleward is on its way...
www.castleward.co.uk
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Compendium Living
“We are aiming to transform Derby’s east side into a vibrant and exciting new place to live and visit”
www.compendiumliving.co.uk
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CLIENT REGION WK AD PUBLICATION NAME C/M SIZE (HxW) IN DATE NAME VIZ REDESIGN ART
Compendium ALL 19 1 Derby Perspective Magazine C 270x420 26/1 Jaz 0 0 2
Something exciting is happening in the heart of Derby! Compendium Living is developing the forgotten corners of Castleward. They are building a living, working community with a sense of place, purpose and direction. New and stylish homes are being designed to accommodate those working in the area. The route from the station to the city centre is evolving into a smart boulevard flanked by family homes and apartments. Coffee shops and retail outlets will also feature, making it a pleasant place to browse. Opportunities for new and existing businesses will complement its residential offering. Very soon it will take shape and be a destination where residents, professionals and people passing through will
want to meet friends, enjoy lunch or simply relax.
Watch this space! Castleward is on its way...
www.castleward.co.uk
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Compendium Living
“We are aiming to transform Derby’s east side into a vibrant and exciting new place to live and visit”
www.compendiumliving.co.uk
Ashley Hancox [email protected]
Will Ventham [email protected]
Grade A headquarters building of 32,300 sq. ft.
At the heart of the traditional city office core; surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops
Adjacent to the recently completed inner ring road
Innovative and environmentally focused workplace in the Friar Gate Quarter
Floor plates from 3,400 to 7,125 sq. ft.
BREEAM rating ‘EXCELLENT’
A Lowbridge Development
brand new derby city centre grade a OFFice bUiLding. breeam exceLLent.cOnStrUctiOn cOmmenced. cOmPLetiOn december 2012
FRIAR GATE SQUAREDERBY
ONEFRIAR GATESQUARE
ONEFRIAR GATESQUARE
Nick Hosking [email protected]
Tim Richardson [email protected]
For further information contact:
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The Global Technology Cluster will intensify Derby’s global reputation as an innovation hotspot. Paul Coleman reports
continued overleaf
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technology
Derby’sinnovationDNA
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technology
Derby has always been at the forefront of cutting edge technology according to Bob Betts, chairman of Marketing Derby: “Derby has innovation in its DNA.” And it’s true; Derby’s highly skilled workforce has constantly invented new products and
production techniques to turn the city into the UK’s leading hi-tech, high-value manufacturing centre.
Rolls-Royce, Toyota and Bombardier, plus a host of smaller companies and their supply chains, have made Derby a leading hub for aerospace, rail and automotive technologies. But only constant research, product development and production process innovation ensures Derby maintains its cutting edge.
To this end, the Global Technology Cluster (GTC) – a science and technology park with its own unique Innovation Campus (IC) – will intensify innovation by orchestrating advanced research and skills teaching.
Located at Sinfin to the south of Derby, the GTC will offer small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) a hi-tech home with high quality workspaces, offices, and teaching, conference and catering facilities.
The GTC exposes as ‘old hat’ the idea that British boffins cannot make money from their brilliant inventions and innovative production techniques.
Greg Jennings, head of regeneration projects at Derby City Council, explains the GTC will support hi-tech SMEs and systematically help them to commercialise their innovations. “The Innovation Campus within the GTC will also showcase collaboration between SMEs engaged in planes, trains and automobiles,” says Jennings.
The GTC brings innovative SMEs closer to Derby’s market leading companies. “As a worldwide technology leader, Bombardier welcomes the establishment of the Global Technology Cluster in Derby,” says Paul Roberts, Bombardier Transportation’s chief country representative for the UK and Ireland.
Bombardier’s Litchurch Lane factory enjoys a long tradition of producing the UK’s finest trains based on reliable performance and innovative design.
“Our company seeks to attract the very best talent in engineering and to embed innovation in all our products and manufacturing processes,” says Roberts. “The creation of the technology cluster in proximity to our Derby site can only support us in this goal.”
A ‘proximity zone’ is another idea being considered by Derby City Council, the driving force bringing forward the GTC and IC. Companies can locate temporarily in this zone, allowing them to properly assess how locating at the GTC will really help their businesses to innovate and progress.
Above: Bombardier’s Derby plant is the UK’s only manufacturer of trains and rolling stock.Below: Rolls-Royce is one of Derby’s innovative, hi-tech manufacturers.
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top commercial and academic researchers. SMEs will be able to hire hi-tech workshops with advanced equipment and make use of teaching, conference and catering facilities.
The GTC is driven by Derby city councillors and officers determined to ensure Derby further enhances its reputation as a city for innovative, high-value manufacturing.
Funding has come from various sources including the European Regional Development Fund, as well as from private technology support.
But it was the city council’s successful bid for £40 million of Regional Growth Fund that ensures the GTC and IC will create new jobs and start-up enterprises. The GTC and IC aim to generate 2,700 new jobs. And another 2,700 indirect jobs could accrue as the GTC creates a new supply chain. The GTC and IC will also
“The Global Technology Cluster and its Innovation Campus will help the region’s aerospace, rail and automotive businesses to up their innovation capacity, drive their product development and increase their competitiveness,” says Roger Brooks, the University of Derby’s primary stakeholder in the group setting up the exciting new IC within the GTC.
The University of Derby, the region’s anchor university with a sharp teaching focus, partners the city council on the IC project.
“The university will orchestrate research and teaching best suited to Derby’s three main manufacturing themes – planes, trains and automobiles,” says Brooks.
The university will handle teaching support and draw on specialist research support from at least one primary research body within the Russell Group of leading universities. The University of Derby will broker a referral system where hi-tech companies will be linked to the right kind of technical research or teaching support they need.
Similarly, large external manufacturers and GTC-based companies will be able to conveniently meet, on campus, the groundbreaking SMEs and post-graduates who are undertaking innovative MSc and PhD research.
On campus, SMEs will able to call on professional business advice, leadership coaching and access to funding channels. R&D support will include access to the world’s
Left: Manufactured in Derbyshire, Toyota’s Auris Hybrid achieves over 700 miles on one tank of petrol.
“The university will orchestrate research and teaching best suited to Derby’s three main manufacturing themes – planes, trains and automobiles”
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transporttechnology
attract younger people determined to gain relevant ‘planes, trains and automobiles’ skills through apprenticeships. They will be able to gain qualifications ranging from NVQ Level 2, delivered via a further education body, through to postgraduate research at NVQ Levels 7 and 8.
“Helping younger engineers and innovators is another reason why teaching intensive and research intensive universities will be active on campus,” says Brooks.
The university is already building the IC into its schools engagement process, working in tandem with further education colleges.
“We want to promote high-value manufacturing among young people,” says Brooks. “Businesses will locate in the Derby region if they can see young people qualified from NVQ Level 2 up to postgraduate level.”
But the aim is not to simply target enterprise, entrepreneurial skills and employability at students.
“We aim to go further back, up the future labour supply chain, to reach school pupils through our schools engagement plan,” explains Brooks.
Sixth form students would be the obvious target group but to ensure that they get the bug early, Brooks says the IC would also visit schools to inspire 10-to-12-year-old pupils about science and technology.
Brooks recalls previous projects where this has worked spectacularly. “Children were told about when a seagull lands on an aircraft carrier, the carrier drops down in the water by one nanometer – a billionth of a metre!”
The IC will carry on enthusing kids about science, technology and engineering,” says Brooks. This will sow
seeds in young, curious minds and increase the numbers of local young people who can realistically compete for Derby’s hi-tech jobs of the future.
“It’s great that people from outside the city want to come and work in Derby and support our businesses,” says Brooks. “But we want to help more home-grown local people to attain more competencies in high-value manufacturing processes. By doing so, the Global Technology Cluster and the Innovation Campus can bolster our whole workforce.” ◆
“Businesses will locate in the Derby region if they can see young people qualified from NVQ Level 2 up to postgraduate level”
Above and below: The Rolls-Royce Trent 700 aircraft engine brings an expanding order book, while the number of apprenticeships doubles to 400 with the opening of its Apprenticeship Academy this autumn.
The investment we have made in developing and perfecting world-leading power technologies has established Rolls-Royce as a landmark for outstanding performance and reliability. To maintain our technological advantage in the civil aerospace, marine, energy and defence markets, we have invested £7 billion in R&D over the past 10 years, with a particular emphasis on
collaborative research involving a network of universities around the world. We have established a global network of University Technology Centres spread across UK, Europe, US and Asia. At Rolls-Royce, our investment in technology is our stepping-stone to the future.
Trusted to deliver excellence
Our investment in technology has been the stepping-stone to four global markets.
www.rolls-royce.com
RR_Perspective_CausewayAd_010512.indd 1 03/05/2012 14:32
accessibility
Park and rideWhile the car is still king, parking is vital to a city’s success. So Derby is getting one step ahead of its rivals by putting a consultation on parking at the heart of its transport policy. David Gray reports
Below: Derby’s yellow taxis are distinctive and readily available.Bottom: Westfield has ample parking.
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n common with every other UK city, parking is a major issue for Derby. For residents, its cost and availability matters as much as rubbish collection or choice of schools, while for businesses it can be a big factor in deciding whether to even come here. According to Charlotte Peach, investment development manager at
Marketing Derby: “The first question relocating companies ask is about the building, the second, the quality of the local workforce, and the third is about the parking – it is really very important.”
It’s so important that Derby is undertaking a specific consultation on parking, begun in February 2012 and due to form the basis of a new policy by the end of the year.
The consultation process is involving residents, businesses and many other interested parties. David Gartside, head of traffic for the city council, explains: “We pride ourselves in Derby on a balanced approach to enable everybody to get in and out of the city. Presentations have already been made to key stakeholders, to get a real cross-section of respondents.”
The key questions for the consultation are whether existing limits for on-site and long-stay parking in the city centre should be relaxed, and what should become the ‘maximum parking standards’ for all new developments.
On present evidence, it looks like there will be a relaxation of parking restrictions in both the city centre and new developments, as well as a review of the current park-and-ride sites at Meteor and Pride Park.
The city centre already has some very high-quality car parks – including the award-winning Park Safe at Westfield and another in the Cathedral Quarter – so secure that not a single car in it has been damaged or stolen in 10 years. There are also some small private temporary car parks that are insufficiently regulated and could be closed.
Following the consultation, Derby’s parking policy will see changes to provision and charges, but guided by the principle of improving accommodation for car use rather than introducing restrictions, which is much less hostile to the car than many other UK cities.
According to Gartside, no other city is carrying out similar parking consultations, but where Derby leads others will have have to follow, because of recent changes in the national planning framework.
This consultation is part of Derby Council’s comprehensive local transport plan (LTP3) for the city’s needs up to 2026. Based on a strategy of multiple-mode access, the LTP3 is all about getting the balance right between cars and public transport. Its first goal is to support growth and economic competitiveness by delivering reliable and efficient transport networks, which for Derby means accommodating – not restricting – car use.
Cars are vital for the local economy: Derby’s 750km of roads are used in a typical day for 660,000 car trips, 18,000 HGV trips and 55,000 bus passenger trips, with 110,000 people travelling to work and 38,000 children going to school. As Gartside says: “We are keen on regeneration and we need to support it sustainably – where access by car is necessary, we will provide that.”
In the words of the consultation document: “We recognise that there is increasing demand for car ownership and that the private car will continue to be an important way of travelling for many people. It is crucial, therefore, to ensure that new development takes account of parking needs and makes adequate provision for car users.”
Its first goal is to support growth and economic competitiveness by delivering reliable and efficient transport networks, which for Derby means accommodating – not restricting – car use
Left: Derby’s compact city centre is easy to get around by car, bicycle or public transport.
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Peach is very appreciative of this realism about priorities in current economic circumstances. She says: “We are looking to see Derby become a much more car-friendly city. The council’s antennae are more sensitive to the needs of business because of the recession. The tide has turned and people recognise that we need jobs and to create jobs you need a reasonably liberal approach. The policy is no longer anti-car.”
Derby has already done a lot to improve its transport network, such as boosting the number of bus passengers to more than 18 million in 2010-11, the Connecting Derby scheme that has spent £36 million on better transport links in the city centre and, importantly, a new inner ring road, completed in 2011.
As Gartside says: “We’re lucky in having had so much new infrastructure in the past five years, including the inner ring road – that has opened up areas of the city – and the new bus station now handling 12 million passengers a year.” Peach couldn’t agree more about the ring road, saying: “It’s made a big difference. I’m local and the traffic flows much better. We used to have a crazy one-way system where people got lost, it was a maze and visitors would avoid that whole side of the city.”
Significantly, Derby’s transport experts have avoided both congestion charging and a workplace parking levy (WPL). On congestion charging, Gartside says: “We did quite a bit of work on it five or six years ago when it was the flavour of the month, but the level of congestion in Derby is not as bad as many other cities and we don’t want to restrict access to any area of the city.”
Peach backs this up, saying: “Derby doesn’t have a serious congestion problem, just bottlenecks.”
Derby’s traffic experts decided against imposing WPLs because the relatively small number of private non-residential parking spaces in the city centre (those liable for WPL charging) meant that a levy would not significantly reduce traffic and congestion. As Peach points out, this gives Derby a marketing advantage over neighbouring Nottingham, which is going ahead with a WPL scheme.
“We have just completed our first relocation from Nottingham, driven by the new levy,” says Peach.
At the same time as being car-friendly, the city is
equally clear on the need to get the correct balance between car parking provision, sustainability and the encouragement of other forms of transport. Cycling, for example, is a particular priority. Derby was one of the first cycle demonstration towns in England and cycling now accounts for a 15% share of local travel modes.
Derby already has excellent connections to the rest of the country by road, rail and air. The M1 is just seven miles east, meaning that Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham are under an hour away. Over 30 high-speed trains a day go to St Pancras with a journey time of only 90 minutes, while East Midlands Airport (10 miles south-east) offers access to over 100 destinations and is the UK’s leading airport for express freight.
Being so well placed and connected is a major asset for the city and its economy. Now that Derby is developing such flexible and realistic policies on its parking and local transport, there is even more reason for the city to attract inward investment, with new businesses increasing employment and prosperity, to create even greater opportunities for its residents and visitors. ◆
Derby already has excellent connections to the rest of the country by road, rail and air
Top: Cycling in Derby accounts for 15% of local travel modes.Below: With a thriving evening economy, Derby’s transport options are plentiful at night too.
www.derby.ac.uk/perspective
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2012-13/THE MAJOR CITY CENTRE PROJECTS
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PROJECTSThe long view of the major completed schemes, those currently in development or planned – that are delivering the transformation of Derby’s city centre
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18 SWIMMING POOLConstruction of Olympic-size swimming pool to include a family leisure pool
19 NUMBER ONE CATHEDRAL GREENMixed development of Grade A office space with street level restaurants
20 ONE DERBYNorseman’s business district and dynamic hub with contemporary hotel, retail, food and urban piazza
21 CENTRAL SQUAREBolsterstone’s £12.4 million development, creating 4,700sq m of city centre, Grade A office space
22 NIGHTINGALE QUARTEROne of the Midlands’ largest available sites, 10 hectares, located on the former Derby Royal Infirmary site
23 CITY GATE HOUSEThis Cedar House Investments scheme will deliver over 5,500sq m of Grade A offices plus retail and leisure outlets
24 SADLER SQUAREBlueprint’s mixed-use development of office, retail, leisure and residential elements in the Cathedral Quarter
25 DUCKWORTH SQUAREActive marketing of this 0.5-ha city centre site
26 ROMAN HOUSEJoint venture with Derby City Council to refurbish 3,250sq m of office space
27 FRIAR GATE GOODS YARDA comprehensive 18,000sq m mixed-use development on a heritage site
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major projects completed worth £522.1 million
1 JURYS INN£25 million 2 THE ROUNDHOUSE, DERBY COLLEGE£48 million
3 CATHEDRAL GREEN £3.8 million
4 RIVERLIGHTS£50 million
5 QUAD £11 million
6 ST HELEN’S STREET£22 million 7 WESTFIELD DERBY£340 million
8 CATHEDRAL QUARTER HOTEL£3.8 million
9 JOSEPH WRIGHT CENTRE, DERBY COLLEGE£15 million 10 FRIAR GATE STUDIOS£3.5 million
major projects underdevelopment in 2012
11 MULTISPORTS ARENA£22 million construction of arena including velodrome, exhibition and performance space
12 MAGISTRATES COURT£2.3 million refurbishment creating 2,400sq m of office space
13 ST HELEN’S HOUSEThe restoration of a Grade I-listed building, creating city centre office space and residential developments
14 COUNCIL HOUSE£34 million refurbishment of 1930s City Council House to host 2,000 employees
15 CASTLEWARD URBAN VILLAGEDeveloper Compendium Living submitted a planning application in May 2012, work will start with the Boulevard
16 DERBY RAIL STATION GATEWAYThe multimillion pound project, creating a new gateway to the city
17 FRIAR GATE SQUAREConstruction has begun on Phase 1 of this 8,640sq m landmark office building by Lowbridge
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Cathedral Quarter Enterprise CentreTo create more than 2400sq m of “incubation” space to encourage, nurture and develop start-up businesses in the city, Derby City Council is planning a £2.8 million Cathedral Quarter Enterprise Centre.
Planned for Bold Lane, it would be linked to three other buildings – the upgraded Kings Chambers, Shot Tower and Friar Gate Studios – under a project called Connect, to provide space in the city for small and medium businesses. The refurbishment plans are in line for a £1.5 million boost, from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Derby City Council’s own regeneration fund.
Enabled with funding from the ERDF, the enterprise centre will provide space for small businesses and incubation units, on land that was formerly home to Princes supermarket. It would form the core of one of three areas the city council hopes will be designated as enterprise zones by the government, providing business rate relief to companies and simplified planning procedures to help encourage investment.
The council believes a Derby Enterprise Zone would support the creation of 12,300 jobs as well as helping to establish some 500 to 700 businesses, by creating three ‘clusters’ covering global technology, environment and city centre commerce in locations around Derby.
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BecketwellAt the heart of Becketwell (highlighted in blue on aerial photo), one of the council’s priority regeneration zones, the Duckworth Square site is now up for sale. At 0.52 hectares, it’s one of the largest sites in single ownership in the city centre.
Once home to a 1960s shopping centre, the site is next to the newly designated St Peters business improvement district (BID), a popular high street family destination, full of independent retailers, and close to the thriving Cathedral Quarter.
Duckworth Square doesn’t have any specific planning consent, nor a masterplan. The local plan allows for a range of uses, including residential, and estimates that the site has the capacity for more than 100 dwellings. Its current owner Metropolitan Housing had planned a residential scheme, but the site also has potential for a wide range of uses, including retail, leisure, offices and housing. The site’s topography also lends itself to high-rise developments.
According to agent Rigby & Co: “Enquiries for the site span a wide range from housing to primary healthcare, health and fitness, hotel and retail.
“I am quietly optimistic that we have sufficient interest in Duckworth Square to potentially kick-start some fresh thinking, which will lead to early development within Becketwell.”
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CastlewardRedevelopment of the huge Castleward area of Derby into a new city centre neighbourhood can now get started, with the signing of a development agreement with Compendium Living in October 2011, and public consultation on the plans, which took place at Westfield shopping centre in January 2012. As Perspective went to press, the developer was incorporating feedback into a planning application for phase one, for submission in May 2012.
The £100 million regeneration scheme is expected to take between 15 and 20 years, over five phases, and will transform a 13-ha brownfield area of the city into a sustainable community comprising approximately 800 new homes (with roughly 25% affordable housing), a school, community spaces, green space and a 3,250sq m commercial development. There will be a significant focus on incorporating modern features and architecture, while Derby’s industrial heritage will also be reflected in some of the designs.
The first phase, which centres on a pedestrian-friendly boulevard from Derby railway station to the city centre, is due to start in spring 2012. It will include around 120 homes for sale on the open market, 40 affordable homes, 1,486sq m of commercial space, community facilities and a new central park/square.
Much of the housing will be low-level (two- and three-storey family homes) with a smaller number of apartments and maisonettes. The tenure mix will be approximately 75% for sale and 25% affordable homes (social rented and/or shared ownership).
A council regeneration fund of £10 million, with £18 million of private funding, will contribute to the first part of the scheme, going towards buying up the land which remains in private hands.
It is hoped 860 jobs could be created or safeguarded.
Roman House Derby Council has launched the quest to find a joint venture partner to help fund a multimillion pound refurbishment of Roman House, in Friar Gate.
This is part of a plan to move all council city centre staff into the main Council House headquarters, which is currently being refurbished, to enable all staff to work together under one roof.
According to Mark Leach, development officer at Derby City Council, refurbishing Roman House will provide 3,200sq m of high-quality, flexible, second-hand office space, which will extend the appeal of the Friar Gate development of new commercial premises. “We’re being positive with the assets we have,” says Leach.
The plan is for the joint venture partner to come on board in January 2013, and for the fit-out to be complete in early 2014.
Above and top: Castleward’s al fresco style and green spaces, as it might look.Right: Roman House could be refurbished into new office space in Friar Gate.
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projects/HIGHLIGHT
Friar Gate SquareWork has begun on Friar Gate Square, which is being developed by Lowbridge in a £20 million project creating two landmark, Grade A office buildings, located adjacent to the inner ring road on the west side of the city centre.
The building is the first speculative city centre scheme in the Midlands since the economic downturn.
Panter Hudspith is working on architecture that will complement the Georgian business quarter to the rear. CBRE and Innes England are the agents.
The development, on the corner of Agard and Ford Street in the business quarter, Friar Gate Square will be in two phases. The first comprises 3,000sq m over six storeys and is due for completion in January 2013. The second building is just over 4,000sq m over seven floors.
Work on the second phase will begin once all the offices in the first phase have been let. The entire scheme is expected to create a total of around 700 jobs.
Phase one of the scheme has been kick-started with support from Derby City Council’s regeneration fund.
Derby City Council’s chief executive, Adam Wilkinson says: “Work beginning on this project will hopefully act as a catalyst for other office developments to begin.
“We know that there are businesses already interested in taking space at Friar Gate Square, which I hope will provide further evidence to those developers who are standing around waiting, that there is a demand for this kind of development.
“With the first schemes, helped by the regeneration fund, coming out of the ground, we are still talking to other developers and now expect a steady flow of office floor space to start being built.”
Above: Lowbridge’s £20 million Friar Gate Square development.
PHASE ONE OFFICES FROM 10,000 sq ft• International standard accommodation• Iconic Grade A offices at city-centre gateway• Self contained buildings available from 55,000 sq ft to 277,000 sq ft• Total occupational cost c.30% lower than Birmingham or Manchester• BREEAM excellent and highly efficient design minimising occupancy costs• Hotel, leisure and retail opportunities available• A few minutes walk to the mainline railway station, bus station and city centre• One of the fastest growing cities, in easy reach of two international airports and equidistant to the UK’s major business centres Isn’t it time you found out more?
THE HEART OF BUSINESSTHE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING
www.onederby.co.uk
Douglas [email protected] 265 7616
Stephen [email protected] 298 000
OFFICE SPACE
FROM 10,000 sq ft
inward investment
Derby is not alone in facing economic challenges but despite current tough headwinds, it continues to attract new employers and inward investment. Toyota’s 1,500 new jobs follow £100 million of investment but no city can rely on a handful of businesses, no matter how big and successful. Three firms investing in Derby over the past year tell David Blackman what has attracted them to the city
New money
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HEROtsc Citibank’s decision in 2011 to sell off Egg was a kick in the teeth for Derby. As part of the deal, Citibank would have to close the internet bank’s call centre in the city.
Egg was not Derby’s biggest employer, but the 1500 workers at its Pride Park call centre represented a significant chunk of the city’s workforce. In addition, the facility formed an important plank in Derby’s effort to diversify its economy away from its traditional strengths in engineering. Marketing Derby and the city council began the hard work of finding a new tenant for Egg’s imminently vacant office space.
The good news was that while Citibank was winding down its operation, customer services specialist HEROtsc was looking for a new facility. The trigger for the company’s search was its major new contract for Sky, for which it needed to recruit an additional 700-800 staff.
HEROtsc’s roots are on the Scottish island of Bute, where it began life as Telecoms Service Centres in 1994 with just seven employees. The company’s workforce has doubled to around 4,000 since 2007 when it was taken over by Indian outsourcing giant HERO.
Chief executive officer David Turner says the company wanted to use the contract to further branch out beyond its Scottish heartland. He looked at sites like Warrington and south Yorkshire’s Dearne Valley before eventually plumping for Derby.
“Infrastructure was the main thing that we looked at,” says Turner, “When you look at Derby it has very good networks into London as well as Scotland – you are only an hour from a lot of places.”
Derby is just over an hour away from the capital by train, while nearby East Midlands Airport offers easy access to the company’s Falkirk headquarters.
Turner was also deeply impressed by the efforts of Derby City Council and Marketing Derby to help his company.
He says: “They wanted these jobs for Derby and their can-do, will-do attitude was both refreshing and invigorating, during the often complicated process of securing our premises in the Pride Park area of the city.”
The two are still working hand-in-glove to let out the rest of the former Egg office space.
But the clinching factor for HEROtsc was probably the quality of the city’s workforce.
When the company announced that it was coming to Derby in the run up to Christmas, it needed to fill up to 800 jobs within six months. And HERO wasn’t just seeking to open up just another call centre in Derby. Turner’s target is to help Sky become number one in its marketplace by
Left: Building anew – cranes on Derby’s skyline are a sign that the city’s economy is moving again.
For more information about these companies, visit www.derbyperspective.com/links
Perspective partners group Joining together to support Derby
BlueprintNick Ebbs
Derby HomesPhil Davies
DLA PiperPeter Taylor
Flint BishopIan Beardmore
Freeth CartwrightMike Taplin
GeldardsDavid Williams
MaceSimon Dale
Miller BirchMark Bielby
Toyotawww.toyotauk.com
Good to have on your side
TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING (UK) LTD
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Below: HEROtsc’s Pride Park location.Bottom: John McArthur of Tracsis – Derby is to trains what Silicon Valley is to software.
Tracsis
Around 80% of Tracsis’ business is connected to the rail industry. However, until the summer of 2011, the company lacked a foothold in Derby, which is described by chief executive John McArthur as being to trains what Silicon Valley is to software.
Originally set up as a spin off from the University of Leeds, where the company’s headquarters is still located, Tracsis floated on the Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM – for smaller companies) in 2007.
The rail industry consultancy and software provider has since become of one of the mini-stock market’s best performers, acquiring four other companies along the way, including the Loughborough-based rail consultancy RWA.
In August 2011, Tracsis relocated the business to new offices at Derby’s Pride Park. A major factor in the move was that many rail related companies continue to have operations in Derby. The city retains the UK’s biggest cluster of rail businesses.
“Derby is an extremely convenient location,” says McArthur, “It’s the rail capital of Europe in many people’s minds, so it’s where a lot of our clients are.”
In addition to being just over an hour away from London, Derby is also an important hub on the cross-country inter-city network. The company’s own Leeds headquarters and the other leading railway town, York, are only an hour to an hour and a half away. ”It’s right in the middle of the country,” says McArthur.
For a railway focused business, the company’s new Pride Park base has another other key advantage – its proximity to Derby’s mainline railway station. The Tracsis office is just a five minute stroll from the station. McArthur says: “The great thing is that we can get clients to come here without having to spend a lot on travelling costs.”
It was relatively easy to persuade the company’s Loughborough-based employees to relocate to Derby. While the company’s HQ remains in Leeds, the majority of its 42 staff are based in Derby. The company still has room to expand at its new Pride Park offices, with two to three times as much floorspace as its Loughborough outpost.
McArthur says: “Marketing Derby has been fantastic. They have helped us on numerous occasions, the staff are always helpful, reliable, and friendly.”
running a premium customer operations service. “Ninety per cent of our costs are people costs, so
it is important,” says Turner, “If you look at Rolls-Royce and Toyota in the UK, the heart of their companies are in Derby: you have a good workforce here that is flexible and innovative.”
“We have been blown away by the quality of people that we have been able to recruit.”
Marketing Derby managing director John Forkin says that a record proportion of would-be recruits have successfully passed through HEROtsc’s assessment process since the company began recruitment, reflecting the high calibre of candidates they have been handling.
Turner estimates that there were 200 staff already fully trained and working on the floor by the centre’s official opening on Valentine’s Day. He believes Derby already feels like a very different kind of workplace to those that the company operates elsewhere.
“These people will push my business to another level; I feel no doubt that this will happen here.”
“Derby is an extremely convenient location. It’s the rail capital of Europe in many people’s minds, so it’s where a lot of our clients are”
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inward investment
ASK Italian
The Santanda bar had a prime city centre location, just round the corner from the Assembly Rooms, the city’s leading entertainment venue.
In April 2011, it suddenly closed, leaving an empty unit and a headache for those promoting the surrounding Cathedral Quarter as a hub of Derby’s evening economy. But they had an early Christmas present when dining empire Gondola Group – owner of PizzaExpress and Zizzi’s – announced that it was opening a branch of its upmarket Italian chain, ASK, in the unit.
At the beginning of March the new restaurant opened for business, following £600,000 worth of investment in stripping and refurbishing the premises.
Between 30 and 35 full- and part-time jobs were created at the 260-diner restaurant, which combines Italy’s traditional cuisine with sleek modern design.
ASK Italian operations director Steve Holmes told the Derby Telegraph: “We’re delighted with our location. We are right in the very heart of the city and our hope is that we will be able to add to the vibrancy of the Market Place.”
The company already knew Derby through its Zizzi and two PizzaExpress restaurants. However, the decision to locate ASK Italian in the city centre was the result of a concerted campaign by Marketing Derby.
“A couple of years ago we set out what we wanted to see – a new level of premium operators moving into Derby,” says the agency’s investment development manager, Charlotte Peach.
To help attract Gondola, Marketing Derby took the unusual step of putting together a business case for why the company should open an ASK.
Using CACI consumer research data, Marketing Derby was able to demonstrate that its city has a relatively affluent catchment area, with above UK average levels of all the so called ‘wealthy achiever’ lifestyle groups.
This placed the city on a par with the catchments of upmarket centres like Chester, York, Cheltenham and Bath, all of which are characterised by above average representation of premium retailers.
Peach says: “This showed that the city’s demographic matched their target demographic.”
In addition, the expansion of floor space following the construction of the Westfield shopping centre means that Derby now sits just one place outside of the UK’s top 30 retail destinations, which can only drive more premium brands to the city. East Midlanders living to the west of the M1 are now more likely to shop in Derby than in Nottingham, the region’s traditional retail hub.
Armed with facts and figures like this, the Gondola Group was soon convinced that Derby was the place to take ASK Italian.
“We’re delighted with our location. We are right in the very heart of the city and our hope is that we will be able to add to the vibrancy of the Market Place”
He says: “There are plenty of amenities within the park. Everything from excellent local restaurants and other amenities, such as a gym and a creche, have played a big part in a high percentage of our employees relocating to the area.”
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ASK Italian’s Derby interior was designed by the London based luxury brand specialist, gpstudio.
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the back page
Top: Tioga’s headquarters building preserves a Georgian former railway sidings.Below: Additional staff working on hi-tech equipment helped to turn Tioga around.
As recession hit, Tioga’s workers voted to reduce their hours, rather than face redundancy – and have seen their loyalty rewarded with a doubling of turnover, writes Fleur Chapman
A quiet Georgian railway sidings in Derby may seem an unlikely base for one of the UK’s leading-edge technology companies, but behind the
facade of this historic building lies a sophisticated, custom built assembly plant – Tioga’s manufacturing headquarters.
Location isn’t the only factor marking the company from its competitors – at a time when many in the contract electronics manufacturing (CEM) industry are retrenching, Tioga has invested heavily in the business, including a £1.5 million refurbishment of the factory, hiring 25 extra staff and eight apprentices, and upgrading to new processes and state of the art equipment. All staff are trained to industry standard, and offered the opportunity to study for NVQs.
The bright outlook for Tioga represents a remarkable turnaround in fortune; just a few years ago, the company was hit badly by the recession, and faced the prospect of making redundancies among its tight-knit local workforce.
“Most manufacturers were struggling in 2009, and our order books went very quiet,” says Warwick Adams, Tioga’s founder and managing director. “Luckily our staff are very loyal, and the employees voted to work a three day week. Some even worked five days a week for three days pay.”
One of these was Paul Bradshaw, supervisor of the test department: “We were all grateful that the company gave us the chance to keep our jobs,” he said. “Everyone pulled together and worked really hard. It’s paid off, and we’re seeing the benefits, now there is an upturn in the economy. We’ve still got our skilled workforce on board.”
Tioga specialises in electronic assembly,
product manufacture and ‘turn key’ solutions for customers’ designs, using printed circuit boards (PCBs) – humble but vital components of industrial life.
“We make everything from foetal heart monitoring systems to speed cameras and satellite communications; it’s a really broad spectrum of applications,” said Adams.
“For example, one of the products is a robot which operates 4,000 feet beneath the sea – it crawls along the seabed checking for cracks in pipelines. We also provide safety monitoring for lone workers, whether they are down a mine or somewhere remote like the desert.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband paid tribute to the company’s success in winning business and prestige for the city and the UK, during a recent regional tour. And last November the mayor of Derby opened the refurbished factory as Tioga celebrated a doubling of turnover to £10 million.
“We’re still looking to expand in the medical and aerospace markets, and to forge more links with Derby schools and colleges,” said Adams. “We’re very positive about the future, both for our company and the city.” ◆
