Hundreds of millions of pounds of Derbyshire investment opportunities are being showcased at the international MIPIM conference in the south of France this week.
Members of Marketing Derby, the city’s marketing and inward investment body, have joined the annual gathering in Cannes along with representatives of the city council and businesses to fly the Team Derby flag.
Derby opportunities on offer include the proposed Assemble learning theatre on the site of the Assembly Rooms, the University of Derby’s new Business School and wider masterplan and Derbion’s ambitious proposals to transform key sites to create hundreds of new homes and commercial space.
As well as city centre investments, Marketing Derby’s team is also promoting an Invest in Derbyshire service, which details more than £1 billion of key regeneration opportunities across the county –including the Woodville Regeneration Area, Sinfin Moor, New Stanton Park, Peak Resort and Chesterfield Waterside.
Derby City Council chief executive Paul Simpson, who has been speaking at a number of events, said: “Derby is a fantastic innovative city. It is a city on the up, with an exciting future ahead.”
John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said: “MIPIM is an opportunity to raise Derby’s profile on a world stage – and comes in a week in which the Government has announced a huge contract for Rolls-Royce to supply nuclear reactors to power a fleet of submarines for Australia, once again underlying the city’s credentials as the UK’s Capital for Innovation.”
“We’re proud to be home to SmartParc – a new cutting-edge location for food manufacturing.
“Derby is also building a state-of-the-art performance area, which will be operated by ASM Global and will bring an estimated 200,000 additional visitors to the city.
“The University of Derby’s plans to have a learning hub in the city centre is one that everyone in Derby is extremely excited to see. The Business School has already secured £70 million in funding.”
“We made a great start this morning here at MIPIM by being featured as one of the Estates Gazette cities under focus, along with Birmingham and the West Midlands.
“Speaking on the panel, Paul was able to identify city centre investment opportunities in schemes such as the Assembly Rooms, the university’s Business School and the Derbion.”
In total, 23 projects are featured in the Derbyshire prospectus – on top of 17 in the Derby Investment Prospectus – ranging from big sites to help drive economic prosperity and support a growing population, to smaller projects at the heart of communities.
