Business Minister Anna Soubry visited The University of Nottingham today to mark the start of work on a new £5.2m centre which will house the next generation of Nottingham’s entrepreneurs.
The Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC) is a new 2,000m2 3-storey building based at The University of Nottingham Innovation Park. As the focal-point of the University Enterprise Zone, it will provide office-based accommodation for up to 50 technology-driven start-up businesses and early-stage SMEs, from the local business community and from within the University.
The University was awarded £2.6m from government for the TEC through the University Enterprise Zone programme, one of only four universities in the country to be awarded enterprise zone status.
Supporting start-ups
As part of her visit to the University of Nottingham Innovation Park, the Minister also visited some of the student and academic entrepreneurs at the Haydn Green Institute who will benefit from the new Centre.
Business Minister Anna Soubry said: “The University of Nottingham’s new Technology Entrepreneurship Centre will be a huge boost to Nottingham and will help make the Midlands the engine for growth I know it can be.
“The Government is committed to ensuring every part of the UK benefits from a growing economy and we want to be the best place in Europe to start and grow a business. This new centre will help provide small businesses and start-ups with the support they need to grow, create jobs and reach their full potential.”
Nurturing entrepreneurial skills
The TEC Centre will be the new home of the Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s ‘Ingenuity Lab’. This is designed to help students develop and nurture entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to thrive as business owners and leaders.
It will focus on supporting businesses which operate in sectors of key local and national importance, such as Big Data & Digital, Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace and Energy. The aim of the Centre is to create 50 new businesses by 2019, generating 350 new jobs and delivering a combined turnover of £25m by 2021.
Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham, said: “I’m delighted Anna Soubry, the Minister for Small Business has been able to visit us today to mark the groundbreaking of the Technology Entrepreneurship Centre. We are very proud to be one of only a handful of universities in the UK to win University Enterprise Zone status.
Developing local entrepreneurs
“The new Technology Entrepreneurship Centre, which will be the heart of our UEZ, will enable us to significantly accelerate the work we are already doing locally to foster business innovation and growth. It will also be a major asset to support the development of local entrepreneurs, as well as supporting student and academic enterprise here at the University.”
The TEC is being built by the Edwinstowe based construction company, Robert Woodhead, based on a design by the award winning architects, Bond Bryan.
Designed to reflect the local industrial heritage of the area surrounding Innovation Park, the architecture of the Technology Entrepreneurship Centre, which is based on the shape of a tyre, honours the Raleigh cycles factory, which dominated the Triumph Road site from the 1930s until the end of the 20th century.
A landmark building
David Woodhead, Managing Director of Robert Woodhead, added: "It’s great to be working with The University of Nottingham again to build such a landmark building.
"As a local SME, it gives us the opportunity to deliver an iconic structure, to high levels of sustainability that will become a landmark within the heart of the city but to also have an impact economically, through the sourcing of local supply chain partners and labour. I’m looking forward to seeing the project develop over the coming months.”
The TEC building will include a range of different office spaces for start-up technology businesses, as well as communal catering facilities, seminar rooms and meeting rooms. It will be built to meet BREEAM ‘excellent’ standards, ensuring the structure meets an international standard for best practice in sustainable building design and energy efficiency, while reducing carbon emissions and incorporating low carbon technologies.
£5.6 million aerospace investment
During the visit the Business Minister also announced a new £5.6 million project being led by the university to develop the next generation of aerospace engines. The project will receive £2.7 million of government funding, with the remainder coming from the University and private sector partners.
The University will lead the project, which will develop and deploy a unique two-shaft testing facility for the next generation of safer, cleaner and greener aerospace engines. It will also be used for research and commercial testing for other sectors including energy, rail, marine and automotive. The project is being funded via the Aerospace Technology Institute, a joint government and industry initiative.
Business Minister Anna Soubry added: “One of our great national success stories is the aerospace industry and this project, backed by government funding, will help us maintain our position as a world leader in this vital sector and all the jobs and growth that can bring.”
For more information about the services that The University of Nottingham offers to businesses, visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/servicesforbusiness
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More information is available from Nick King, Marketing Projects Manager, University of Nottingham, +44 (0)115 82 32184, or email nicholas.king@nottingham.ac.uk or from Emma Lowry on +44 (0)115 846 7156, or email emma.lowry@nottingham.ac.uk
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the World’s Top 75 universities by the QS World University Rankings.
About the aerospace R&D project
The aerospace R&D project, ‘A Two-shaft Resource for Investigation of Engineering Phenomena in High Performance Transmission Systems Facility’ is a £5.6m project (£2.7m government grant) receiving funding from the joint government and industry £2.1bn commitment for aerospace R&D, supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and delivered by Innovate UK.
The ATI was created by Government and industry to guide investment into research and technology projects that will sustain and enhance the UK’s competitive advantage. Its Technology Strategy, launched in July 2015, defines the best combination of capabilities, technologies and products to advance next-generation civil aircraft; enabling industry to exploit anticipated global growth, and deliver value to the UK economy through the sector’s high productivity and skills. For further information visit http://www.ati.org.uk/.
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy - delivering productivity, new jobs and exports and keeping the UK globally competitive in the race for future prosperity. For further information visit www.gov.uk/innovateuk.
About Robert Woodhead Ltd.
Robert Woodhead Ltd is an award winning construction company based in Nottinghamshire and operating throughout the East Midlands. Woodhead specialises in the design, construction, refurbishment, conservation, repairs and maintenance of buildings.