A new centre which will house the next generation of local entrepreneurs has been 'topped out' at the University of Nottingham Innovation Park (UNIP).
The Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC), is a 2,000m2 three-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.
A nod to Raleigh
Designed to reflect the local industrial heritage of the area surrounding the 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.
The building is costing £5.2m to develop, half of which has been received from the government as part of the University Enterprise Zone programme. Nottingham is one of only four universities in the country to have been awarded enterprise zone status.
Speaking at the Topping Out ceremony, Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham, said: “We are very proud to be one of only a handful of universities in the UK to win University Enterprise Zone status.
At the heart of the Enterprise Zone
"The Technology Entrepreneurship Centre, will be the heart of our University Enterprise Zone, and will enable us to significantly accelerate the work we are already doing locally to nurture business innovation and growth. It will also be a major asset to support the development of local entrepreneurs, as well as student and academic enterprise here at the University.”
The Technology Entrepreneurship Centre is being built by Nottinghamshire construction company, Robert Woodhead Ltd. Team Leader Dan King, said: “A topping out ceremony is a very traditional occasion, dating back centuries. It marks a significant stage of progression in the build process. Traditionally you would be looking up at a pitched roof, and marking the point when timber trusses first create the roofline of a property.
A landmark project
"In the case of the Technology Entrepreneurship Centre, the unique Raleigh wheel design means we’re looking up at something very different, but it is still important to mark such a poignant stage of this landmark project. The iconic structure is now really taking shape and we are starting to see the final bones of what will be a fantastic facility.”
Due to be completed in autumn 2016, the TEC Centre will also 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.
For more information about the Technology Entrepreneurship Centre, and the opportunities for businesses to be based within it, contact Mark Tock, Director of University of Nottingham Innovation Park, on 0115 748 4608, or email mark.tock@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 a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK for research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for four years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.
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