12 MONTHS ON…..DERBY’S CHANGING SKYLINE
For many of the people visiting this year’s Property and Business Show it may be their first trip to Derby since the corresponding event last year.
Indeed, it is likely that the numbers of delegates this year will be swelled by the inclusion of more visitors from outside the area; hopefully attracted and intrigued in equal measure by Derby’s rapid and impressive physical transformation.
So, what will those visitors from 12 months ago see about Derby today that is different to 2007?
Well, it is impossible to miss Westfield Derby! The largest new shopping centre development in the UK, which opened in October 2007, is now nearing completion with the imminent opening of the new multiplex cinema and accompanying restaurants and bars.
This development, to the south of the city centre, has had a catalytic effect in driving forward a number of initiatives within the northern part of the city, which is now known as The Cathedral Quarter. This resulted in businesses based in the area voting to become Business Improvement District towards the end of last year.
Within the Cathedral Quarter, a number of significant new developments are nearing completion. QUAD, Derby’s new £10.4 million visual arts and media Centre, is set open later this summer on Derby’s Market Place.
The Cathedral Quarter Hotel, on St Mary’s Gate, is to open shortly and construction work is also underway on King Street, with a new 226 room hotel for Jury’s Inn heading for completion in 2009.
Also in the Cathedral Quarter, work is now at an advanced stage on the construction of a new footbridge across the River Derwent from Cathedral Green to North Riverside. Within the same locality, work is soon to begin on Cedar House Investments’ City Gate House, the first substantial speculative office development in the city for more than 15 years.
Visitors arriving in Derby by train will notice the extensive repair and modernisation work that is being carried out to improve Derby Midland Station. Diagonally across from the London platform at the station, work is proceeding on schedule for Derby College’s new £35m plus Round House Development, which will provide a new state-of-the-art engineering school for 21st century students.
In tandem with the concentrated level of activity focused on the city centre, much good work is now underway in the rest of the city. The race is on to see which of Derby’s two largest new employment zones can be on site first.
Goodman’s New Raynesway development is scheduled for a start on site later this year. At more than 130 acres, it will provide Derby with a key distribution-led project and take advantage of the rapid links from the south east of the city to the motorway network and beyond.
Chellaston Park has also been in the planning stages for longer than most people remember. Very pleasingly though, this scheme is now imminent and will provide an additional 100 plus acres of employment land, together with new development and investment opportunities for a range of local, regional and national businesses.
With more than 9,000 employees and nearly a billion pounds of capital investment in place, Pride Park is quite rightly regarded as one of the UK’s most successful regeneration projects over the last 10 years. Work is now underway to complete the final schemes and the centre piece is The Point, Cedar House Investments’ new £50 million development.
This 12 acre development has already secured pre-sale commitment from a mixture of office and hotel users and is set to be the new home for the UK’s National Rail Centre.
Adjacent to Pride Park, Network Rail control 60 acres of land with direct access to the A52. Work is currently taking place behind the scenes to bring this site to the market later in 2008.
Derby could not be accused of standing still – the next 12 months will see further hotel, office and leisure developments brought forward with planning permission and secured for a range of iconic schemes.
