The £12m iHub is the centrepiece of Infinity Park, the new 100-acre manufacturing focused commercial and technology site in Derby, which is situated close to the world headquarters of Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace and within 15 minutes of OEMs including Bombardier, Toyota and JCB.
The 45,000ft2 facility, which has Enterprise Zone status, provides high quality, flexible workspace for start-ups, early stage businesses and high growth SME’s looking to expand their role within the transport engineering and hi-tech sectors.
As well as offering 18 traditional office workspaces (from 127ft2 to 970ft2), the iHub provides 14 ground floor workshops for businesses seeking a more hybrid working environment.
The state-of-the art workshops range in size from 375ft2 to 4,451ft2 and will cater for a broad range of uses in a managed workspace environment.
New tenants include Ultra Biotecs and engineering design company Addqual, along with Canadian firm Sciemetric, which tests and monitors processes across the assembly line; London-based cloud data consultants Elastacloud and patent and trademark attorneys, Serjeants.
A further 40% of accommodation is currently under negotiation, which will take the building to 90% occupancy within its first year of trading.
In addition to the facilities available at the iHub is the innovative ‘iLab’, which promotes invention by enabling the rapid prototyping of a range of products and services. It also boasts high end virtual reality, 3D printing and surface microscope equipment.
The building also offers a multi-purpose ‘heart space’ area, available for hosting external conferences and events, along with meeting and seminar rooms.
The iHub will offer a supportive and collaborative environment to enable businesses to innovate, grow and develop. Tenants will also be eligible to a range of support from ENSCITE, a collaboration between Aston and Derby Universities and Derby City Council.
The iHub is part of Derby City Council’s Connect Derby portfolio of managed workspaces, which has created a strong market for mixed use and sector specific serviced offices across the city at six other locations.
Ann Bhatti, Connect Derby manager, said: “Our new tenants have chosen the iHub because of its strategic location in the region, the hi-specification office and workshop accommodation and state-of-the-art equipment and business support services that are on offer. We look forward to announcing more new tenants in the coming weeks.”