News Update

Welcome to Issue 2 of the Invest in Nottingham Newsletter.

Apologies for this edition being soooooo long we have been extremely busy and have got lots to tell you.

We are pleased to report that since January Invest in Nottingham have taken 65 enquiries, 53 were property related.

A DEBUT event showcasing Nottingham as a first-class business location will be held annually following the recent success of Invest in Nottingham Day.

Team Nottingham had their most successful MIPIM to date. See why you should be part of Team Nottingham 2010.

TOP UK designer Wayne Hemingway has urged Nottingham’s architects to “do something fantastic” when planning the city’s future regeneration.

The fashion and design entrepreneur was keynote speaker at the launch of the Design 09 campaign, which seeks to improve Nottingham’s derelict eyesores and unused spots.

Invest in Nottingham recently hosted a stand at the business live conference at The Trent FM Ice Arena which attracted in excess of 500 people.

Invest in Nottingham pro-actively promoted the city as a prime business location targeting the 70,000 people attending the various Twenty20 matches. They also invited key business delegates including representatives from America to discuss potential future investment opportunities.

Invest in Nottingham and the East Midlands Development Agency co-hosted a visit from the UK Trade and Investment Digital Media team in May 2009. Rasik Tailor and Natalie Bain from UKTI are responsible for promoting the digital media sector to businesses looking to invest in the UK.

Bids have gone in for the World Design Capital. We will find out if we have been shortlisted in July. If successful the judges will be coming to visit Nottingham in August 2009. This will be the opportunity for the city to come together, collectively to showcase its strengths in design.

Traditionally held in Manchester we are delighted to announce that for the first time ever The Roses Design Awards is coming to Nottingham on 23 October 2009 in association with Invest in Nottingham.

Invest in Nottingham, the inward investment agency for the Greater Nottingham region, has successfully secured new business premises for lighting company LEDinLight.

Invest in Nottingham recently welcomed Links of London to the city. To celebrate the opening of their new store on Bridlesmith Gate, guests were invited to an intimate event. Whilst dining on canapés and champagne the invitees were treated to a fabulous trends presentation from celebrated image consultant Pippa Rees. A great competition took place with one lucky visitor winning a beautiful silver and garnet necklace from the Flutter and Wow collection.

4 more new relocation projects to be announced shortly watch this space at Invest in Nottingham.

Nottingham’s economy is booming despite the recession and its growth rate is outperforming both the East Midlands and England, says a new report. The city economy is now worth £11.2 billion per annum, and the strong growth in the last five years, of 36% is higher than the East Midlands at 32% and England at 30%.

NOTTINGHAM’S commercial property market is well-placed to make the most of an economic upturn.

International property consultancy CB Richard Ellis says the city is a cost-effective location for business that has clear plans to develop its growing knowledge-related economy.

THE former Boots product-testing centre on Wilford Road in Nottingham has been demolished to make way for a major office scheme. The 0.46-acre brownfield site at on the southern fringe of the city centre has planning consent for a 100,000 sq ft landmark office development, to be known as Sentinel.

http://www.thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk/latestnews/Wilson-Bowden-hope-early-start-20m-Nottingham-office/article-1085296-detail/article.html

Nottingham firm TDX Group Ltd (turnover £23.5m) is listed among the top 50 in the UK’s Best Workplaces survey in ‘Great Place to Work’.

Fledgling pharmaceutical firm R5 Pharmaceuticals has been honoured with the Export Achievement Award. The BioCity based company started in 2006 and, despite the recession, is predicting turnover approaching £3m this year. R5, which develops and manufactures prototype medicines for clinical trials, currently exports to Japan, Korea, USA, Australia, Portugal, Finland and Germany. It employs 38 staff, ranging from graduates to PhD chemists and pharmacists.

Greater Nottingham winners include:

Paul Smith Ltd, which has its HQ in Nottingham, accepted the Queens Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category this year.

Romax Technology based on Nottingham Science and Technology Park won an award for Innovation. It is the company’s second award. Romax is involved in environmentally significant research for next generation wind turbines and hybrid vehicles and works with Government and leading energy companies.

West Energy Saving Technologies of Bramcote won an award for Continuous Development of its product, Ventimiser CMSM, patented devices which provide precise control over fans or central ventilation systems.

Nottingham IT firm Quantix who are set for further expansion as more businesses decide to save money by outsourcing their technical services.

Quantix saw turnover break the £2m barrier in the last three months of 2008 alone, with quarterly profits up 46% on the same period in the previous year.

Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation announced recently three new centres that will develop digital technology to transform the lives of UK citizens. Building on the Governments Digital Britain universal broadband access pledge, the new research ‘hubs’ will be based in Nottingham, Newcastle and Aberdeen.

The planning application has now been registered for Medipark a decision is expected by the end of August.

The procurement of private sector partners for New Homes Nottingham (Nottingham City’s Local Housing Company) will commence during Summer 2009. The company will be set up by June 2010 and work is anticipated to commence by the end of 2010.

The University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University both scored highly within the Gaurdian’s University Rankings table released in May 2009.

Click here to view results

The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise has rated 90% of the University of Nottingham’s research as being of international quality with over 60% defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.