A Grade A 22,700 sq. ft office space in Nottingham has now reached completion, providing space for growing firms to expand their research and development facilities near like-minded businesses, creating an effective hub of commercial activity within Nottingham’s Science Park.
The now complete Elizabeth Garrett Anderson building – delivered by contractor Willmott Dixon – has been named to honour Britain’s first female doctor and celebrate collaboration and innovation on the site. The project includes a café, an 80-space car park and a conference space, allowing companies to host conferences and events, creating a central hub for networking across the entire Nottingham Science Park site.
Procured via Major Works England and Northern Ireland, a part of the Scape National Construction framework, the project is visually striking thanks to its design by CPMG Architects. The building incorporates a daring and dramatic cantilever at its entrance and the façade is a pattern of modules in a combination of glazed elements and aluminium cladding panels, the latter finished in contrasting dark grey and gold colours.
Stuart Kerr, operations director for Willmott Dixon in the East Midlands, said: “We are really proud to have helped deliver this important scheme for Nottingham and Nottingham City Council, which will really shape the city centre and create a hub for research and development. As with all our projects we aim to give back to the local community, making a difference to real people.
“During the project, we teamed up with social enterprise Think Big Academy to deliver a careers event on the live construction site, this attracted 100 young people and resulted in over 20 work experience enquiries. We also created jobs for an additional six local people on the scheme, alongside having seven apprentices on the site while also providing work experience opportunities for students of Nottingham College.”
Throughout the project, Willmott Dixon also hosted a series of mental health events on the site delivering Mental Health First Aid training for its own people, partners and the general public. The project has boosted the local economy with 100 per cent of contractual spend being within 40 miles of the site and the contractor donating 640 hours of its peoples’ time to support local causes.
Stuart added: “In tandem with the project, our site team worked with Nottingham’s Emmanuel House – by helping it secure funding and refurbish its dilapidated facilities – we donated hundreds of Willmott Dixon hours and secured support from our partners including CPMG to deliver a fantastic result.”
Councillor David Mellen, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “Nottingham has long been a city of scientific innovation with the MRI, ibuprofen and the legacy of Jesse Boot and expanding our reputable Science Park supports our ambitions to continue to be a city of innovation and creativity.
“Providing more Grade A office space in the city is a long-held ambition of the city to meet the demands of potential tenants and so far it looks as though there’s been good interest in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson building, given its proximity to the Boots Enterprise Zone, University of Nottingham, the tram, the M1 and the city centre.
“As a Science City, we know scientific research and new innovations like fintech can create jobs, stimulate growth and keep talented graduates in the city and are committed to this with our £2bn Southside regeneration programme.”
