A strong public-private sector panel is set to supercharge Team Derby’s investment pitch at the forthcoming UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF).
It has been confirmed that a representative from engineering giant Rolls-Royce, along with Terry Stocks MBE, director of property (UK and Ireland) in the project and programme services division of globally renowned engineering and development consultancy AtkinsRéalis, will take part in a special panel debate at the Leeds event. The panel will look at how Derby’s dominance in the UK’s nuclear sector is enhancing the city’s investment prospects.
They will join East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, the figurehead of the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), Councillor Nadine Peatfield, leader of Derby City Council and EMCCA’s deputy mayor, and Rob Richardson, development director at Indurent, for the debate, which will take place on Tuesday 20 May – the opening day of the three-day UKREiiF event.
John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, who will chair the discussion, said: “We’re delighted to have assembled such a stellar panel.
“It perfectly illustrates the strong public-private partnership approach, which underpins Derby’s investment proposition.
“Derby and Rolls-Royce is an astonishing success story – and its impact is permeating through to other investment classes. We’re looking forward to sharing that story with this year’s UKREiiiF delegates.”
As well as civil aerospace, Derby is home to Rolls-Royce’s nuclear defence operations and in January, the engineering giant signed the largest Ministry of Defence contract in its history, worth £9 billion.
This success comes off the back of the firm securing the MoD’s AUKUS submarines deal, worth over £1 billion, in 2023.
The Derby panel debate will examine the positive impact these deals are having on other investment classes in the city.
Dubbed ‘Unity’, the £9 billion MoD contract stretches for eight years and will result in hundreds of new jobs at Rolls-Royce Submarines’ Raynesway site, which designs, builds and maintains all of the nuclear reactors that power the Royal Navy’s fleet of submarines.
As a result of Unity – and the AUKUS contract – Rolls-Royce is investing heavily in its Raynesway site, doubling its size.
AtkinsRéalis has been appointed by Rolls-Royce, along with Mott MacDonald, as its fissile design partners for this expansion.
But beyond the gates of Raynesway, Rolls-Royce’s investments are already having a positive impact on the rest of Derby – catalysing a range of investable opportunities across asset classes, including industrial/logistics, office and residential, with several infrastructure projects already underway to support developments in the nuclear sector.
For example, Rolls-Royce’s expansion has resulted in the firm opening a new state-of-the-art warehouse facility at Indurent Park Derby to support its manufacturing operations.
Indurent Park Derby is a new 50-acre industrial hub for high-tech R&D and manufacturing and logistics, being created by Indurent on land adjacent to Pride Park and Wyvern Retail Park.
Derby is also home to Rolls-Royce’ Nuclear Skills Academy, which opened in 2022 on Infinity Park Derby and is working with the University of Derby and the National College for Nuclear to create a pipeline of nuclear engineering talent.
Infinity Park Derby has been announced by the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) as one of the sites in the new East Midlands Investment Zone, which will offer various incentives to advanced manufacturing businesses and green industries locating there and aims to drive growth and generate thousands of high-value jobs.
EMCCA is working with Derby City Council and local partners on an allocation of funding from its Investment Fund for a R&D facility on the Investment Zone to support the advanced manufacturing and nuclear sectors.
East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward and Councillor Peatfield will be joining Derby’s showcase panel at UKREiiF to talk about their support for key sector developments in Derby and the pipeline of opportunities.
