Work begins on Nottingham centre for business innovation

Video: A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Tuesday (August 27).

By Yu-Chen Chu

Work has started on a striking new city centre building at Nottingham Trent University which aims to drive innovation between businesses and students to create jobs.

The £8 million Enterprise and Innovation Centre (EIC) is being built on the City Campus of Nottingham Trent University, and is expected to be complete by the end of 2020.

It aims to be a place for students, graduates and enterprises to interact and collaborate with each other for their studies, research or to develop new businesses.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Tuesday (August 27) for the new building, which will be on Dryden Street.

Megan Powell Vreeswijk, the Head of Enterprise and Innovation Centre at NTU said: “EIC will give students the opportunity to come and work with businesses that are available to take on students as an intern, and this is going to be vital for students who come to graduate.

“It will be vital for our students and graduates – it gives them the opportunity to come in and work with businesses that are growing and being innovative and expanding.

“They learn so much more when they are surrounded by other people that are doing it – or have done it already – and it gives them an understanding of what the challenges will be and it gives them the preparation to overcome them.”

Professor Edward Peck, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, said: “New enterprises are absolutely essential to our economy, particularly here in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – and the university has lots of graduates that want to start their own businesses.

“This centre is a great way of giving them the support, business planning, space, marketing, all those things you need, to create really successful businesses, and then create more jobs for local people.”

He added: “More and more students do actually want to work for themselves and have some great ideas and be able to get support. The university campus really encourages people to take that important first step which is often risky, but if it comes off, it is really rewarding,”

Ian Taylor, Manging Director at construction contractor Henry Brothers Midlands, said: “It will be a very striking and fabulous looking building that got a very big curved entrance, and a curtain wall which is just going to give tremendous light and feel to the building.”

The EIC building has been designed by Evans Vettori Architects. It will be an independent building which sits next to the Dryden Building. With a four-floor construction, it will provide spaces for meetings, seminars, open plan areas and offices.