Discovery Park, The Island Quarter, Nottingham – Science and Technology Campus
Discovery Park, the science and technology campus at the heart of Island Quarter, an ambitious 36-acre mixed-use development in Nottingham City Centre.
This is an opportunity to partner with The Conygar Investment Company PLC at The Island Quarter, Nottingham.
The Island Quarter is a canal-side sustainable mixed-use destination of about 325,000 square metres of accommodation, including around 46,000 square metres of life science and technology buildings. It has an estimated gross development value (GDV) of over £500 million within the broader £1 billion GDV brown field development.
Discovery Park’s first Phase (24,400 square metres) has secured detailed planning consent, granted in June 2023. The masterplan has been agreed with the local planning authority for the 26,930 square metre phase 2.
Location:
City Link, Nottingham, NG2 4LA
Investment type:
Capital investment - real estate
Project promoter:
Conygar Nottingham Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Conygar Investment Company PLC
Planning status:
Planning permission obtained - amendment required
Time to Final Investment Decision (FID):
6-12 months
Sector and market opportunity
Nottingham has a long-established life sciences industry, including Boots PLC, a leading UK company in the sector with patents including Ibuprofen. It also has a history of life sciences and med-tech innovation, such as the creation of MRI scanners.
The Discovery Park at Island Quarter will build on these strengths and embed life sciences capabilities within its large-scale regeneration of the city centre.
Location
Nottingham is in the heart of the UK Midlands, providing easy access to other key life science centres including London, Cambridge and Oxford.
Nottingham itself has 2 world class universities, including one Russell Group university, with 70,000 undergraduates and significant graduate programmes.
Bio-City, the UK’s largest bio-science incubator, is adjacent to Discovery Park and both Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University have med-tech incubator/innovation parks within close proximity.
Connectivity
The site is less than 5 minutes from Nottingham’s main train station and tram interchange, serving the wider Nottingham area and 1 hour 40 minutes from London. Nottingham Bus Station is also within 200 metres.
The development has already created new links to the Nottingham Canal footpath and will have a linear park linking East Nottingham to the city centre.
Nottingham is 30 minutes from East Midlands International Airport with access to Birmingham, Manchester, London Luton and London Heathrow Airports.
Nottingham is located 10 miles east of the M1 motorway.
Local talent and skills
Both universities in Nottingham run successful innovation centres close to the site.
The provision of suitable build to rent apartments on the Island Quarter will satisfy the requirements of the Science Park occupiers at competitive rents. The affordability of housing in Nottingham is a significant factor in making Nottingham a highly attractive centre of Bio-Science, in comparison with the expensive and tight supply of housing in the Golden Triangle.
Region Spotlight
Midlands
The Midlands is at the forefront of technologies such as industrial digitisation, life sciences and alternative fuels. It's home to world-class assets and centres of innovative excellence. The region is ideally placed for the distribution of manufactured goods, reaching 92% of the UK population within 4 hours. Birmingham is at the heart of one of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects, HS2, and hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Research and expertise
Both Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University are working in conjunction with The Conygar Investment Company to bring this development forward, together with the support of Nottingham City Council.
The Conygar Investment Company owns the entire 36-acre freehold, and is a listed company on the UK Stock Exchange.
Nottingham City Council is working closely with the developer to bring forward this scheme.
Local and national government support
The ethos of the campus aligns with the UK government’s science superpower and innovation nation ambitions.