Bringing Investment And Growth To Nottingham

For over one hundred years industrial sectors provided jobs and security in Nottingham however it could not escape the economic impact of globalisation through the 1970s and 80s. Major employers were forced to move or cut costs and areas such as Nottingham’s Eastside, home to some of the city’s poorest residents, faced an uncertain economic and environmental future. In addition, the BASF research closed resulting in the loss of around 450 jobs.

In 2001, BASF gifted its extensive laboratory facilities to Nottingham Trent University, which joined with key partners including Nottingham University at the end of 2002 to form BioCity Nottingham. It is now a campus housing one of the largest, most enterprising and successful bioscience business incubators in Europe. 

Less than seven years on, BioCity demonstrates what is possible when visionaries, city institutions, financiers and the community work together and support each other. It is home to 60 companies, most of which are growing rapidly in the supportive environment provided and together they have raised over £25million of investment. Over half of this is spent on employment costs, which in turn is spent in the local economy boosting the success of local businesses. 45% of the companies are now operating profitably and the rest tend to be in the technology development stage.

Over 475 people are currently employed in the companies at BioCity, replacing the 450 jobs lost when BASF closed the facility back in 2001. Over 1,000 people visit BioCity every month and over 600 have attended its annual lectures.  It is also attracting companies from overseas through its virtual tenancy offering.

BioCity has also substantially raised the profile of Nottingham as a national centre of excellence for the bioscience industry as well as contributing to significant site regeneration in Nottingham’s Eastside and Pennyfoot Street area. 

One benefactor is Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd, founded in August 2004. The company first occupied 450 sq ft in BioCity’s incubation building but has rapidly grown and is due to move into the new grow-on building, taking approximately 10,000 sq ft. It currently employs 21 staff with the expansion providing space for 30 more.

BioCity creates an environment that people want to work in by:

• Providing business support to new entrepreneurs
• Building a critical mass of companies in a cluster to prevent feelings of isolation
• Providing ‘large company’ facilitates e.g. restaurant, social activities, training
• Actively building a mix of sector-related companies and skills so all aspects of business can be addressed on site: e.g. venture capital, patent agents, regulatory affairs
• Providing basic laboratory infrastructure
• Helping to create the next generation of scientists by supporting the teaching of bioscience in schools, enthuse and exciting pupils through events and activities
• Helping to improve public understanding of science and promoting discussion

BioCity has enjoyed plenty of  local and regional support over the years which has helped it to thrive, including £12million upgrading and improving local property and partnerships with the city’s schools and FE colleges. Rachel Elnaugh, entrepreneur, former BBC TV Dragon and regional judge, commented on the organisation’s success.

“BioCity is a fantastic example of not only how we can encourage enterprise in a key industry sector, but also how a community-based site can help businesses share resources to thrive and grow.  The exciting thing for me is that the BioCity template could be replicated elsewhere in the UK across a variety of high growth sectors to transform the way we encourage enterprise in this country.”

BioCity is actually in the process of developing plans for a new 100,000 sq ft laboratory and office building on the Eastside development site to provide further grow-on space for the companies that outgrow the incubator stage.  They are also undertaking a feasibility study to develop a satellite in Leicester.

BioCity Nottingham Ltd was the winner of the 2008 Enterprising Britain competition for the East Midlands

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