30 July 2007 - Article by Nottingham Evening Post

Nottingham will try to stay ahead of the future demands of science-based businesses by carrying out a survey into their property needs. Science and technology businesses have been highlighted as a major growth area for the city's economy in the next decade. Its is estimated that they could create more than 10,000 jobs, pushing Nottingham further up the rankings as a science and technology centre of national significance. Now, Nottingham Regeneration has commissioned a report designed to find out what kind of property the city needs to help the city's science and technology businesses grow - and what kind of property might bring new firms. The report will tap into the lessons the city has learned from the success of BioCity on Pennyfoot Street, which has become a magnet for bioscience businesses from Nottingham and beyond. And it comes at a time when there is already £80m of investment in science-based development, including the launch by property fund Blueprint of a new phase of Nottingham Science Park on University Boulevard. Marc Cole, chief executive of NRL, which manages the development of the city's regeneration zones, says property must keep pace with a sector that is growing faster than the rest of Nottingham's economy. "Both the East Midlands Development Agency and Nottingham Development Enterprise have already done a lot of work looking at the growth prospects of science and technology companies over the next 20 years," he said. "What we are going to be doing is looking at the likely property needs over that period of time so that we can properly identify supply and demand. "What we have to identify and tackle are the potential pinch-points in that equation, so that we don't run into difficulties and restrict the potential growth of these companies." He added: "We want to look ahead at the short, medium and long term, and examine the needs of the different types of businesses operating in the sector - the start-ups, the growing businesses and the potential inward investors." NRL's report will be carried out by special economic and regeneration consultant Regeneris and the Nottingham-based surveyors and property agents Innes England. They will talk to all stakeholders involved in the science and technology sector, ranging from the universities - where significant numbers of spin-out sci-tech businesses begin - to property developers. "We're going to be asking what demand the market is already addressing, what it is likely to address in the future, and what still needs to be done that is not commercially viable," said Mr Cole. Work on the report has begun and Mr Cole says it should be ready for discussion in the autumn. Last month, it was revealed that Nottingham is now one of the top five locations for science and technology businesses in the country. The study by Experian shows that between 2003 and 2005 nearly 3,200 jobs were created in the science sector in Nottingham - a growth rate faster than the rest of England. Greater Nottingham has more than 100 science-related businesses, 75% of them established since 2000 The numbers of annual patent applications from Nottingham are bettered only by Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and York. Mr Cole added: "We have a science sector growing faster than the rest of the economy and we are a city with 20% of jobs in science-related businesses."