Heart of the City – Derby

Based in and around Derby’s award-winning historic Cathedral Quarter, the Cultural Heart of the City scheme is the lynchpin of a dramatic rejuvenation of Derby’s city centre.

Derby has seen over £5 billion invested into the city since 2005 from the public and private sectors, and schemes completing in 2025 include the £35m Victorian Market Hall, creating a hub for F&B, pop-ups and makers and traders; a £45m 3500-capacity performance venue, Becketwell Live, funded by Derby City Council and to be operated by ASM Global; and a £70m University of Derby business school as part of a new £150m city centre campus.

The new Cultural Heart of the City scheme includes an outline masterplan for the site of the Assembly Rooms to create a new multi-purpose development containing leisure, hotel, commercial office and community facilities, alongside regeneration of the Market Place.

The scheme also includes opportunities for regeneration at Becketwell – the £200m prime regeneration site in the city centre – alongside the new performance venue and residential offer. Further development opportunities include residential (including Build-to-Rent) and commercial office.

Why invest in Derby?

For over 300 years, Derby has been home to innovators and thought leaders. We are the UK Capital for Innovation, with global names and their extensive supply chains underpinning our strong economy. Rolls-Royce’s global civil aerospace and defence campuses are here, while Alstom is part of our significant rail cluster – Europe’s largest. SmartParc will create a world-leading sustainable food manufacturing hub, and we are leading the way in future fuel technologies, using our advanced manufacturing expertise to revolutionise the way low-carbon energy is used.

Derby’s location at the heart of the UK has been instrumental to the city’s success. Over 80% of Great Britain can be reached within a four-hour drive, thanks to the region’s excellent connectivity links. Derby’s proximity to East Midlands Airport (the UK’s largest pure freight hub) ensures that goods can easily be moved internationally via air.

Over the past 20 years, over £5bn has been invested into Derby, with a further £2.7bn of known investment in the pipeline, including projects which will revitalise the city centre and support key sectors, including rail (as home to the HQ of Great British Railways and a new Rail Campus Derby) and nuclear (following the £1bn AUKUS and £9bn Unity submarine deals between Rolls-Royce and MOD).

Insight for investors

• Type of investment sought: Development funding, end-user occupiers for commercial office and retail/leisure, hotel and BTR
• Target investor(s): Investment partners; end user occupiers
• Value: £400m GDV
• Timescale: 2021-2031
• Delivery timescale: 1-5 years, 5+ Years
• Planning status: Outline planning granted for Becketwell; outline masterplanning for Assembly Rooms underway by ION Developments and VINCI UK Developments