Henry Brothers have been awarded a £9 million contract to construct a new Enterprise Innovation Centre for Trent University.

The project is the third undertaken by Henry Brothers Midlands for the university – and the latest in a number of schemes completed in the higher education sector across the East Midlands.

The building will be the focal point of NTU's enterprise activities – from supporting start-up companies to commercialising research, advising on intellectual property and offering services to local businesses.

The £9m, four-storey building will be linked to the University's existing Dryden Centre at the City Campus in Nottingham and will provide the flexible space needed to accommodate entrepreneurs and businesses.

Henry Brothers has recently handed over a new £23m engineering facility at the Clifton Campus to NTU, and earlier this year started work on a new Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF), which is also being built at the Clifton Campus.

Ian Taylor, Managing Director of Henry Brothers Midlands, said: "As a company, Henry Brothers is proud to support Nottingham Trent University – the Guardian University of the Year 2019 – as it continues to invest in, and develop and create, first class learning and supporting accommodation and facilities.

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"This is our third construction project for the University, and we are delighted to have now broken ground at the site and started work on Nottingham Trent University's latest development at its City Campus. The Enterprise Innovation Centre will have a positive impact not just at the university, but also on the wider economy of Nottingham and the East Midlands and it's great to play a part in creating such a facility."

Nottingham Trent University Vice-Chancellor Edward Peck was joined by a number of guests at the ground-breaking ceremony, including Anna Vinsen from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and internal colleagues in Executive Dean of Enterprise, Mike Carr, and the recently appointed Head of Enterprise Innovation Centre, Megan Powell Vreeswijk.

Launching the project Mike Carr said: "What the Enterprise and Innovation Centre gives us is the focal point for our work with enterprising start-ups and established businesses as well as being somewhere a community of entrepreneurial people can come together to exchange knowledge and ideas."

Megan added: "We have developed the centre based on the three Cs of Community, Connectivity and Collaboration. It allows us to bring together a community of entrepreneurs from across Nottingham and the wider region who can learn from each other and development their businesses. In doing so, we aim to further stimulate the local economy in our area."

Henry Brothers is working on the Enterprise Innovation Centre with architect Evans Vettori, engineers Mott MacDonald, Edge as project manager, Robinson Low Francis as quantity surveyor, with Couch Perry Wilkes handling the M&E elements.

The centre is planned to open in late 2020 and will become the new home for the Hive, which is currently based in the University's Maudslay building. The Hive offers mentoring, support, training and networking opportunities for students, graduates, staff and other entrepreneurs launching a business or social enterprise.

It has been part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Sustainable Urban Development Scheme (SUDS), coordinated by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government with the support of the D2N2 LEP and Nottingham City Council.

(MH/JG)