Tenders are currently being prepared for the University of Northampton for a £7.5m Innovation Centre in the Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone.
Standing six storeys high, the local landmark will provide office accommodation and support services for up to 55 small businesses in the Social Enterprise sector.
The University has been internationally recognised as a leader in supporting Social Entrepreneurship; having recently joined an exclusive group of just 21 other universities in the world that have earned the right to call themselves a ‘Changemaker Campus’.
The University of Northampton is delivering the project in partnership with West Northamptonshire Development Corporation. It is the third time that the two organisations have collaborated on an Innovation Centre. It follows the expansion of the University’s very successful Portfolio Centre in 2009 and the completion of Daventry’s award-winning iCon Centre in 2011.
After receiving initial expressions of interest last year, the University have invited six shortlisted contractors to bid to construct the flagship 3,750 sqm building. The successful contractor will be announced in May, prior to work starting on site in the Summer.
Simon Badcock, Project Manager, from the University of Northampton said: “This is a very dynamic and exciting project which will provide a landmark building at a key gateway to the town centre and a base for fledgling Social Enterprises in and around the county. Social enterprises are led by a sense of social purpose and aim to show that businesses and markets can deliver social benefits and tackle difficult social problems. The social enterprise sector is growing rapidly, both in the UK and across the world.
“We will be ensuring that the way the new centre is constructed and operated delivers value for money for the University, but also real social value and impact for the local community. The University of Northampton is committed to using its purchasing power in ways that help the disadvantaged in our community. It is this way of thinking that has made us the No.1 University for social enterprise in the UK.”
Peter Mawson, Chief Executive of West Northamptonshire Development Corporation said: “When construction of the Innovation Centre starts this summer, it will be a symbolic moment for Northampton’s Waterside. We have plans for office development on land immediately next to the Centre, meaning it will be a sign of things to come.
"With the University of Northampton leading the project, the centre promises to be a vibrant and enterprising operation. We’re looking forward to securing a contractor and seeing work start on site.”
The Innovation Centre, expected to open in Autumn 2014, is one of several developments on the horizon in the Northampton Enterprise Zone. This includes a new and improved railway station opposite the Innovation Centre, as well as a proposed £330m University of Northampton campus at the Avon Nunn Mills site.
