Location of choice

In these challenging times, gaining a foothold can prove a real challenge for new and small businesses. To combat this a new innovation centre in Medway, Kent is helping innovation businesses grow and develop, as Richard Kidd explains

It is no coincidence that only six months after opening, Medway’s new Innovation Centre has achieved 40 percent occupancy. Medway Council has developed this state-of-the-art facility in partnership with the University of Greenwich, and has been part funded by the Homes & Communities Agency. Medway Council is highly regarded among both local authorities and the business support community for providing a range of innovative and tangible business support measures, including a long history of offering affordable business workspace for small and medium sized enterprises.

Object Trading, a developer of financial services software for the investment banking sector, wasted no time becoming a tenant. Gerry Turner, Executive Director of the company’s Europe and North America operations, puts it succinctly: “My objective in establishing our European operation was to work in a professional, high quality serviced office environment which I could access around the clock, and one where I could confidently host clients, but also access excellent broadband speeds to communicate effectively with our overseas offices. With direct access to a 100mb connection, Medway’s Innovation Centre offers that to me, coupled with excellent access to the motorway for my regular meetings in London. I have also been helped with my recruitment requirements, having recently identified and employed a local graduate”.

It is evident that Medway’s Innovation Centre is an attractive business location on a number of levels and has enticed further businesses working in financial services, as well as environmental, security and information technologies. In addition to its high quality offices, ranging in size from 120 sq ft to 560 sq ft, there are extensive conference and meeting room facilities, a data centre, and Wi-Fi access in all areas of the building. Its location next to a quality business hotel and close to Rochester Airport, which regularly receives helicopters and light aircraft, is also of benefit.

It is hoped that the Innovation Centre will also be a focus for the new SEEDA funded Innovation & Growth Team, whose remit is to intensively assist a core group of 250 of the most innovative businesses across Medway and Kent with a team of innovation business experts, mentors and advisers.

For ICM’s Manager, Matthew Payne, the importance of this facility becomes evident: “I’m not surprised we have already attracted so many tenants to this iconic building, in spite of adverse global economic conditions in recent months. ICM has been developed as part of a wider strategy to promote and support innovation and growth and our tenant businesses recognise the need to be based in a strategic location. Not only are we superbly positioned to access arterial routes to London and towards the continent, Medway now boasts 31 minute train journey times on its high speed services into London St Pancras. This has effectively halved previous journey times, putting our location on a par with Reading. Furthermore, Medway has four universities hosting 10,000 students, making us the only region in the South East outside of London able to make that claim.”

For tenants of the Innovation Centre, the University of Greenwich at Medway provides excellence in research and development and prototyping at their Renshaw Centre, an ideal resource for local technology businesses across Medway. Medway Council is also helping to provide the link between the universities and businesses to establish greater opportunities for graduate work placements in Medway and therefore help to retain a greater percentage of Medway’s graduates locally.

ICM’s presence in Medway at the heart of the North Kent Thames Gateway positions it favourably to become an exciting hub for innovation technologies across a range of key business and industrial sectors.

For more information: Tel: 0163 488 7282, email: matthew.payne@innovationcentremedway.co.uk or visit: innovationcentremedway.co.uk