Council targets creative industries with office refurbishment

Ada Lovelace House

A £280,000 investment by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and Ashfield District Council is being made into local office space.

The redevelopment of the existing Ada Lovelace House in Urban Road, Kirkby-in-Ashfield – named for Lord Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace, will create 1,658 sq ft of space for start-up businesses, and SMEs, with a view to attracting those in the creative and digital industries.

The project will cost £280,000 in total, half of which will come from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and half from the Council.

Ada Lovelace House, currently in a state of disrepair, will be transformed into seven office spaces, with shared communal space and open-plan meeting areas. Ashfield District Council will be looking to use its links with Nottingham Trent University to particularly attract and support creative and digital businesses, and new graduate start-ups to the site.

Plans for the works have been approved and the refurbishment could be completed as early as spring of this year (2017).

David Ralph, chief executive of the D2N2 LEP, said: “It is important that all parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire are recognised for the contribution they make to the D2N2 economy. There is a clear appetite for small business space in Ashfield and the Ada Lovelace House redevelopment will be a means to help meet that need.”

Councillor Don Davis, portfolio holder for regeneration at Ashfield District Council, added: “The redevelopment of Ada Lovelace House represents a fantastic addition to Kirkby town centre and to the Ashfield District as a whole. The high-quality office space resulting from this project will greatly help to encourage new business to locate right in the heart of the town – creating jobs and boosting the economy for the people of Kirkby and Ashfield.”

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