Over the last few decades Nottingham has transitioned away from being a city known for its traditional industries towards claiming its place as major UK regional city. This month we will look at what is going on in Nottingham and at what is planned for the future.
Nottingham’s economy was traditionally based on light manufacturing including textiles, bicycles and pharmaceuticals – being synonymous with the Boots company. Today the city is home to a significant number of future-facing industries which provide high value jobs. These include financial and business services, advanced manufacturing, creative and digital, research and technology and life sciences.
Nottingham also has a visitor economy, being the main regional centre for retail, leisure, culture and sporting events. In recent years Nottingham Castle has undergone a £33m renovation, capitalising on the Robin Hood legend and with the aim of attracting more tourists to the city.
Nottingham is also a very significant university centre, which is becoming increasingly important to both the economy here and the property market. In a city with a total population of 330,000 the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University have around 65,000 students between them. Student numbers have grown apace in recent years and official estimates suggest the city will gain a further 1,500 student residents each year for the next few years.
Both the city centre and wider area have a history of successfully creating and pursuing initiatives to shape regeneration and development.
In 2019 Nottingham City Council formulated its New City Centre Strategy. Pre-Covid the aim was to reframe the city centre to cope with an anticipated large rise in city centre residents, workers and tourists. It forecast £2bn of major new developments including a redeveloped Broadmarsh Centre, the new visitor attraction at Nottingham Castle, the new city centre college building plus major office and residential developments alongside better public realm and public transport links. The council has just launched a consultation on a new draft Economic Plan. The ambition is to attract £4bn of regeneration investment, create 20,000 new jobs and generate £1bn of additional Gross Value Added (GVA) over 10 years.
