As I blogged about before I have been invited as part of a delegation to go to the Shanghai Exhibition in China in late August. And I have decided to go…

No.1 Nottingham Science Park

So it was great to see a news story this week about a Chinese firm not just coming to Nottingham – but moving in to a building I manage for Blueprint. The Changan Motor Company have agreed to take space to No 1 Nottingham Science Park. They make around 2.5 million vehicles a year at the moment.

No.1 will play host to the Company’s research and development team and by 2013 is expected to employ around 300 people. This obviously is fantastic news for the City – but also for the building. Crucially amongst the Press Release is a statement about who was instrumental in doing this deal. I would like to tell you it was the letting agents, but I think Dr Bryan Jackson from emda was probably a key player. And we are still thinking getting rid of the RDA is good? This inward investment work by emda (with support from the nice folks at Invest in Nottingham) is critical to this City. Disbanding investment arms and promoters at this stage of the economic cycle is madness.

Nottingham’s lifeblood relies on new investment. Our manufacturing base has dwindled and we need to replace it – this sort of investment is like gold dust to us!

The Shanghai Expo will mainly focus on sustainable construction, urban development, and ‘green technologies’. We still have these skills – and are world leading in some of these sectors. We can export some of this expertise to China.

We shouldn’t underestimate the power of the China market – and their propensity to fund research and development. Changan reinvest 4.5% of their turnover in R&D. Some of that money is being placed in Nottingham!

Parallels are not lost on me; No.1 is in the shadow of The Portland Building in Nottingham and part of the trip to Shangahai includes a trip to Ningbo to see the replica Portland Building! I am off to China to see green technologies and Changan are moving into one of Nottingham’s greenest buildings – and I don’t mean just the colour of the cladding…