Hull’s £4m Centre for Digital Innovation officially opens

The Centre for Digital Innovation (C4DI), a technology hub created to lead a digital revolution across Hull and Humber and the wider northern region, officially opened on Wednesday, December 16th.

The £4m, 22,000 sq ft building, developed by the Wykeland Group, will form the centre of the £14m @TheDock scheme and will house a wide range of startups and businesses.

Featuring KC’s Lightsteam broadband service, the C4DI brings the UK’s fastest internet connection speeds to Hull, providing download speeds from 250Mbps to 1Gbps and upload speeds of between 125Mbps and 500Mbps.

The official opening was carried out by Claire Braithwaite, head of Tech North at Tech City UK.

Claire said: “The approach Wykeland has taken to the development of the C4DI building demonstrates their progressive approach and commitment to Hull.

“By providing a focal point for the digital community, this landmark building will play a key role in growing and developing the digital economy in Hull and will help ensure Hull’s place as a leading digital cluster in the UK.”

Designed by Enjoy Architects and based in Hull’s Fruit Market, the building has been created to fulfil three criteria – to facilitate the creation of digital and tech start-ups, create a digital community and help conventional businesses innovate and grow by using technology more effectively.

The C4DI provides hot-desking facilities for tech-based start-up firms and offices from 200 sq ft upwards to accommodate growing and established digital and technology businesses.

Dominic Gibbons, managing director of Wykeland Group, said the aims of C4DI were aligned with the Northern Powerhouse initiative and would see Hull spearhead digital innovation and create a digital economy in the North.

Mr Gibbons said: “The digital economy in Hull and Humber is a significant contributor to the region’s GDP and that would have continued to grow at a steady pace. But the regional digital and tech community needs to be better than that. The digital industries are such a fundamental area of growth that we wanted to make sure we are leading in terms of talent, ideas and innovation.

“C4DI is the centrepiece of that – it is a collaborative environment where people in the digital and tech industries can think, work, share ideas and ultimately come up with technologies that will shape our future world.”

Mr Gibbons added: “We have a substantial development programme at the moment and C4DI has to be one of our most exciting as it is far more than a building. It looks spectacular but it is what is happening and will happen inside the building that will have a long lasting impact on the regional economy.”

The building has been developed and funded by the Wykeland Group with the assistance of a grant from the European Regional Development Fund. More than 90% of the offices on the first three floors have already been signed up to.

John Connolly, managing director of C4DI Ltd, the operating company for the building, also commented: “C4DI Ltd is a company whose objective is to assist the growth of the local and regional tech and digital sector. To achieve that we needed a space for it to happen in and that idea gave birth to the idea of C4DI the building, the opening of which we are celebrating today.

“Our vision was to create a unique, vibrant specialist business space that would help drive the region’s tech and digital sector forward and we have worked in partnership with the likes of KC, Hull Digital, the University of Hull and numerous local and national tech companies to achieve that.

“We also wanted to create a space where partnerships between the region’s non-digital businesses and the tech companies can develop as this is where a huge amount of value can be realised from C4DI. It is not just about creating start-ups, it is about collaborating with companies that need bespoke digital and tech solutions and helping them to realise those. By doing that we enable the entire region’s economy to grow while at the same time dramatically enhancing the links between mainstream industry and the tech community.”

C4DI secured its first tenant in May this year.

The Escada Group, an international hardware and software developer and market leading supplier of control systems to the corrugated paper manufacturing industry, agreed a lease on a 2000 sq ft unit on the second floor of the building, which will form the company’s corporate headquarters.

Gavin Bushby, founder and chairman of the Escada Group, said: “As part of our company strategy, our vision is to create a more corporate-focused company with an emphasis on product and systems innovation and safeguarding the future success, expansion and stability of the Escada Group.

“During our investigation process we met with the C4DI team and were extremely inspired with their vision and enthusiasm. The links with the universities and colleges are vital for us to recruit and nurture talent for the future, and the community that will develop along with C4DI will provide us with essential opportunities to build relationships with other skilled individuals and technical companies.

“We feel by moving our corporate headquarters to C4DI we can achieve our vision and much, much more.”

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