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From jamie.goodwin@hullcc.gov.uk | Monday 2 December 2019

New three-storey building to create space for tech start-ups and established digital businesses.

From left, Wykeland’s David Donkin and John Gouldthorp, Hobson and Porter’s Mike Beal and Richard Hunter, John Connolly of C4DI, and the Humber LEP’s Kishor Tailor.

Work has begun on a new building that it is hoped will provide a major fresh stimulus for Hull's tech sector.

The new three-storey sister building for Hull’s Centre for Digital Innovation (C4DI) will create space for tech start-ups and established digital businesses.

The 20,000 sq ft building developed by regeneration company Wykeland Group will expand Wykeland’s @TheDock tech campus in the Fruit Market.

It will create around 160 skilled tech jobs and is supported with £1.29m from the Humber’s Local Growth Fund allocation, secured from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

@TheDock is recognised as one of the UK’s leading digital innovation clusters and as a thriving hub of tech talent. It is fully occupied, with many tech companies growing fast and in need of more space and others keen to benefit from the unique collaborative community.

David Donkin, property director at Hull's Wykeland, said: “This new building will be much more than a place of work.

“It will complement the existing C4DI building and create the capacity and facilities to accelerate further the exciting growth of the tech economy in Hull and across the wider region.

“The building will offer a range of office sizes to meet pent-up demand from start up, scale up and established technology businesses that need space to grow, as well as shared spaces that support the spirit of community that enables creativity to flourish.

“As with the original C4DI it will be a place where tech businesses and traditional companies meet, collaborate and innovate.”

Since C4DI opened four years ago, about 200 start-up and scale-up tech firms are based at or closely linked to it, as well as hundreds of digital specialists and freelancers. 

C4DI’s tech experts deliver projects for more than 50 non-tech member companies, including global organisations such as Siemens, RB and Nestle.

World-class businesses like Saab have also been brought to Hull by C4DI and @TheDock, while safety business Arco, one of Hull’s longest-established companies, chose the tech campus for its digital transformation team.