The new building under construction at Nottingham Science Park will be named the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson building when it is opened in early 2020.

The striking new building will provide 22,700 sq. ft. of Grade A office space for businesses looking for research and development facilities near like-minded organisations, creating a more effective hub of commercial activity within the Science Park.

It will also include a café for tenants and the public, as well as a conference space, allowing companies to host conferences for up to 60 people, events, symposiums and more, providing a central hub for networking across the entire Nottingham Science Park site.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was Britain’s first female doctor, magistrate and mayor, as well as being a member of the suffragette movement. As women were barred from becoming doctors in the 19th century, Garrett Anderson learned French and travelled to Paris to get her medical degree, completing this in 1870. She was an active campaigner for the right for women to become doctors, founding and opening a medical school for women in 1877.

She was active in the women’s suffrage movement, presenting petitions and joining the first British Women’s Suffrage Committee in 1877. Her sister was Millicent Garrett Fawcett and her daughter Louisa was also a suffragette.

The choice was made to honour Garrett Anderson, a largely unknown figure in British history, for her contribution to the medical profession and society as a whole through her boldness, bravery and willingness to push and break boundaries, which is recognised in creating the new building as a collaborative meeting space and hub for new tenants looking to aspire to something new as Garrett Anderson did.

Created in the 1980s to give new firms a place to start up, Nottingham Science Park is surrounded by greenery and privacy, allowing a community of scientists, researchers and manufacturers to develop in a bespoke environment.

Its proximity to transport links and partners at Boots and the University of Nottingham makes it an ideal location for many companies and is part of Nottingham’s thriving scientific community, particularly with the recent opening of the new cycle and pedestrian bridge, linking Nottingham Science Park to the Boots Enterprise Zone.

Carter Jonas will act as property management and letting agents for the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson building and the existing No.1 building.

Councillor David Mellen, Leader of the City Council, said: “Naming a building on Nottingham Science Park was always likely to be a challenge, given the illustrious names adorning buildings there already such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Alexander Fleming, Sir Isaac Newton and Nottingham’s own William Lee.

“However, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s achievements and character fit with the character of Nottingham: rebellious, innovative and inclusive, unwilling to accept that because things have always been done a particular way they should remain so. Her name upon our new Grade A office and meeting space will be a welcome one to the park as a focal point for companies across the park to meet, network and hopefully innovate together.”