Construction is [insert stage of progress here] and two pre-lets are already agreed for the new Grade A office building at Nottingham Science Park.
Due to open in February 2020, the striking new building will be named after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Britain’s first female doctor, magistrate and mayor, as well as being a member of the suffragette movement. It will provide 22,782 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 new 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.
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.
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.
Councillor David Mellen, Leader of the City Council, said: “I am pleased that work on the new Elizabeth Garrett building is progressing well on Nottingham Science Park and that companies are already lined up to move in when it opens next year.
“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.”