Business case approved for ‘jewel in the crown’ Invest NI Derry office
Invest NI’s new Derry office will be located next to ‘existing clients, large and small’ and will be ‘real jewel in the crown for inward investors’, a senior official has said.
Alison Currie, chief development officer at the state agency, said a business case for the new office has now been approved.
“I cannot announce just yet where the new office will be, but it will be in Derry. It is going to be a very modern, future-focused office that will be well resourced with staff. It will be a real jewel in the crown for inward investors to visit.
"The office will be close to existing clients, large and small. The plan is for that office to become a regional hub. We want our partners, stakeholders, clients and businesses to work with us in that office once it is formally announced and opened, hopefully later this year,” Ms. Currie informed members of the Stormont Economy Committee.
She was asked about plans for a new office in Derry by the local Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy.
“That is perfect,” said the Foyle MLA. “One of the things that struck me was that, any time that I visited the office in Belfast, it was clear that staff from across the region were able to come in and use it. It would be great to see the same in Derry, so that staff can come in from other areas.”
Ms. Currie replied: “You will see that. We are already doing that. We do not need the new office to do that.”
Last November Invest NI boss Kieran Donoghue advised the Economy Committee that the agency had refined its short list for a new Derry office to two options.
The search for a new Derry office got underway after its former base at Timber Quay was acquired by Ulster University for the expansion of Magee.
Mr. Delargy told the committee that the establishment of a ‘front-facing’ Invest NI office was about ‘confidence in business and giving them the ability to explore all their options and to look at innovation and growth and so on’.