Inspire Business Park revealed as £4m home of Europe's largest straw bale buildings.

Inspire Bradford Business Park (www.inspirebradford.com) will be built on a brownfield site close to Eccleshill Community Hospital in the east of the city and comprise two buildings totalling 2,787 sq m housing 14 serviced offices and 14 managed workspaces.

Available offices range in size from 10 sq m to 38 sq m and the work spaces are 64 sq m with a 34 sq m mezzanine floor. The two buildings will be built according to the latest sustainable construction standards to achieve a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating, including utilising thermally efficient, one metre thick straw bale wall panels.

Inspire Bradford Business Park will be owned and managed by the Newlands Community Association (NCA). The NCA is a community organisation based in East Bradford that provides a range of activities covering training, education, care and socialising across six separate locations.

Inspire Bradford Business Park will also become home to the NCA, ensuring it is both a community hub and business location. The tendering process for contractors to build the business park is currently under way with construction planned to start in April 2011 and be completed early next year.

Tony Holdich, NCA chief executive, said: “We want the business park to inspire both the local community and those businesses that locate here, so the name of the development reflects that objective.

“We are also using a positioning line for Inspire Bradford Business Park of ‘opportunity redefined’.

It is derived from the fact that we have designed Inspire to provide business tenants and the local community with a facility that will continually create and encourage opportunity.

“By redefining what a business park is, we are implementing a blueprint for commerce and community to coexist and to promote enterprise from both.”

Inspire Bradford Business Park will provide some of the highest specification commercial property available within the city and will also include an onsite café and digital media centre. Individuals and businesses will also be able to hire any of four meeting rooms by the hour or day.

Sustainable features of the business park include a ground-source heat pump and a rainwater catchment reservoir which will supply lavatories and water for plants within the building. Photovoltaic cells in the roof will also create energy whilst wooden fittings and carpets will be made from recycled material.

The business park’s location provides fast access to Bradford and Leeds city centres and the M62 and M1 whilst Leeds Bradford International airport is less than five miles away by car.

Funding for the development comprises £1.019m of European Union investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme in Yorkshire and The Humber, £1m from the Communitybuilders Fund and £990,000 from Bradford Council’s Local Enterprise Growth Initiative.

NCA also secured a £1m mortgage from The Charity Bank for the business park Malcolm Taylor, who heads the team at Yorkshire Forward responsible for managing ERDF investment in the region said: “I’m certain that this investment in Bradford, along with others we are making with European money, will play a vital part in developing our economy and creating jobs, which is especially important in light of the current economic climate.”

Caroline Forster, director of Communitybuilders said: “We’re delighted we have been able to support the Inspire Bradford Business Park and The NCA and look forward to watching it inspire and provide the local community with a valuable community hub.”

Coun David Green, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration and Economy, said: “We have a thriving enterprise culture in Bradford, with more than 1,200 new businesses being launched over the past five years, and this business park will further support the creation of new jobs and bolster the local economy.”

Claire Trenaman, lending manager at Charity Bank said: “We are delighted to have been able to support the NCA in establishing a new community hub and enterprise centre at the Inspire Bradford Business Park.”

For further information on Inspire Bradford Business Park - including details on the office, work spaces and services available - visit www.inspirebradford.com or call 0844 3814347.