AMT Public

Press Release: 26 June 2009

Shirebrook Business Centre wins top market town award in East Midlands

Shirebrook Business Centre was completed in April 2009, following an extensive refurbishment of a former railway station ticket office.

The derelict building was untouched for 10 years prior to this project and following its recent completion offers new and young businesses the opportunity to grow within a professional environment.

Shirebrook Business Centre has created a sustainable model that has been developed to ensure the future of the building through its management by a Social Enterprise. They have provided training for individuals with transferable skills for similar future projects – a practice which can be adopted both locally and nationally.

The judges were impressed with the way “the income generated through rental of the units will cover all building overheads, which are also kept to a minimum through using renewable energy within the building.”

Shirebrook Business Centre was named the winner of the Business and Economy Category of the East Midlands Market Town Awards and also Overall Regional Winner. They received a framed certificate at the East Midlands Rural Affairs Forum (EMRAF) Conference on Friday 26th June in Theddingworth. They now go head-to-head with other regional winners to compete for the National Market Town Award at the Action for Market Towns Convention in Melton Mowbray in October.

Other category winners were:

Social and Community Category – Swadlincote Alert Box for its innovative technology and the development of a methodology used to increase communications between businesses where clusters of shops work closely with one another to help create a business community.

Environment and Culture Category – Buxton Visitor Welcome Scheme offers support to art/craft and food/product based businesses to improve their sales by relocating them to a key visitor destination where they can showcase their work. The managed Artist Gallery is an excellent example of helping local artists and improving the cultural offering within towns.

Partnership and Strategic Working Category – Think Melton, Shop Melton project was developed as a priority action from business consultation and business and visitor surveys to specifically address needs for the town centre and it has innovatively has used a number of approaches to improve the town centre.

The East Midlands Market Town Awards are part of the National Market Town Awards which each year celebrate the great variety of volunteer-led projects which are helping to regenerate and sustain small towns throughout the country.

Ends

For further press information on the market town awards, please contact: John Pole on 01430 441557. E-mail: john.pole@towns.org.uk

To contact Shirebrook Business Centre, ring Matthew Broughton on 01246 242210

Market Town Awards homepage