Midlands Engine Chairman, Sir John Peace, Inaugurates Sygnature’s New HQ – The Discovery Building

Sir John Peace has officially opened Sygnature Discovery’s new HQ, the purpose-built Discovery Building located at BioCity Nottingham.  The £30 million building contains 50,000 sq ft of chemistry and biology laboratory and office space on five levels.  Sygnature Discovery is currently occupying three levels of the building.

Addressing the assembled guests at the invitation-only evening event Sir John Peace, Chairman of the Midlands Engine, said “Last November, the Government published the Midlands Engine Science and Innovation Audit.  It highlighted that the Midlands leads the way in the UK when it comes to medical technologies, employing 8,000 in the sector, with 95,000 employed in related supporting sectors such as research and experimental development in biotechnology.”

“The Discovery building, built with support from the D2N2 LEP and Nottingham City Council, adds to the success of BioCity Nottingham, the UK’s largest bioscience incubator.  This building will support more than 700 new bioscience roles in the city over the next 30 years and is certain to draw the best and brightest from around the UK.”

Sir John also commented that in his role as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, he is looking forward to returning to Sygnature Discovery to present a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, International Trade, to Dr Simon Hirst, Sygnature’s Founder and CEO.

Guests also learned more about the Discovery Building’s unique ‘Corona’ sculpture. Designed by renowned Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress with scientific input from Dr Martin Bencsik of Nottingham Trent University, the ‘Corona’ acts as a brise soleil during the day to improve the energy efficiency of the building and at night, using data from two NASA satellites which monitor solar flare activity, provides an ever-changing fibre optic light show which reflects the sun’s activity in real time on the facade of the building.