Historic Peterborough building helping new businesses to grow is up for sale for £1.5 million

​Peterborough’s landmark eco innovation centre is up for sale with a price tag in excess of £1.5 million.​

The hub, which acts as a ‘nursery’ for new and growing businesses, is based in the Grade II listed Peterscourt, in City Road, and has been declared surplus to requirements by Peterborough City Council.

Councillor Andy Coles, Cabinet member for finance and governance, said: “It is an asset that we no longer need and it also requires money to be spent to bring the building up to scratch.

He added: “There has been quite a lot of interest in the building already.

He said: “We will sell assets we no longer require if we can get a good market rate and the proceeds will go into council reserves.

"There are other facilities like this in the city to help the growth of new businesses, such as the Allia centre in London Road, but the investment that is now needed in Peterscourt is too much for the city council.”

Peterscourt is being sold as a going concern and commercial agents Savills say it offers a potential profit of £150,000 plus per year.

It is currently managed by NPS Peterborough on behalf of the council with tenants including a mix of technology and design businesses, PR, communications, financial, recruitment and start-up companies.

The serviced offices range from 70 square feet up to 1,000 square feet in size. The centre also comes with parking for 25 cars.

Peterscourt was designed by renown nineteenth century architect Sir George Gilbert-Scott, who also designed The Albert Memorial and the St Pancras Midland Grand hotel among many others.

It is claimed that Peterscourt was built in 1859 and was St Peter’s Teacher Training College for men until 1914. From 1921 to 1938 it was a teacher training college for women and was later owned by the Peterborough Development Corporation and from 1988 has been owned by the city council.

However, Peterscourt is listed because of its 18th century porch which was taken from London Guildhall following Second World War damage.