IN PICTURES: Take a first look around ARU Peterborough's new £17 million research and innovation centre

Cutting-edge companies are queuing up to move into the university of Peterborough’s new £17 million research and innovation centre.

Building work on the three-storey centre is close to completion and agents Savills have just started to market the site to prospective clients.

Already a number of companies have expressed an interest in locating to the centre, which is just metres from the recently opened university where hundreds of undergraduates and postgraduates have already begin their studies.

The centre consists of 14 individual suites but prospective tenants are also able to lease several of the suites as one unit.

Once fully occupied, it is likely that about 200 people will work from the centre.

ARU Peterborough is expected to occupy the ground floor where research is likely to focus on artificial intelligence studies.

A medical firm and an agric-tech company are among others that have expressed an interest in basing themselves in the centre.

The units are being offered at a discounted rate of £15 per square feet compared to an average rate across the city of £20 plus per square foot.

William Rose, a director at Savills, said: “This is the first speculatively built research and development centre ever built in Peterborough.

"The suites are able to be fitted out as offices or laboratories. A specially built ‘plant room’ on the side of the centre is able to provide extra services, such as electrics, water supply, heating, ventilation, as required.

The centre benefits from renewable energy with an array of solar panels fitted to the roof, from where there are views across to the cathedral.

The R&D hub is the second phase of ARU Peterborough, in Bishops Road, with work on the third phase – a community engaging Living Lab – having started nearby earlier this week.

Professor Ross Renton, university principal, said: “By locating on campus, companies will have the potential opportunity to benefit from collaborating with the university on a wider range of areas from consultancy and knowledge transfer partnerships to professional development and funding opportunities.

“The university can also help companies access the best in graduate talent, academic expertise and research.”