New Developments in Derby 2025

Derby is the epicentre of the UK and a leading city in the East Midlands, driven by its growing employment base. While the city’s roots can be traced back to the industrial era, its collection of international companies is drawing more young professionals to the city each year.

With the likes of Rolls Royce and Bombardier Transportation employing both students and graduates, almost half of Derby’s population is under-35, making up a significant proportion of the city’s renowned tenant demand. As a myriad of regeneration schemes continues to anchor more young professionals in the city, the Derby property market is expected to reflect this positivity in 2025 and beyond.

Discover some of the new developments in Derby in 2025 that are driving the popularity of the city and helping create a market ideal for buy-to-let assets.

The Derby City Centre Masterplan is at the heart of the city’s regeneration, with clear intentions of transforming Derby into a thriving hub for both living and working. A key project within this scheme, and a vital component to boosting the city’s amenities, is the regeneration of Becketwell Performance Arena, which opened this year.

Amongst the wider Becketwell regeneration project, Becketwell Performance Venue – now called Valliant Live – is a flexible space to stage concerts, live theatre, exhibitions and much more. With the capacity to host up to 3,500 spectators, the completion of Becketwell performance venue is expected to entice around 250,000 additional visitors to Derby each year.

Delivering more than £10m per year to the local economy, Becketwell Performance Venue will not only attract more tourists, it will also stimulate further inward investment and bring around 2,000 more jobs to Derby. With construction already complete, this signifies the beginning of Derby’s bright future.

The Assembly Rooms is one of the latest additions to Derby’s regeneration projects,  with the project securing an additional £20 million in January 2023 as part of the government’s Levelling Up scheme. With the local council’s ambitious plan to deliver a connected space consisting of retail, leisure and accommodation, the rejuvenation of the Assembly Rooms will play a key part in this.

The delivery of the Assembly Rooms will see a contemporary, large-scale entertainment and conference venue come to the city centre, which will work towards raising the profile of the Market Place. The regeneration of this space will focus on customer-facing areas, and will include a remodel of the entrance and auditorium to maximise the potential of this destination.

Once completed, the Assembly Rooms will be a flexible and diverse destination within the city, managed exclusively by the Derby LIVE team. With a proven track record of delivering events, performances, festivals and everything in between, the Assembly Rooms will be another exceptional addition to Derby’s unique amenities.

Arguably one of the biggest regeneration projects within Derby, the rejuvenation of Market Hall is worth over £11.2 million, and is aiming to transform the Grade II Victorian building into ‘everything Derby’. Originally built in 1866, the regeneration of Market Hall will be delivered in two phases, and should open by May 2025.

The first phase of the scheme includes an extensive roof restoration, which was undertaken to maximise the building’s lifespan. Following the completion of this in 2022, the second phase of the project will begin, and will reconfigure both the building’s interiors and exteriors.

Derby Market Hall will eventually house a diverse range of attractions, focusing specifically on food and drinks vendors.

Councillor Matthew Holmes, Deputy Leader of Derby City Council and cabinet member for planning, environment and regeneration, said: “The Market Hall will support innovation and training, as well as housing, making and selling. New business will reflect the spirit of Derby and capitalise on the cultural opportunities provided by the city. It’s a vision we call ‘Everything Derby’”.

As part of Derby’s dedication to grow into a hotspot for big businesses and investment, extensive work is happening at Infinity Park. The site sits in the South of Derby and offers plots available on a design-and-build basis. This means that the site could become home to residential units, commercial stores, offices, or more. 

However, there are a number of pre-established cornerstones at Infinity Park already, namely Oregon Timber, the Nuclear Skills Academy and Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. As such, Infinity Park is already becoming a popular destination for education and research, which we expect will inform the calibre of companies that could make Infinity Park their new home in the near future.

Castleward Urban Village is reshaping the space between Derby City Centre and the railway station into a vibrant, well-connected residential neighbourhood. Over the past decade, the regeneration project has already delivered a striking tree-lined boulevard, a welcoming public square, a brand-new primary school, shops, and hundreds of high-quality homes, with a strong emphasis on affordable housing.

Once complete, Castleward is expected to provide over 800 new homes, directly contributing to the housing targets set out in Derby’s Local Plan. The scheme is a cornerstone of the city’s “City Living” vision, encouraging more people to live centrally and helping to boost Derby’s retail, leisure, and cultural economy.

Built on previously underused brownfield land, Castleward is rapidly becoming a thriving urban community. With phase one completed in 2015 and phase four on track for completion in early 2027, this long-term transformation is well underway — and more and more people are now proud to call the city centre home.