Derby City Lab welcomes 20,000th visitor ahead of Market Hall move

The award-winning Derby City Lab has signed off its stay at the Derbion by welcoming its 20,000th visitor.

After over a year, the lab closed its doors for the final time at the shopping centre on Saturday – and is now preparing to re-launch to the public inside the revamped Derby Market Hall on Saturday 24 May.

However, before signing off, the lab welcomed its 20,000th visitor – Karen Clark, director of operations (UK and Europe) at Canadian-owned ergonomic industrial flooring firm Ergo Advantage – who was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

She said: “It was such a pleasure to find out I was the 20,000th visitor to the Derby City Lab! As someone new to the UK and to Derby, it’s been exciting to discover how welcoming and forward-thinking the city is, and the Lab really embodies that spirit.

“It’s great to see a platform where collaboration and innovation are genuinely nurtured.

“The concept of having a physical space that invites community input and showcases future developments is brilliant and it’s exactly the kind of progressive thinking that makes us excited to grow our roots in Derby. I look forward to visiting the lab’s new location in Derby Market Hall.”

Adam Rodgers, inward investment executive at Marketing Derby and Derby City Lab lead, said: “Hitting 20,000 visitors was a really fitting way to sign off our time at Derbion.

“The lab has enjoyed incredible success since opening inside the centre last year.

“We have really benefited from the outstanding footfall it attracts – helping us to get our message about Derby’s positive regeneration story to a wider audience.

“We’d like to place on record our heartfelt thanks to the whole Derbion team for having us.

“The lab is now looking forward to an exciting new chapter in the stunningly refurbished Derby Market Hall, where we will find ourselves back in the city’s regeneration heartland.”

The aim of Derby City Lab is to engage the public in the city’s future – informing them of the latest developments in the city centre – and gathering their feedback, thoughts and ideas on how Derby can be made better.

The first edition of the lab opened in St James’s Street in 2023, with the backing of a private/public partnership involving Marketing Derby, Derby City Council, the University of Derby, Lathams and Clowes Developments.

That partnership was recognised that year with the Public/Private Partnership Award at the prestigious EG Awards, beating off entries from London, Liverpool and Manchester.

Then, in March last year, with the support of Derbion, the lab moved to its most recent location, where people continued to flock through its doors.

The centrepiece of the lab is the Derby City Model – a detailed 3D model of Derby city centre, which aims to help visitors visualise the city’s ongoing regeneration story.

The Derby Market Hall lab will continue to house the Derby City Model, along with the City Living Room, the 300 years of innovation timeline and the University of Derby’s DUST showcase.

But there will also be new innovations, including a new specially commissioned touch screen kiosk created by Hardy Signs, which will feature an interactive development pipeline.

And as with the previous editions of the lab, it will continue to host discussion groups and other events.

The lab will also feature new and extended opening hours in its Derby Market Hall location.

It will be open seven days a week – from 8am to 3pm Monday to Wednesday, 8am to 5pm Thursday to Saturday and 11am to 3pm on Sundays.

To celebrate the lab’s new location, a launch event will take place on Saturday 24 May.

In addition to the launch event, the Derby City Lab will once again be supporting Derby Book Festival’s Children’s Book Drop.

From Saturday 24 May to Sunday 1 June, the lab will be accepting donations of pre-loved books, which will then be distributed to youngsters who do not have access to books.

Donated books should be in good condition and suitable for primary school children.

To plan your visit to Derby City Lab in its new Derby Market Hall location visit https://derbycitylab.com/.

To find out more about the new look Derby Market Hall visit https://www.derbymarkethall.co.uk/.