VIP guests including the city’s Lord Mayor joined project partners and community members at Leeds Media Centre in Chapeltown to celebrate the opening of its new hi-tech business hub.
The building underwent a £1.8 million redevelopment last year to create extra business space and boost opportunities for aspiring local entrepreneurs.
The scheme was delivered by Unity Enterprise – a not-for-profit subsidiary of BME housing association Unity Homes and Enterprise – in partnership with Leeds City Council and the European Regional Development Fund.
Leeds City Council, which owns the building, also provided £80,000 from the Innovation@Leeds capital fund to equip the new business hub with furniture, video conferencing facilities and computer hardware.
Speaking at a special ceremony to mark the completion of the hub kit-out, Unity Enterprise Chair Sharon Jandu OBE paid warm tribute to Unity Homes and Enterprise Chief Executive Cedric Boston, Unity Enterprise Manager Adrian Green and Leeds City Council Head of Business Support Phil Cole and their teams for successfully completing the building refurbishment and business hub.
She said: “This is a real celebration because it has taken a lot of hard work to get here. These projects are instrumental for our community. To have an enterprise hub at the heart of the community with high level people bringing in their resources and social capital will provide a huge lift.”
The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Al Garthwaite, unveiled a wall plaque as a permanent reminder of the hub opening.
She said: “There is something about the structure of this building. It encourages entrepreneurialism, it encourages success, it encourages looking upwards and feeling hope. A new generation of entrepreneurs will really do well here. It is fantastic. It will do wonders, not just for the local community, but for others as well. On behalf of the city of Leeds, I really welcome from the bottom of my heart initiatives like this. They make so much difference to so many people.”
The gathering was also treated to a short address from Hanif Malik OBE, Director of the Parklane Foundation.
