The UK city of Derby has won enterprise zone status for Infinity Park, its newest business district. The status was granted by George Osborn, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, at the beginning of December. The park's new status will provide investors with tax breaks and other financial incentives, with details of provisions for investors to be confirmed by the UK government in April 2015.

Infinity Park, located on a 1 square kilometre plot adjacent to the city's Rolls-Royce operation, was designed to be Derby's new hub for automotive, rail and aerospace industries. Construction on the site began at the end of 2014. When finished the project is expected to provide 1.5 million-square feet of mixed-use space and house 8000 employees.

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Derby's new project was the only one in the UK that received enterprise zone status in the country's autumn statement. “Enterprise zones are creating thousands of new jobs, attracting top-class companies and drawing down billions of pounds in investment, so it is great news that Derby will be part of this success story,” Penny Mordaunt, a local growth minister, commented in an official statement published shortly after the decision regarding Infinity Park was announced.

John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, the city's investment promotion and support entity, says that Mr Osbourne's decision will “turbo-charge” the attractiveness of Infinity Park in the eyes of investors.

Among firms that have invested in Derby in recent years are DHL, a German logistics giant, Goodman Group, an Australian property group and Kuehne + Nagel, a Switzerland-headquartered transportation firm. In 2008, Goodman invested an estimated $257.1m constructing Derby Commercial Park, a business park, in 2011 DHL invested more than $154m into the local air cargo campus and, in 2013, Kuehne + Nagel made a decision to invest an estimated $69m into a new distribution centre with 100 loading docks and parking for 164 lorries.

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