Interview: Two Years on Inside Derby College’s Engine Room.

MT: If you had to summarise the value of the Engine Room in one sentence, what would you say?

Ian:
It depends on the audience, but for another college principal I’d say this: we’ve created a business centre environment that’s fit for purpose, sustainable, and genuinely attractive for employers to want to come in and work with us.

What matters most isn’t the technology itself, but what it enables. People want to be here — and that’s the real test.

MT: Has employer feedback changed since the space opened?

Ian:
Yes, and quite consistently. From the very start, employers commented on the quality of the environment, but what’s been interesting is how that feedback has turned into action.

At the opening, one of our local business leaders commented, unprompted, that he’d happily move his own offices into the space. That was telling. Since then, we’ve had organisations like Fujitsu (now FSAS) bring their entire senior leadership team to Derby College for events, using the Business Centre as their base for the day.

We also work regularly with large employers like Rolls-Royce plc, as well as smaller businesses around Pride Park and across that range the feedback is the same. People comment on how good the space is and many actively want to use it again.

MT: What impact has that had on relationships with employers?

Ian:
It’s given us focus. Before the Engine Room, engagement often meant us travelling out to different workplaces to gather feedback. Now, employers come to us.

That changes the dynamic. If people are willing to travel, it shows intent. It means they’re invested, they want to engage, and they want to help shape curriculum around real skills needs, whether that’s recruitment challenges or capability gaps further down the line.

MT: Looking back, was the investment justified from a leadership perspective?

Ian:
Absolutely. The project was originally funded through a skills development programme, with a specific requirement to demonstrate employer engagement. We exceeded that by a long way.

Beyond that, it’s created tangible outcomes: work placements, apprenticeships, employment pathways — a proper learner journey from education into industry. The benefits have been mutual.

From a delivery point of view, the project also worked because it was properly integrated. We worked with several partners — Scenariio, FSAS (a Fujitsu company), Top-Tec and internally we made sure it was all project-managed as one joined-up environment. You wouldn’t know multiple organisations were involved, and that was intentional.

MT: Has the Engine Room influenced how senior leadership thinks about space and technology?

Ian:
Yes, very much so. It’s changed the conversation.

Whenever we’re looking at refurbishments, new buildings or funding opportunities now, we start by asking: what is this space actually for? What behaviours are we designing for?

I’m a big advocate of separating contemplation, concentration and collaboration. Mixing those functions rarely works well. That thinking has carried into other projects across the college, including newer developments.

It’s also influenced how senior leaders use space. The Business Centre has become a default choice for hosting external visitors, senior meetings and events. Not because it’s branded as special, but because it consistently works.

MT: Have you seen changes in how people value the space over time?

Ian:
Very clearly. One of the strongest indicators is how far people are willing to travel to use it.

We’ve had colleagues and senior leaders choose to come here rather than use spaces on their own campus, because they know the meeting will work properly. When people are prepared to build travel into their day, it tells you the environment is removing friction rather than adding to it.

That wasn’t something we planned for, but it’s become one of the clearest signals of success.

MT: Are there areas where you’d like to make better use of data?

Ian:
Yes, particularly around space utilisation and acoustics.

We already capture data, but we’ve been careful about how we use it. The aim isn’t to police behaviour, but to encourage better use of the space over time. For example, understanding whether people are booking rooms that match their needs, or whether certain spaces are consistently under- or over-used.

Acoustics is another area. In open or transitional spaces, sound behaves in ways you don’t always anticipate, especially in older buildings. Having data to support decisions there, rather than relying on anecdotal feedback, would be valuable.

MT: Looking ahead, what would you do differently if you were designing this space again?

Ian:
Honestly, not a great deal. The flexibility of the Engine Room has been one of its biggest strengths.

If we’d been too prescriptive at the outset, we’d probably have had to redesign the space already. Instead, it’s adapted to how people actually work. The main difference now is that people understand these concepts better. Two years ago, it was much harder to explain how behaviour would change.

If we built another Business Centre today, I think people would want it to feel very similar to this. That’s a credit to how well the space has stood up over time.