The Innovation Hub

Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) is an ambitious joint venture between Scottish Enterprise, Dundee City Council and Michelin, created in response to the closure of Michelin’s Dundee tyre factory in 2020. It aims to drive innovation in the Scottish economy and address the global climate emergency.

Fully accessible to the Dundee community, The Innovation Hub is the focal point of the Parc that aims to be the place where the earliest stages of innovation and entrepreneurship happen. The goal was for a dynamic space that could house a changing mixture of small and growing companies, pre and post start-ups, project teams from larger companies, and researchers and students, all aspiring to achieve the same goal of zero carbon. The Hub has been built with its carbon footprint firmly in mind, with a Glulam (glued laminated timber) and CLT (cross laminated timber) structure used in place of a conventional steel construction, a choice which has saved an estimated 650 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The structure, aligned with the building’s compact form factor, helped achieve a low air-tightness value of 1.87 ach/hr@50Pa. Once past a simple threshold, visitors to the Hub enter a world of warmth and vibrancy, thanks to the exposed timber frame and use of colourful furniture and signage. The building is essentially split into three sections: a large events space, a central informal gathering space which includes a café, and a flexible workspace with hot-desking and breakout spaces, meeting rooms and design labs. A Hellerup staircase in the heart of the building – nicknamed by the client as ‘the Spanish Steps’ - allows building users to informally come together to share ideas over a coffee.

Thanks to the use of structural timber which was manufactured off-site, the entire structure of the building went up in just three weeks. Because the client wanted an industrial look for the exterior, the building was then wrapped in sinusoidal cladding which took only a further week to achieve. The Hub is the latest stage in Holmes Miller’s long-term relationship with MSIP. The practice also masterplanned the wider Innovation Parc and designed the incubator units within the Parc. The idea is that a seed of an idea can germinate within the Innovation Hub, and as a company grows, it can move around the Parc into larger accommodation.