Coming in 2025
Construction is underway on a ground breaking £6.25 million Digital Forum in Colchester, a state-of-the-art workspace, paving the way for significant regeneration in the City Centre starting in 2024.
A Collabortive Workspace in the Heart of the City
The 1,200m2 four-storey building is being designed with bespoke architecture, breathing new life into Colchester's heritage by replicating the aesthetic of the early 1900s Theatre Royal, which was demolished for the former bus garage. Once completed, it will serve as a collaborative workspace for digital artists, entrepreneurs, tech creatives and digital nomads in the area. Located in the heart of the City, within walking distance of the City Centre Rail Station and surrounded by Colchester iconic landmarks The Castle Park, St Botolph’s Priory and Firstsite, accessible via a public throughfare.
Your Next-Level Digital Workspace
Discover how the state-of-the-art digital infrastructure can power your business. Experience lightning-fast connectivity with a 10Gbps direct link to our network core, ensuring seamless performance for all your digital needs. Our dual fibre links provide an impressive 500Gbps capacity, ready to support your business now and in the future. With latency as low as 2-2.5ms, your business connection will be faster and more reliable than ever, connecting you directly to major networks like Google via Linx 1 and Linx 2. Our WiFi6 access points will deliver exceptional speed, with throughput reaching 600Mbps+ on compatible devices. Our managed service ensures continuous monitoring and adjustments to keep your network running at peak performance.
Rack Space
We are able to offer your business secure rack space at multiple locations, including the Town Hall, complete with resilient power, air conditioning, and secure access. Whether you need a single U-unit or a comprehensive setup, we’ve got you covered.
For those who need to have active equipment presence in more than one location in Colchester, we have further locations in North Colchester.
The Network
We have an extensive dark fibre and managed ethernet network reaching all of urban Colchester (stretching from the Northern Gateway to Mersea Island and from Stanway to the University of Essex).
Our expansive network covers all of urban Colchester, with nearly 300 Points of Presence across key locations. Whether you’re deploying IoT devices or need public testbeds for trials, our network offers unparalleled flexibility and reach. Connectivity options extend beyond Colchester through partnerships with Openreach and TalkTalk wholesale networks.
Core Systems
In addition to the core 10Gbps connection to the building, there will be fully managed WiFi6 to the communal parts of the building and a building-wide Cat6A.
Our workspace is equipped with fully managed WiFi6 and a robust Cat6A and fiibre network, ensuring that every corner of the building has top-tier connectivity. The building’s core systems are backed by a 10Gbps switch and a centralised core router housed in our Town Hall datacentre, offering reliability and performance you can count on.
Supporting Established Businesses to Grow
The Digital Forum workspace will include nine commercial office units, in a City Centre location, close to Colchester Firstsite.
The landmark space will include high speed 10 GBPS internet connectivity, all supported by Colbea’s expert information, advice and guidance. The Digital Forum aims to support established businesses, digital artists, entrepreneurs, tech creatives and digital nomads in the area.
The front aspect of the building overlooks bustling Queen Street, with the rear aspect having a view of Colchester’s iconic Firstsite. Located in the heart of the City, millions of pounds is being invested by 2030 to ensure that the short walk to the City Centre Rail Station is even easier with proposals for a new path - known as Britannia Way - leading directly from the station, through iconic landmarks such as St Botolph's Priory, to the Digital Forum, Firstsite and the award winning Castle Park. For more details about Britannia Way visit colchester.gov.uk/citycentre.
The Workspace, catering for the needs of established businesses, will encompass 9-purpose built business suites across four floors, a meeting room, twelve hot desks (accessible via a membership scheme) and a ground floor onsite café. It is anticipated that the Workspace construction will be completed in early to mid-2025, with tenants gaining access to the property in the summer.
The Workspace will be accessible on a 24/7 basis via as a secure tenant entrance, the public throughfare will be closed out of hours. Tenants costs will include an annual rental charge divided into 12 month repayments, a service charge covering the cost of operating the building, utilities charges based on individual usage, in addition to access to high speed internet connectivity supported by Colchester Fibre. Terms and conditions apply, subject to referencing and The Digital Forum Gateway Policy.
Hot Desking Space
Located on the third floor overlooking Queen Street. Memberships available
Are you interesting in operating the Cafe?
The Cafe is accessible via the public throughfare of the building, opening out to an external space via bi-fold doors.
The Cafe with have approximately 25 covers in addition to the passive income from the tenants and hot deskers alike. Located within close proximity to the City Centre rail station, the cafe is an exciting opportunity to not only supply the tenants, meeting rooms, event space and corporate catering across the City, it could also lend itself to serving rail commuters looking for a hot cup of coffee.