I've seen that in illustrator a you can move a copy of an object a specific distance (select object transform>move>enter distance> copy). This results in the original object being left in place but it's copy being moved to its new destination.

The process is demonstrated in the first 10 seconds of this clip:
https://youtu.be/D_KNokVZNqQ?t=7m26s

Is there a like function in Inkscape or a workaround.

Thanks

Try the transformation panel, Shift+Ctrl+M on a duplicant (Ctrl+D).
Or the tiled cloning option can come more handy for multiple copies.

Thx, I've found that method pretty effective