Liverpool business developments - work in the city.....leisure is different! [Archive]

Pietari

October 8th, 2005, 02:10 PM

http://www.visitliverpool.com/displaypage.asp?page=5

Conferences

Did you know that Merseyside has the Uk's largest number of conference venues accredited with the Meeting IndustryAssociation's Hospitality Assured Meetings standard kitemark?

The city at the heart of Merseyside offers unique opportunities to organisers of conferences and major events.

"find out more about what makes Merseyside a unique conference location"

The Mersey Partnership (TMP) Conference Bureau experts will provide professional assistance and guidance to ensure the success of your event.

TMP Conference Bureau provides a full range of services for Conference Organisers ensuring they can concentrate on the success of their event

Call TMP's Conference Bureau to:

Obtain a complimentary booking service
Find the perfect venue for any event - free of charge
Arrange guided tours, transport and familiarisation visits
Manage all accommodation bookings - free of charge
Arrange Study Tours
Provide Travel Options
Assist with bid preparation

All venues carrying the Meeting Industry Association logo are quality assured

The Meeting Industry Association is the UK meeting industry's principle trade association existing entirely for the benefit of their members and customers. Their objective is to is to encourage and support excellence. The MIA's standard,'Hospitality Assured Meeting', gives customers the opportunity to choose a meeting venue where service excellence is guranteed.
Use the options below to search for a particular Venue in Merseyside.

Number of Delegates

Location
-- Any -- Inner Liverpool Liverpool Knowsley Merseyside Southport St Helens Wirral

Tick here to show MIA accredited venues first.
MIA is the only standard to specifically focus on the customer experience within the meetings environment and provides the conference organiser/delegate with an assurance that their needs and expectations will be met by the venue.

Need to Book a Conference?
If you need to book a conference in the Merseyside Region, The Mersey Partnership Conference Bureau offer a complimentary venue finding service. Simply call the number below or email us.

0845 601 1125

Need help with your conference?
If you need help organising your conference, then one of our partners will be able to assist you.

Pietari

October 8th, 2005, 03:08 PM

http://www.merseyside.org/displaypage.asp?page=40

TOP TEN INVESTMENT FACTS

Liverpool was named IT and Telecommunications Capital of Europe in Foreign Direct Investment magazine's European City of the Future awards 2004/05.

Liverpool is the UK's fastest growing Metropolitan City. Latest figures show Liverpool's economic output (GVA per head) grew by 7.2% 2001-2002, 4.9 points greater than the 2.3% growth recorded over the previous 12 months.

Business start-ups have grown by 12.0% (up to 3,050 newly registered businesses by the end of 2003). This is considerably faster than the UK rate of 10.6 % and the North West rate of 11.1%.

Over £3 billion of construction and infrastructure projects are planned throughout Merseyside up to 2008.

Jaguar has invested £400m to produce the new Jaguar X-Type at the Halewood plant in Merseyside and is the leanest plant in the global Ford empire.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is one the fastest growing airports in Europe, with almost 4 million people now passing through the airport each year.

Liverpool is Europe's leading location for bio-manufacturing, with a dedicated agency MerseyBIO created to support life sciences businesses in the region.

Arvato has announced a £115 million pound investment in Liverpool. The state of the art printing facility - expected to be one of the most advanced in Europe when completed - will create more than 400 jobs.

There are multi-million pound plans to turn Liverpool's Lime Street Railway Station into a world-class gateway to the city by 2008 - with a new landmark building, new public space and improvements to the station itself.

Jobs growth is double the national average. More than 50,000 jobs have been created in Merseyside between 1998 and 2002 - representing 9.2% growth in employment levels - twice the national rate (4.9%)

Blabbernsmoke

October 8th, 2005, 03:17 PM

Good thread Pietari. It is still too early to judge for Liverpool. The current developments that are taking place should see the city massively improved within the next 3-4 years.

The important thing for the city's future is to make it as business friendly as possible. This is the only way substantial long-term investment will be achieved. If the council aren't a complete waste of time and space they should be aiming to make Liverpool one of the top 10 business European business locations by 2010. It is absolutely possible if the right attitude and policies are adopted!!!

London 'still the best place for business'

Planning Resource - 07 October 2005

London has been crowned the best place in Europe to do business for the 16th year running in a prestigious survey of the continent’s 500 leading firms.

The capital was voted best in five out of the 12 categories used by Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker's European Cities Monitor 2005. London's good access to markets, high levels of qualified staff, good external transport links, quality telecommunications and the wealth of languages spoken helped the city retain the accolade it has held since 1990.

London has extended its lead over its traditional rival Paris. Both the English and the French capitals were well ahead of any other city.

The German financial center Frankfurt took third place. Only one other English city made the top 20 – Manchester grabbed the 15th place slot, slipping from 14th last year.

Scotland's highest finisher was its largest city Glasgow, in 22nd place – a slight revival on last year when it was place 24th, but still way below the heady days of 1990 when it finished 10th. Edinburgh failed to place in the league of 30.

London, among the top five most expensive cities in the world, was unsurprisingly well down the survey asking firms which city was best for staff costs, falling 22nd – suggesting that skills levels rather than labour costs are a more important consideration for those deciding where to locate their firms.

Pietari

October 8th, 2005, 05:21 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16220923%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=health%2dfirm%2din%2d%2dpound%2d10m%2dhq%2dmove-name_page.html

Health firm in £10m HQ move Oct 7 2005

By Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

INTERNATIONAL healthcare company Fresenius Kabi is to invest £10m in a new UK headquarters on Runcorn's Manor Park.

The three-storey purpose-built development will accommodate 350 staff who are relocating.

The company says the scheme will provide warehousing and 30,000 sq ft of offices on the three-acre site.

About 300 staff will move from Fresenius offices in Melbury Park, Warrington, and Hampton Court and Christleton Court in Runcorn.

In a second phase about 50 staff at Fresenius subsidiary Calea Manufacturing will move to the new site from Runcorn.

Fresenius Kabi is a £100m turnover company formed in 1998 by the merger of the pharma division of Fresenius Ltd with Pharmacia and Upjohn.

The German-owned business specialises in nutritional feed products for intensive care patients. The Cheshire office includes a 70-strong nursing team providing a vital life-line for critically ill patients at home by delivering and supervising the feed.

Work will begin on the new headquarters this month and completion is scheduled for mid-2006.

Managing director Chris Harrison said: "As a leading global health care company Fresenius Kabi is delighted to be making such a strong commitment to the north west and to Runcorn.

"As the UK business has grown we have added sites in Cheshire. For reasons of efficiency and communication it now makes good sense to integrate the entire operation on to one site as we plan for further growth.

"We are confident that our increased investment in the region will bring significant mutual benefits to both the company and our workforce."

Pietari

October 8th, 2005, 05:24 PM

Pietari

October 19th, 2005, 10:42 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16266506%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=1%2d000%2dnew%2dfirms%2dset%2dup-name_page.html

1,000 new firms set up Oct 19 2005

By Larry Neild, Daily Post

LIVERPOOL experienced one of the fastest growth rates for business start-ups in the country last year.

Around 1,000 new businesses were launched in Liverpool in the past year.

The figures were contained in a report from the UK Government's Small Business Service. Figures, based on the number of new firms registering for VAT, show the number of businesses in Merseyside has grown for the eighth successive year.

Across Merseyside there were 26,070 VAT registered firms at the start of this year, an increase of 0.8% since 2004, and up by 12.2% since 1997.

This increase beats the UK and North West growth rates of 0.1% and 0.4% respectively.

In terms of new businesses, Merseyside saw a start-up growth rate of 10.9%, just behind Greater Manchester's 11.1%, but ahead of regions such as the West Midlands (10.5%) West Yorkshire (10.7%) and Tyneside (10.3%).

Liverpool was responsible for one third of start-ups in Merseyside during 2004, with 950 new businesses registered in

2004. In 2003 there were 7,970 VAT registered businesses in Liverpool and 12 months later it was 8,040.

Robert Crawford, chief executive of The Mersey Partnership, said: "There's no doubt the Liverpool city region is an economy on the move. Business growth is fundamental to future economic success, and we are continuing to prove Merseyside is fertile ground for businesses to invest, innovate and grow.

"With figures earlier this week showing a continued upward trend in the number of millionaires in Merseyside, our growing sense of confidence and entrepreneurship is clear."

The survey also shows that Knowsley is Merseyside's star performer, making it to seventh in the national league table. Business growth in Knowsley stands at 3.1%.

Meanwhile, Knowsley's business start-up rates stands at 12.2%, again outpacing the UK rate.

The level of business start-ups in the region has traditionally trailed behind the UK average. Last week the CBI called on government to address the low level of start-ups around the regions.

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk

Red scouser

October 21st, 2005, 07:20 PM

Liverpool secures first city BID in the North
(Liverpool City Council website, October 21, 2005)

Businesses in Liverpool City Centre have put themselves at the National forefront of a new scheme with a 62% majority strongly backing the vote to implement the City Central Business Improvement District [BID] in the retail heart of the City Centre. It is the first BID in a city in the North and the BID will see over £3m of additional investment in the area over the next three years, delivering a better experience right now and also helping to prepare the area for the 2008 European Capital of Culture.

The successful vote means that customers and visitors can now expect to see new improvements, particularly in the areas of BID branded street cleaning teams, a greater reassuring uniform presence and numerous high quality events and promotions. This will be delivered by the Liverpool BID Company, a not for profit company set up specifically to deliver BIDs. The aim is for the new services to begin during November and December, following the BID Board meeting set-up for Tuesday 25th October.

The BID has been secured through the backing of a number of major companies such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Boots and Land Securities, in partnership with Liverpool City Council, but it is the local business vote which has really made the difference. More than 8 in 10 of businesses which voted with a Liverpool based vote have supported the BID. In addition, Liverpool Vision, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Regional Development Agency [NWDA] have all supported the BID. The turnout of 56% was 12% higher than the average for BID votes, demonstrating the interest of businesses.

The City Central BID area broadly covers: Church and Lord Street; Cavern Quarter; Queen Square; Clayton Square; Great Charlotte Street; Ranelagh Street.

Christopher Glenn, MD of John Lewis Liverpool and Chair of the BID said "We have really listened to businesses in developing our programme and believe that the delivery of these activities will increase customer satisfaction, leading to new customers, repeat visits and improved business performance. I think this is demonstrated by the excellent local support we have received. We are excited about the high standards that we are aiming to achieve in the area. Businesses have told us that the City Council and its partners are delivering much better services now than a few years ago, but that the extra activities identified will enable the area to reach new levels of excellence.

It is also important that we have a voice in the decisions to minimise the disruption caused by the roadworks and developments so that our customers continue to visit. We are pleased that Liverpool city centre is currently very much holding its own with customers continuing to come in and we aim to provide a real experience during the busy festive period coming up."

Councillor Mike Storey, Leader of Liverpool City Council, said "This is another important success for our city and city centre. It will mean that through the business levy, more money will be spent on providing a friendly, safe, vibrant and attractive city centre."

The NWDA has supported the BID development and Helen France, NWDA Executive Director of Development and Partnerships, said: "Business Improvement Districts have the potential to make a huge difference to the region's towns and cities, encouraging local authorities and businesses to work together to deliver a wide range of improvements in their areas. I am delighted that Liverpool businesses have voted in favour of the initiative, which now represents a valuable opportunity for them to play a key role in regeneration and create real and lasting benefits for the local community."

Pietari

October 23rd, 2005, 05:44 AM

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/news/shownews.asp?recordid=130

Speculative schemes can be self-supporting .....

Daily Post

LIVERPOOL'S office market is close to being self-supporting, according to Liverpool Vision chief executive Jim Gill.

Mr Gill made his comments as it was revealed that in the six months to July, 228,000 sq ft of office space was let in the city centre - up from 163,000 sq ft in the same period last year. That figure does not include the 130,000 sq ft letting by law firm Hill Dickinson at the St Paul's Square development in Old Hall Street, announced in August.

That letting was at a record headline rate of £18 per sq ft - up from the previous highest of £16.50 per sq ft.

Mr Gill believes that once the city breaks through the £20 per sq ft barrier then it is likely major speculative office developments will go ahead without the need for gap funding.

He told the Daily Post: ”Already this year we are looking at around 400,000 sq ft and there has been a recent trend in the city for bigger lettings, and as we have seen with the Hill Dickinson deal, rents are being pushed up.

”This is very good because we are now moving towards a situation where speculative office schemes can be self-supporting. I think that will happen when headline rents go up to around £20-21 per sq ft.”

Next year the Unity Development in Chapel Street will bring 150,000 sq ft of new office space to the market and developer Rumford Investments has stated its intention to achieve headline rents of up to £22 per sq ft.

The £60m scheme, which also comprises a significant residential element, received £5m in gap funding.

Mr Gill added: ”They are marketing the office space quite heavily across the UK and I would be optimistic that they can achieve these rents. There definitely seems to be a market for the big requirements.”

This week Atlantic Container Line (ACL), currently based at Princes Dock, announced plans to acquire 40,000 to 100,000 sq ft of freehold office space in Liverpool city centre by 2008.

Chris Connor of The Merseyside Property Forum commented: ”The latest figures are clear and strong evidence of the confidence that is building in Liverpool.”

He added: ”It is pleasing to see such a solid performance during the first half of 2005, together with a healthy level of enquiries.”

In August this year Liverpool Vision submitted an outline planning application for a new Commercial Quarter on a site to the rear of Mercury Court (bounded by Leeds Street, Pall Mall, Tithebarn Street and Old Hall Street). A planning decision on the masterplan is expected this month.

Alastair Newman, a commercial agent at King Sturge in Liverpool, said the latest figures were good news but said it was important the supply was maintained if the city wanted to attract big lettings.

He added: ”At the moment we are waiting for St Paul's Square phase two and in the meantime we are relying on quality refurbished places at schemes like Bruntwood. There is a shortage of sites suitable for big office developments.”

Pietari

October 23rd, 2005, 05:51 AM

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/news/shownews.asp?recordid=126

Merseyside has the Creative Advantage .....

Merseyside ACME

Merseyside ACME, the Music Development Agency (MDA), Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Creative Partnerships Merseyside have collectively secured a package of funding and resources worth nearly £3m, to deliver a programme of support for creative businesses based across Merseyside called Creative Bias Creative Advantage.

This unique pan-Merseyside partnership brings together the best elements of existing business support services and expertise through a programme of investment specially designed to engender growth and it is anticipated that the initiative will generate over £25 million turnover and create 240 jobs. Creative Industries is one of the nine sectors targeted for support through the Merseyside Sector Development Programme, managed by the Mersey Partnership.

Specifically, Creative Bias Creative Advantage will bring together the following elements of business support; business health checks, training needs analysis, skills development, physical and virtual incubation services, industry mentoring, knowledge transfer, seminars and networking events.

Creative Bias Creative Advantage will also support the development of a local creative industries resources centre in Knowsley (Knowsley Business Resource Centre), as well as a Continued Professional Development initiative to enable free-lance businesses to take advantage of growing markets in education and community development.

Creative Bias Creative Advantage is actively supported by Business Liverpool and Business Link for Greater Merseyside and will work to maximise referrals into their existing mainstream support programmes. It builds on best practice pilot programmes and aims to deliver a broader base of new businesses in a growth environment leading to Capital of Culture 2008

Geoff White, Sector Director for Creative Industries on Merseyside said:

“This is great news for creative businesses on Merseyside. All these partners have come together to ensure that existing and new creative businesses in the music, design, performing arts and media industries get the right kind of support and assistance to ensure they survive and grow on Merseyside.’

‘Once again, the Merseyside Objective One Programme has enabled Merseyside ACME to cement a partnership between the public and private sectors that will generate significant new jobs and investment in our economy.”

Director of the Merseyside Objective One Programme, Richard Nutter said:

“The creative industries are an increasingly important driver for the Merseyside economy and it is vital that high quality support is available to new and expanding firms in the sector. We invested £1.15million in this project because we believe it will make a real difference to dozens of dynamic companies, helping them to grow, and reinforcing the area’s worldwide reputation as a hot-spot for creative talent.”
Funding and support partners; the Merseyside Objective One Programme, Arts Council England, the Higher Education Innovation Fund, Phoenix Development Fund, Youth Music, Liverpool City Council, Metropolitan Borough Councils of St Helens and Sefton.

Pietari

October 23rd, 2005, 06:15 AM

BusinessLiverpool is a key gateway to a range of high quality business support services for new and existing investors. Contemporary Liverpool is undergoing a remarkable renaissance and substantial investment in recent years has transformed the city, creating an environment where business can thrive. Developer interest in the city is at its highest for over a century and significant growth is anticipated in several key sectors.

Introduction

In the following pages we map out the key location drivers for each sector and provide a synopsis of the sector in Liverpool. For each sector we have a named BusinessLiverpool sector co-ordinator to provide further information and support as required.

Liverpool has become an investment location of choice for many national and international companies in recent years and significant growth is anticipated in these important sectors over the coming years. Our commitment is to provide any business, whether an established company or a new investor with an excellent co-ordinated service to support their business activity in Liverpool.

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/sector/sector.asp

Life Sciences

ICT

Ports, Distribution & Maritime

Automotive

Contact Liverpool

Professional & Financial

Creative Industries

Retail

Food & Drink

Pietari

October 23rd, 2005, 06:46 AM

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/sector/showcasestudycontactliverpool.asp?recordid=13

An Outstanding Location .....

Part of international media group Bertelsmann.

Bertelsmann produces, serves and markets media. Their content is contributed by RTL Group, the No. 1 European broadcaster; Random House, the world's largest book-publishing group; Gruner + Jahr, Europe's biggest magazine publisher; and BMG, a leading company in the global music market. Arvato provides media services, while DirectGroup Bertelsmann is the global market leader in media distribution through clubs and on the Internet.
Arvato Services opened its contact centre in Merseyside in 2000 with 90 employees. The organisation found that availability of skilled labour in the Liverpool City Region meant that recruitment was not a problem.

Specialising in a range of support functions such as:
- call centre management,
- e-commerce,
- distribution,
- financial services
for firms including Microsoft, Tchibo and Express Gifts.

With the current workforce numbering 500, and plans to create another 400 new jobs in the next 12 months as part of its expansion plans for its wide range of UK operations, Arvato Services have found the Liverpool City Region to be an outstanding location for investment.

Company Arvato Services
Website Arvato Services Website http://www.arvatoservices.co.uk/
Email info@arvatoservices.co.uk

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Testimonial

Merseyside is the ideal place for us to grow, thanks to an excellent pool of available skilled labour. The North West also boasts one of the highest concentrations of language skills in the UK, which is crucial to a business like ours where agents could be talking to customers anywhere in the world.
Asif Hamid, Chief Executive, Arvato Services

Pietari

October 23rd, 2005, 07:16 AM

08/08/2005 - Vivienne Westwood Opens in Liverpool

Thursday, October 23 2003 saw the doyenne of British fashion bring her inimitable style to Liverpool's Cavern Designer Shopping Centre, when she opened her third boutique outside London.

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/sector/showcasestudyretail.asp?recordid=9

Richard Duncalf, co-owner of Hervia, says his decision to open up the company's third Vivienne Westwood store in the UK in Liverpool was a natural choice from a commercial and personal point of view.

"The success of our Manchester store has given us the opportunity to open a second venue in the UK. We have many customers who come over from Liverpool and we have been very impressed by how people dress up in expensive designer merchandise every weekend. And for me it is a delight to come back home - I was born in Chester, educated in Wirral and went to the former Liverpool Polytechnic. My father was also the chief executive of the former Maritime Housing Association," he said.

Westwood is one of three upmarket designer fashion boutiques including Drome and Cricket.

Company Vivienne Westwood
Website Vivienne Westwood
Email info@hervia.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Testimonial

It's great that designers like Vivienne Westwood feel that Liverpool is a happening place and they choose to invest here. The people of this city have always had a great deal of style about them and now that is being recognised.

Steve McManaman Man City & Ex Liverpool FC

=========================================================
http://www.cavernshopping.com/shop.asp?shop_id=19

Vivienne Westwood began designing in 1971, using the shop at 430 Kings Road, London as a showcase for her ideas. With her changing ideas of fashion came the change of not only the name of shop, but the entire decor as well. In 1971, 430 Kings Road was known as "Let it Rock"... 1950's Rock n Roll clothing sold at a time when "hippies" were still in fashion. In 1972, the name was changed to "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die". The shop had clothing for "Rockers" with zips and chains, and Zoot suits. By the mid 70's, "Sex" was the shop's new name. With 1976 came punk, followed by "World's End" and the Pirate Collection.

The Pirate Collection was shown in March 1981, her first catwalk show at Olympia in London. The following year, in March 1983, Westwood began to show in Paris, the first British Designer to do so since Mary Quant.

In Autumn 1984, Westwood was invited to show her collection in Tokyo with Hanae Mori, Calvin Klein, Claude Montana and Gianfranco Ferre at the "Best of Five".

In 1989 Mr John Fairchild, President of Fairchild Publications and Editor of the fashion bible "Women's Wear Daily", rated Westwood one of the best six designers in the world, and the only woman amongst them, in his book "Chic Savages".

In July 1990, she showed her first complete menswear collection in conjunction with Pitti Uomo in Florence.

In January 1991, Vivienne Westwood was chosen to show in Tokyo once again, this time with Christian Lacroix, Isaac Mizrahi and Franco Moschino at The Fashion Summit.

Vivienne Westwood has an OBE for her services to the British Fashion Industry and has just been awarded the Queen's Award for Export.

The Vivienne Westwood store in the Cavern Designer Shopping Centre has been attracting fans of one Britain’s most exciting designers since October 2003.

For more information about the current collections and the online store please follow the link below to Hervia.com

Mathew Street
Liverpool
Tel: 0151 236 9082
publicity@cavernshopping.com

Website : www.hervia.com/home.html
Phone : 0151 227 2700

Pietari

October 25th, 2005, 02:32 AM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Liverpool business performance outpaces the UK for the second year running!

Latest data from the Government's Small Business Service shows the number of businesses in Merseyside has grown for the eighth successive year.

Across Merseyside there were 26,070 VAT registered firms at the start of this year, an increase of 0.8% since 2004, and up by 12.2% since 1997. This increase beats the UK and NW growth rates of 0.1% and 0.4% respectively.

In terms of new businesses,
Merseyside saw a start-up rate[1] of 10.9%,
just behind Greater Manchester (11.1%),
but ahead of regions such as the West Midlands (10.5%)
West Yorkshire (10.7%)
and Tyneside (10.3%).

Liverpool was responsible for one third of start-ups in Merseyside, with 950 new businesses registered in 2004.

Robert Crawford, Chief Executive of The Mersey Partnership, said; "There's no doubt the Liverpool City Region is an economy on the move. Business growth is fundamental to future economic success, and we are continuing to prove Merseyside is fertile ground for businesses to invest, innovate and grow.

With figures earlier this week showing an continued upward trend in the number of millionaires in Merseyside, our growing sense of confidence and entrepreneurship is clear."

Area
No. of Businesses 2003
No. of Businesses 2004
% Change in Business Nos
New Business Start-up rate

Halton 2,165 2,185 0.9 10.9
Knowsley 1,765 1,820 3.1 12.2
Liverpool 7,970 8,040 0.9 11.9
Sefton 5,475 5,455 -0.4 9.8
St Helens 3,040 3,105 2.1 10.0
Wirral 5,445 5,465 0.4 10.8
Merseyside (inc. Halton) 25,860 26,070 0.8 10.9

North West 172,080 172,825 0.4 10.3
United Kingdom 1,817,825 1,819,870 0.1 10.0

Area
No. of Businesses 2003
No. of Businesses 2004
% Change in Business Nos
New Business Start-up rate

Greater Manchester 62,925 63,025 0.2 11.1
S Yorks 25,965 26,195 0.9 10.7
Tyneside 17,605 17,695 0.5 10.3
West Midlands 59,530 58,935 -1.0 10.5
West Yorkshire 52,040 52,205 0.3 10.7

Knowsley is Merseyside's star performer, making it to seventh in the national league table. Business growth in Knowsley stands at 3.1%. Meanwhile Knowsley's business start-up rates stands at 12.2% - again outpacing the UK rate.

Top 10 Local Authorities : Business Stock Growth

Local Authority
% change in business numbers
new business start-up rate
rank

Merthyr Tydfil 5.1 14.7 1
Cannock Chase 3.7 12.6 2
West Lothian 3.6 13.1 3
Barking and Dagenham 3.4 14.0 4
Wansbeck 3.3 11.2 5
Lambeth 3.3 14.8 6
Knowsley 3.1 12.2 7
Wandsworth 2.9 14.1 8
Blaenau Gwent 2.8 11.9 9
Tamworth 2.8 12.5 10

Pietari

October 25th, 2005, 03:09 AM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=55

Knowsley Hall .....

Press Release 1st September 2005

Knowsley Hall has joined forces with five of the finest castles & stately homes in the UK to offer some of the most exceptional conference & banqueting facilities in the country.

The operation, which is headed up by Andrea Fowkes of Andrea Fowkes Associates, who is the former Director of Sales for Castle Ashby, will see the portfolio of properties being promoted to the UK corporate market as well as European and American agents.

Properties include: Ackergill Tower, Scotland Knowsley Hall, Merseyside Weston Park, Shropshire Althorp, Northampton Leeds Castle, Kent and Sommerley House, Hampshire

Shirley Cors, Sales & Marketing Manager at Knowsley Hall added ‘this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Knowsley Hall and what we have to offer to a very diverse audience and we are delighted to have teamed up with Andrea Fowkes Associates and such an exclusive group of outstanding venues to do this’

Knowsley Hall Conference & Events department can be contacted on 0151 489 4827

www.andreafowkesassociates.co.uk <http://www.andreafowkesassociates.co.uk>

Tony Sebo

October 28th, 2005, 10:46 PM

Bloody hell... this is a well kept up thread!
I hope thatyou are all going to contribute to the downtown site when we make it more bloggy soon?
http://www.downtownliverpool.org

Scarecrow

October 28th, 2005, 10:52 PM

Sounds good Sebo. You sticking around then? :?

Tony Sebo

October 28th, 2005, 11:06 PM

Hi bunnyman...all of you others too.
I am sticking around. I hope to be able to regularly visit this site now too, once again.

We have been going through another distilation phase as the success of the downtown site has caused its own problems. I have taken a back seat with regards to it lately as I have just had too much on and the site takes so much time...keeping it up as the super relevant site an' all that is!

But we are making the site more user friendly, as far as putting up events and news items, as well as longer, more considered 'comment' pieces. The techie side is mind blowing and way beyond me...but we're getting there. We don't want to just move entirely over to a blog type format so finding something that combines both aspects of the old site and the new functions has been hard.

We also have to sort out the business structure, something that we haven't settled since taking a lobbying organisation forward was removed as an option ...we have lots of interesting ideas ...let's see if we pull any of them off?

Keep a regular eye out on the site ..and if there are any of you scousophiles who haven't yet signed up for the forum and e-digest, then please do so?

I am going to spend some time now reading through some of the stuff that I have missed since I last visited here ..in MAY!

Scarecrow

October 28th, 2005, 11:11 PM

Good luck. It'll keep you busy til next May, though most of it is Kung Fuzi on his :cheers: crusade. :)

How about making the downtown forum easier to access? I know I'd rather frequent there than have to contend with the outsider (Manc) mechants on here, but it's a pain in the arse to access. (I'm on as Dixie Dean BTW. Fine name. :))

Martin S

October 28th, 2005, 11:18 PM

Scarecrow

October 28th, 2005, 11:21 PM

I'm pissed off with this remote keyboard. The 'R's' hardly eveR work, meaning I have to go back and edit almost everything I post. :rant:

Martin S

October 28th, 2005, 11:22 PM

I'm pissed off with this remote keyboard. The 'R's' hardly eveR work, meaning I have to go back and edit almost everything I post. :rant:

Sounds eally cap.

Gareth

October 28th, 2005, 11:27 PM

You'll never do it Tony. I've been away less than two weeks and they've posted another half million.

You only have to miss a day and then you've got hours of catching up to do, if you wish to read all the threads.

Scarecrow

October 28th, 2005, 11:33 PM

yep. The missus hates me for spending time on this.

Tony Sebo

October 28th, 2005, 11:34 PM

I know ...and you keep getting drawn back to the replies to the stuff you put on earlier in the session!

That's exactly the problem martin. we get the tremendous volumes of traffic because w spend so muc time sourcing info and stuff, when we stop (or when the bloody server ges down) you see the figures drop off pretty smartly.

Is the downtown forum difficult t access? let us know as we would make changes... last thing that we want is for downtowners not to be able to discuss things on it! I will talk to Roskovsky about it and see what can be done. if you have a specific prob would you email us from the site?

As for ebods ...fin ell!

Gareth

October 28th, 2005, 11:43 PM

Tony, the DL board can be a bit of a pain in the backside. I couldn't log on for weeks at one point and had to send out an email to get it fixed. I found it diffucult putting up pictures at first as well.

This board, is pretty much the best I've came across. It's visually attractive and easy to use.

If the board was more user friendly, I'm positive it'd attract more traffic.

Gareth

October 28th, 2005, 11:44 PM

As for ebods ...fin ell!

Indeed. I couldn't put it better myself.

Gareth

October 28th, 2005, 11:45 PM

Also, drawing more attention to the existence of the site on Downtown Liverpool may help. The 'community' link is a bit too low key, if you ask me.

Martin S

October 28th, 2005, 11:54 PM

Also, drawing more attention to the existence of the site on Downtown Liverpool may help. The 'community' link is a bit too low key, if you ask me.

Agree totally with that, I doubt that many people know of the existence of the forum.

I've suggested before that the sub-forums are done away with, until at least there are a large number of forummers, as they tend to dilute what is still a very small number of new postings. Also, it would be good to have newly added posts highlighted and brought to the top as on SSC.

One problem I have been having recently is a need to log on each time I submit a post. If I forget to do this, all of what I have written is deleted when I return to the log on page.

Tony Sebo

October 29th, 2005, 12:03 AM

Gawd! Sorry chaps, I didn't know it was such a pain. martin... your point about the numbers was correct and it will be rectified, something we should have done straight away - as soon as you suggested it many moons ago.

Ironically I have not picked up on the other points about access as my mac has not allowed me to contribute myself...the only time I get to do so is when the kids let me on this PC!

I will draw Roskovsky's attention to this thread and see what we can do.
Thanks and keep the points coming in and we will try to sort them.

Scarecrow

October 29th, 2005, 12:08 AM

Ban all people with a Manc based ISP, except Woody. :)

Gareth

October 29th, 2005, 12:13 AM

I've suggested before that the sub-forums are done away with, until at least there are a large number of forummers, as they tend to dilute what is still a very small number of new postings. Also, it would be good to have newly added posts highlighted and brought to the top as on SSC.

I'll second this. Sub-forums are really neccessary when a single forum would be largely unmanageable. For example, if SSC only had a handful of UK forumers, a single board would be better than having to negotiate around a larger group of sub-forums. If SSC had a single board now, it'd be chaos. If anything, it needs a board just to contain Earlybird.

Martin S

October 29th, 2005, 12:17 AM

I'll second this. Sub-forums are really neccessary when a single forum would be largely unmanageable. For example, if SSC only had a handful of UK forumers, a single board would be better than having to negotiate around a larger group of sub-forums. If SSC had a single board now, it'd be chaos. If anything, it needs a board just to contain Earlybird.

Needs a padded cell to contain Earlybird.

Fitzroy

November 6th, 2005, 10:50 AM

Perceptions of Liverpool as a place for inward investment

A largely positive piece from today's Sunday Times:

The Sunday Times - Business
The Sunday Times November 06, 2005
Liverpool rises from decades of decay. They are tearing down the slums and stepping up the culture in a £3bn bid to restore the city to its former glory, writes Dan Drillsma-Milgrom

STUDENTS used to avoid Scotland Road in Everton. In this rough working-class area of Liverpool, not far from the docks, a floppy-fringed English undergraduate might once have found himself on the wrong end of a Kirkby kiss. Times have changed, however. Investors prize the new luxury flats here so much that they will pay students to stand in line for days to secure one. Robert Alexander, a Liverpudlian now based in North Wales, had no hesitation in paying a university student £100 a day to wait in a queue when a development became available. Apartments in View 146, a renovated tower block a mile from the city centre, went on sale one Sunday morning. On the previous Thursday, Alexander had turned up at 7.30am, and there had been 20 people already in the queue. “I set up the kid with a stove, a sleeping bag, a flask and a camping mat and he brought his books,” said Alexander. “There was a security guard so he was perfectly safe, and by the Saturday morning they had set up a marquee for the first 50 people. On Sunday morning there was a chef doing a spit roast and a barbecue, so that was when I took over.” The queues for the flats in Scotland Road are just one sign of the extraordinary renaissance taking place in Liverpool. An estimated £3 billion of construction work will take place in the next 10 years in a bid to rid the city of its reputation as Britain’s biggest urban basket case. A 42-acre chunk of the city centre is being redeveloped by Grosvenor, the property company chaired and owned by the Duke of Westminster, Britain’s wealthiest landlord. Liverpool is soon to have a concert venue capable of hosting the biggest bands. Row upon row of Victorian houses are being torn down to be replaced by modern semi- detached homes. The city has been awarded the status of Capital of Culture 2008. Some people hope that the spending spree will help Liverpool recapture some of its former glory. Reminders of when it was one of Britain’s richest cities are everywhere. Magnificent edifices such as the Liver building were erected with the proceeds of the slave and spice trades. Other, more human traces also remain: Liverpool has Britain’s oldest West Indian and Chinese communities. But the economic ravages of the 1970s and 1980s hit Liverpool harder than most other cities and were compounded by the disastrous administration of Derek Hatton’s Labour council. Race riots in Toxteth projected an image of a city that was the last place business would want to invest. Surveying the start of the huge Paradise project, it is clear that things have changed. Rod Holmes, who is directing the project for Grosvenor, said: “Liverpool was once one of the top five retail destinations in the country. The latest figures show it to be about 13th. We really think it will regain its former status and dominate this part of northwest England. Liverpudlians won’t be heading to Manchester to do their shopping any more.” The project — not a shopping mall but a more conventional street retail area — will include the construction of 30 buildings. The 1.6m sq ft of retail space will be anchored by two huge department stores. John Lewis will move from its present site and Debenhams is coming to the city for the first time.

The value of the development is expected to hit £920m. It has been bankrolled by the Grosvenor Liverpool Fund, whose investors include the fund manager Hermes, the property investment firm Redevco, and Grosvenor itself.
Stephen Musgrave, chief executive of Grosvenor’s UK operations, believes the time is ripe to invest in Liverpool. “We have a strong track record of working in city centres. Now it is Liverpool’s turn. I think the city woke up to the need for change and to embrace business in the late 1990s.”
The forest of tower cranes on the skyline is testimony to the widespread redevelopment.
At Kings Dock, construction has started on the concert venue and conference centre, part of a £400m redevelopment that Mike Storey, leader of the city council, said was sorely needed. “For a city that is made of music, where is our big concert venue?” he said.
“Not having a large conference centre has cost us hundreds of millions of pounds. Last year we turned away more than 200 conferences.”
A new Museum of Liverpool is to be built on the waterfront at a cost of £65m. John Lennon airport is the country’s fastest- growing regional hub. Edge Lane, which links the city centre and the M62, is to be redeveloped to remove bottlenecks and regenerate a site soon to be vacated by Marconi.
Plans for a tram system are awaiting the green light from central government and £19m funding has been approved for a cruise-liner terminal on the Mersey.
Winning the Capital of Culture for 2008 has also provided a critical impetus.
The Paradise Project and Kings Dock are due to open by spring 2008. Leaders from the Capital of Culture team estimate that the year-long series of events will encourage £2 billion of investment and create 14,000 jobs.
Ordinary Liverpudlians are feeling the winds of change. The regeneration plans envisage the demolition of thousands of houses and their replacement with modern designs.
In Toxteth, plans to replace blocks of houses have met some opposition, but most local people are in favour.
Irene Milson, 57, a member of the Welsh Street Steering Group and life-long Toxteth resident (she prefers the name Prince’s Park) has little time for those who claim the demolitions will destroy an important part of Liverpool’s heritage.
“Let them come and live here then,” she snaps. “We have the support of three-quarters of the local residents.”
John Glester, chairman of New Heartlands, the government vehicle responsible for areas designated for housing renewal, said the Toxteth plans were necessary.
“Many of these properties in the Welsh Street area do not reach decent-homes standard. The stairs are steep and there are severe problems with damp and security.”
David Waugh, chief executive of the Liverpool Land Development Company, said: “We have to make sure that there is a connection between the housing-market renewal and commercial projects. It is no good creating jobs if local people get them and promptly move straight out.”
Much of the development has been made possible by £900m central government and EU funding over the past five years. It subsidised developers to build in Liverpool rather than other cities where they could demand higher rents.
The man with responsibility for bringing all this together is Sir David Henshaw, chief executive of the city council and Storey’s main rival for the title of the city’s most influential Scouser.
“City councils can’t create economies, they can only create the conditions in which economies can thrive,” said Henshaw. “This has required gap funding from which we are trying to wean ourselves.”
It might be easier said than done. Rents will rise with demand, which should increase as businesses move into the city. But a recent survey showed that nearly 8% of Liverpool’s housing stock was empty, the second-highest figure for any local authority in the country.
Alexander said the flat he had bought had increased in value, but he had had to cut the rent by £100 a month to £500.
Henshaw said the city’s population had started to rise for the first time in 70 years. “When I was growing up in this town, I was very conscious of the number of people leaving Liverpool. I went off to university in Sheffield and didn’t come back. It wasn’t the kind of thing that you did.”
Chris Hennessy, a director at the property firm CB Richard Ellis, believes this is no longer the case. “I don’t see there being a problem with demand,” he said. “Liverpool has been so underdeveloped for so long that there is plenty of capacity there. Rent levels should hit £18-£20 per square foot soon, which is the magic number for competing with other towns.”
Other problems remain. Confidence in the city cannot have been boosted by reports in the local press of a long-running power struggle between Henshaw and Storey, neither of whom is expected still to be in power by the year 2008.
The city has also been criticised by the likes of Grosvenor and Mersey Docks and Harbour over the speed with which planning applications are dealt with.
Still, money continues to flow in. As Storey said: “A company like Grosvenor wouldn’t be here if it didn’t think it was going to work.”
Liverpool's 10 biggest projects
1 Liverpool One (Paradise project) £920m
2 Kings waterfront development £400m
3= St Paul’s Square development £80m
3= Mixed use (Mann Island) £80m
5 City Centre Movement Strategy £73m
6 Met Quarter retail development £70m
7 Museum (Mann Island) £65m
8 Unity office development £60m
9 Plaza (Littlewoods building) £39m
10 West Tower mixed-use development £35m
Various residential schemes £100m

Tony Sebo

November 6th, 2005, 01:00 PM

We met to discuss the issues rasied here about the downtown forum and we can, hopefully, sort them along with the rest of the changes to the site. having great difficulty finding just the right software...perhaps another downtowners meeeting could be on the cards?

Blabbernsmoke

November 6th, 2005, 01:20 PM

Great article Fitzroy, thanks for posting. :cheers:

Pietari

November 7th, 2005, 06:23 AM

Magnificent edifices such as the Liver building were erected with the proceeds of the slave and spice trades.

I think it`s been a while.

JUXTAPOL

November 7th, 2005, 11:43 AM

Magnificent edifices such as the Liver building were erected with the proceeds of the slave and spice trades.

I think it`s been a while.
It's a bit of a lazy tag, bye the way i can now buy a new ipod due to all the slaves and spices i traded last week. (for the politically correct, this last sentence was an ironic joke :) )

Pietari

November 8th, 2005, 11:28 PM

You`re telling fibs Jux, Yes!?

Ok you may not have an i-pod - but you have still been selling ..... S & S?

Pietari

November 11th, 2005, 07:48 PM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Rocket Science in Liverpool

Space specialists from all over the world will meet in Liverpool in 2007 when the European Space Tribology Laboratory (ESTL) are hosting the European Space Mechanisms and Tribology Symposium (ESMATS).

This is the first time in its 22-year history that the three-day symposium is held in the UK, attracting 200 space scientists, designers, engineers and managers from all parts of the world.

ESTL is part of the Warrington-based engineering, safety and risk business, ESR Technology Ltd. They won the bid to host this prestigious bi-annual event with the help of The Mersey Partnership Conference Bureau.

Kerrin MacPhie, Commercial Tourism Manager at The Mersey Partnership said: "We are proud and happy to welcome the delegates for the Space Symposium to Liverpool. ESMATS adds to the variety of different forums that are preferring our city region as the location for their event."

Simon Griffin, Business Manager at ESTL said: "Liverpool was chosen because of its unique culture and attractions, as well as its excellent air, road and rail links, making it an attractive and appealing location for this international event."

Space-related turnover in the UK totals around £4 billion, with over 200 companies operating in this market, employing over 15,000 people. These UK companies range from providers of financial services to the industry, through to manufacturers of complete and complex satellites. By hosting this unique event, which will generate around a quarter of a million pounds for the local economy, Liverpool will be a part of this successful and growing industry.

Gareth

November 11th, 2005, 08:00 PM

Nice! :cheers:

Pietari

November 14th, 2005, 05:15 AM

http://www.merseymaritime.co.uk/press.asp?p=90

MERSEY MARITIME LOBBIES FOR INCLUSION IN RES

General, 14 Sep 2005

Mersey Maritime, the private-sector led umbrella organisation for the region’s maritime sector, has today launched its first salvo in the fight to ensure that the industry is formally recognised as a key sector for regional policy and development in England’s North West Regional Economic Strategy (RES) document.

A paper highlighting the economic impact of the North West’s maritime sector and the significance of the Mersey Ports to the region and the UK, will today land on the desks of key decision makers and policy leaders across the North West.

The paper entitled Recognising the Economic Impact of the North West Maritime Sector, details an impressive list of key facts and statistics that underpin the sector’s importance to the North West and presents a weighty case for its inclusion in the Regional Economic Strategy.

Jim Teasdale, chief executive of Mersey Maritime, said:

“The board of directors of Mersey Maritime has resolved that recognition and inclusion of the maritime industry in the Regional Economic Strategy is our number one priority. We are responding to that by demonstrating the importance of the sector – which is considerable - on the economic impact of the region.

“That the evidence to support the inclusion of maritime in the Regional Economic Strategy is powerful, cannot be disputed. The economic impact of the industry on the region is worth some £5 billion per annum and supports 28,000 jobs. It is an industry that is continuing to grow and we would like to see that reflected in the priorities set out in the RES.”

The paper has been prepared in consultation with board members representing a wide spread of maritime-related organisations and professional services, including Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, Atlantic Container Line, Merseytravel, Bibby Line Group and Hill Dickinson, and represents the united voice of the industry in setting out the case for recognition.

Ends

For further information:

Jim Teasdale

Telephone: 0151 231 6160

Issued by:

Annette Parker

Mersey Maritime

14 September, 2005

Editor’s Notes

Mersey Maritime is an umbrella organisation that draws together over 900 maritime businesses across Merseyside, placing the region firmly on the international maritime map. Acting as a catalyst to facilitate business growth and investment, it is the first successful cluster of its kind in the UK, providing support in key areas such as infrastructure, IT, marketing, and education, training and skills.

In its first two years of operation, Mersey Maritime has enjoyed considerable success in helping to raise the profile of the region’s ports and maritime sector, not only on a regional basis, but also nationally and internationally.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency provides strategic leadership, programmes and funding to ensure the sustainable economic development and regeneration of England’s Northwest. It works closely with a range of partners to achieve a number of agreed objectives set out in a comprehensive economic plan known as the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). The Draft RES is currently subject to a three month public consultation process, ending 30th September 2005.

Fitzroy

December 7th, 2005, 07:18 PM

Redmond: Man with a vision

Dec 7 2005

By Michelle Fiddler, Liverpool Echo

MERSEY TV mogul Phil Redmond is a man with a big vision for the region's entrepreneurs.The chairman of the Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission wants to create an environment to encourage enterprise and leaders of the business world to Merseyside.Top of his list is Microsoft multi-millionaire Bill Gates.To mark the publication of the commission's report on entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in the UK, a week-long programme of seminars and busAiness masterclasses is being held on Merseyside next week.Professor Redmond hopes the event will be the pilot for an annual event, which will eventually attract some of the biggest business minds.He said: "One of the recommendations of the report is that we have to create a more symApathetic environment for enterprise to flourish."We hope eventually to hold Mersey Enterprise week every year. This year we have set up a mini week to show what could happen."There will be semAinars, a version of Dragon's Den - a reality programme for entrepreneurs - and 'masterclass' audiences with people like Tom Bloxham from Urban Splash and Steve Morgan, founder of Redrow Homes."Then we will be looking at the young entrepreneurs, the 20 and 30-somethings. The following day we will be working with schools and taking part in sessions with the kids.

"The Edinburgh Fringe FestAival started off in a pub with just a few people. We may end up being the entrepreneurs' Fringe Festival and people will know that Liverpool is the place to go."There is no reason why, in three to five years time, we couldn't get the really big hitters coming. I personally would like to see Bill Gates."They will see this is the place to come and have a chat and will be able to see that there is an entrepreneurial spark in Merseyside."Coming from a media background I know that you do not find great talent by sitting and having business lunches."I know there are six people out there on Merseyside who could be in any Hollywood blockbuster, play for a Premiership team or build world changing businesses, given the right environment."It is not my job to find them but to create an environment which allows them to grow and flourish."

Fitzroy

December 18th, 2005, 10:24 AM

I'm getting a bit tired of the 'OMG Liverpool is no longer a basket case factor' but I guess that's how it will be for a few years and then it will be forgotten that Liverpool ever was a basket case. Anyway, this is from today's Observer:

Why the south east is so last century

Nick Mathiason reports on how and where the capital's traditional pre-eminence is being challenged

Sunday December 18, 2005
The Observer

It may be the engine of the UK's economy but London is stalling. Overcrowded and expensive, the capital's dominance over the rest of the country is under threat.
There is evidence of a recalibration of the British economy. Led by a recovery in export-led growth helped by the recent fall in interest rates, the UK's regions are fighting back.

In a move long wished for by the Chancellor Gordon Brown, international companies are beginning to view Britain as not just about London and the south east.

One thing that helps the changed perception is lower property costs and wages outside London. The other is a pool of highly skilled labour. The result is that the deluge of northern university graduates leaving for opportunities in the south east is slowing.

JP Morgan, the giant US bank, last June created 150 new jobs in Liverpool with a new headquarters. Until recently, Liverpool was thought of as lagging behind the rest of Britain.

But JP Morgan will be joining Jaguar, Coutts, Unilever, Alliance and Leicester, US Airways, Bosch, IBM, The Bank of New York, Bank of Scotland and O2 - all blue-chip names thriving in the area.

Fitzroy

December 18th, 2005, 10:37 AM

And yet some more positive spin from the same paper:

Killing old images, spreading good news

James Robinson on the creative campaigns that shift global perceptions

Sunday December 18, 2005
The Observer

It was a leitmotif of the early New Labour years, encapsulating the national optimism that accompanied Tony Blair's election victory in 1997: 'Cool Britannia'.

Now it sounds jaded, but it helped to rebrand Britain, recasting it as a modern country forging a new, dynamic economy from its industrial past. Britain didn't become a nation of popstars, advertising executives and internet entrepreneurs overnight, but the sense that Britain - and London in particular - is at the cutting edge of these creative industries undoubtedly helps to attract foreign firms to British shores. So, too, does the perception of the country as meritocratic and forward-looking, rather than class-ridden and in thrall to its past.

The phrase Cool Britannia was coined by a Vanity Fair journalist, but a snappy phrase cannot dismantle stereotypes constructed over decades. Some parts of the country still suffer from an image problem that deters potential investors.

Government grants or other financial incentives can only go so far if companies suspect their workforce will resist relocation because they are concerned about the quality of local schools - or executives are worried they might not be able to buy a caffe latte on the way to the office.

Rebranding regions - and marketing them successfully at home and abroad - is vital to attract new businesses and revive or expand local economies. Government-funded regional development agencies have worked hard to change perceptions, convincing companies that Merseyside is is not defined solely by The Beatles and that cloth caps are no more integral to Leeds than fog is to London.

Marketing UK plc overseas falls within the remit of UK Trade & Investment, part of the DTI, which has a network of offices around the world. But each part of the country has its own cheerleader in the form of the nine English RDAs - and their national equivalents in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

UK Trade & Investment works with the RDAs, typically directing overseas enquiries to the relevant agency. But RDAs have their own presence overseas. Yorkshire Forward has strong ties with the United States, with offices in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Advantage West Midlands has offices in Melbourne, and the South East England Development Agency has a base in the Japanese city of Kanagawa. The RDAs are also responsible for marketing their own areas domestically, competing with each other to attract investment.

The truth is that even those areas that were worst hit by industrial decline in the Seventies and Eighties are experiencing an economic and cultural renaissance. Cities like Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow have replaced, or supplemented, heavy industry with thriving financial service industries, and retail and leisure sectors. Urban regeneration has encouraged professionals to return to city centres.

In previous years, the challenge has been to accentuate the positive in areas where it sometimes seemed that inexorable decline was inevitable. Today, the skill lies in ensuring that the widest possible audience is made aware of the extent of recent changes.

The English RDAs have not advertised as widely, either at home or overseas, partly because their budgets are not huge; between them, they will receive £2.1 billion this year from six government departments, although this will rise to £2.3bn in 2007/08. Only a small proportion is spent on marketing.

'One', the north east's RDA, spent £1.2 million of its £272.2m income on 'marketing and PR', according to its annual report. But what money there is can be used creatively. Yorkshire Forward secured a £60,000 grant from the European Union to launch a £300,000 national advertising campaign, in partnership with the Yorkshire Tourist Board, designed to challenge the county's image as old-fashioned and out of touch.

Leeds - a city Charles Dickens described as 'one of the ghastliest I know' - formed the centrepiece of the campaign, but Yorkshire Forward also paid for locals to stand outside London's King's Cross station, handing commuters Yorkie bars wrapped in marketing material telling them why they should move to Bradford.

The North West Development Agency supported a Manchester roadshow, which visited southern cities with northern food and drink. Scousers have even been trained to 'sell' Liverpool in social settings when they visit the south of the country. The so-called 'Mersey Champions' are encouraged to talk the city up at football matches or dinner parties.

A campaign on the capital's tube network, black cabs and buses has also informed Londoners about the charms of northern cities. It was part-funded by RDAs, but was also supported by the EU, which paid for research to be carried out on how to advertise English cities to the English.

Ads informed Londoners that: 'Merseyside is the golfing capital of England' and 'Liverpool has more museums, theatres and galleries than any other UK city outside London'. Merseyside has also reminded Londoners that 36 per cent of the area is designated greenbelt.

A separate campaign paid for posters on the tube telling commuters that: 'Yorkshire's full of bankers' (70 per cent of the workforce is employed in financial or business services) and exclaimed 'e-by gum' - a reference to the fact that 33 per cent of all UK internet traffic goes through the region.

Ultimately, of course, it is difficult to mount an effective advertising campaign if the product is poor, which is why it is easier to market many parts of the north now that urban renaissance is erasing memories of industrial decline.

But even as old stereotypes are slain, new ones are born. The Office on BBC2 may have won critical acclaim worldwide, but it did little for the image of Slough, the Berkshire town where the series was based. It portrayed it as a dreary place full of dull businesses staffed by uninspiring individuals. In fact, Slough has one of the highest proportion of skilled IT workers in the country, and the South East England Development Agency is marketing it as a hi-tech hub - part of the UK's answer to Silicon Valley. David Brent would be proud.

Fitzroy

December 18th, 2005, 10:59 AM

And some more ... apologies for not summarising but providing the full text enables other readers to appraise the material for themselves. Both the above posts said positive things about other cities, too bit I have edited them to focus on Liverpool. The text below is included because it gives a flavour of our beloved NWDA's agenda - sweeteners for Liverpool but the main course elsewhere. Needless to say the NWDA will only be successful in realising its vision if Liverpool and its universities allow it to happen. Hopefully its MPs as well as giving vent to their own justifiable concerns about Iraq etc. will also represent Liverpool's wider interests.

Inward investment: North West

Big on biotech - and the BBC

Heather Stewart finds relocation and expansion amid an urban revival

Sunday December 18, 2005
The Observer

They used to say, "It's grim up north." Now, we like to think, it's successful up north,' says Steven Broomhead, who as head of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, has the job of selling the area to potential investors and their staff all over the world.
Once the cradle of the industrial revolution, at the heart of Britain's economy, with grandiose architecture and entrepreneurial verve to match, the north west had a rough ride in the second half of the 20th century. Manchester, and in particular Liverpool, became bywords for urban decay and unemployment; and tired symbols of the north-south divide.

But in the past decade or so, as the economic fortunes of Britain have turned, cities once regarded as in terminal decline have found a new, vibrant lease of life. Liverpool is busily preparing to be European City of Culture in 2008, and Manchester city centre is now a bustling, cosmopolitan hub.

Many of the symbols of this urban renaissance - Tate Liverpool, the vast Lowry Centre in Salford, Manchester's staging of the Commonwealth Games in 2002 - are cultural, or architectural. But critical to the region's revival has been attracting new business investment to the area, and safeguarding local jobs.

The Regional Development Agency covers a diverse area: from the dramatic wilds of Cumbria in the north, to leafy Cheshire in the south, taking in Liverpool and Manchester on the way. It reckons that it's helped to create or protect almost 200,000 jobs in recent years. And with the government keen to redress the balance between chock-full London and the rest of Britain, the NWDA has another £1.5 billion to spend over three years attracting and retaining businesses.

Broomhead says it uses familiar local brands - including Manchester United football club, and Bentley cars - to promote the area to businesses from China to Australia, and of course elsewhere in the UK. From its office in China, for example, the NWDA looks for markets for local firms, while trying to attract Chinese investors to the north west, as well as tempt foreign students to the region's eight universities. Last year, there were 92 inward investment projects, bringing 5,000 jobs to the area.

With an abundance of areas of natural beauty within the region, Broomhead says, quality of life is one of the biggest selling-points. 'It's about the softer stuff - it's about fresh air, good housing, short journey-to-work times, as well as a skilled workforce and good transport links.'

The biggest investor in the region in recent years has been the US. David Cassidy, chief executive of JP Morgan Invest, an offshoot of the financial giant which recently opened its headquarters in Liverpool, used to work in the city 25 years ago, and remembers what it was once like.

'When I started work here in the early 1970s, I used to think the city died at night,' he says. Back then, Temple Square, where the company's offices are now located, was 'a no-go area. It was dark, dingy, poorly lit, rubbish strewn'. These days, he says Liverpool has a 'cappuccino culture'.

He plans to employ 150 people over the next couple of years, and says the decision to choose Liverpool was partly an economic one, but partly a vote of confidence in the city's rebirth. 'Now, the city is certainly alive, and buzzing, and it's definitely got momentum.'

He sees himself as picking up a thread that has continued throughout Liverpool's history, since it was a busy port noisy with new arrivals from exotic parts of the world. 'Liverpool always had a reputation for innovation, it always had a very strong financial services sector, and it always had a reputation for being slightly radical.'

Another financial services giant, The Bank of New York, has chosen central Manchester for a new office, where it will employ 350 staff by the end of next year. 'We needed somewhere with a good reputation for financial services and a transport infrastructure that offers good road, rail and air links,' says Jackie Williams, the bank's head of operations in Manchester.

'Manchester was identified as being particularly strong in this area. Having a well-established financial services sector provides access to experienced individuals while the universities around the north west would allow us to tap into a huge pool of graduates.'

Many of the other industries in which the north west now has successful clusters of firms are also descendants of the scientifically innovative, entrepreneurial businesses of the region's heyday.

AstraZeneca, the drugs-maker, which has its headquarters in Alderley Park, Cheshire, grew out of what was once ICI, Britain's world-leading chemicals firm - which in turn had its roots in the dye-making industry that fed the north west's textiles empire in the 19th century. AstraZeneca is currently building a £61 million cancer research centre at Alderley Park.

Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology are now key industries for the region, involving more than 200 companies, which between them employ 20,000 people. Other big names with operations locally include Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithkline.

In Liverpool, a recent £8m investment by the NWDA in research at the university's school of tropical medicine helped to attract another £28m of funding for malaria research, some of it from the Bill Gates Foundation.

There are plans to build on the specialism for science by making Manchester Britain's first 'science city', an idea proposed by Chancellor Gordon Brown, who wants the UK to be able to hang on to hi-tech businesses amid competition from China and India. Public cash will be ploughed into research and strengthening links between science and business, to ensure that the expertise of researchers at Manchester's universities is given practical application wherever possible. A series of 'innovation partnerships' will focus on areas such as clean aviation, and sustainable design.

The science and innovation minister, Lord Sainsbury, said when the policy was announced: 'Science cities such as Manchester will be focal points for transforming the best of British ideas and discoveries into new products and services.'

Another of Manchester's long-time specialisms has been the media. Once the home of the Guardian newspaper, which still has an outpost in the city, it has long had a big BBC presence. That is about to be expanded, with 1,800 jobs transferring to the city, making it the largest broadcasting centre outside the capital. The NWDA is determined to use the BBC's expansion to nurture the growth of a cluster of supporting creative industries.

David Cassidy, of JP Morgan, says he can measure the change in Liverpool's economy from the job applications that land on his desk. 'I've got CVs coming into me all the time of people working in the City who want to relocate to Liverpool.'

Martin S

December 18th, 2005, 07:24 PM

In the 19th. Century, the north became the centre of the industrial revolution, mainly due to its mountainous terrain that meant plenty of fast flowing streams powering water wheels and then plenty of coal spurring steam technology.

The downside of this was the devastation of the landscape and the hard, menial work that characterised northern life for over a century.

In the 20th. Century, electricity, easier communications and the growth of office based workforces favoured the South East, where people could escape to a better quality of life in the suburbs country towns and villages surrounding London.

Now, in the 21st Century, the mills, factories and mines of the industrial North have largely disappeared and the South East has become overrun with housing, motorways and continual congestion. The growth of the internet means that it is no longer imperative to be based in any one centre so the North is becoming a far more attractive alternative.

It seems to get more and more expensive to do anything in London. The provision of the infrastructure needed to keep London at bearable congestion levels takes a fair slice of the nations GDP. Perhaps one day, the government will realise that relying on London as the lynch-pin of the UK economy might not be such a good idea.

Tony Sebo

December 18th, 2005, 07:34 PM

The piece about mersey maritime is interesting...shows how little that manc bastard organisation sees itself as truly 'regional' and not just stuck in the traffic fumes between their titular headquarters in warrington and their beloved home city!

This is why we need to be rid of these 'regional' constructs...then rid ourselves of this soviet notion that some fucker from the public sector can command the areas of growth that we shoud pursue...I don't know about these '6 priority areas' what about the rest of the phone book?

Fitzroy

December 19th, 2005, 02:09 PM

Mersyside economic tiger! (In the making)

All part of the same spin as most of the above but as they say - talking up a region is an essential part of making good things happen!

Mersey pledge on Enterprise

Dec 19 2005

By Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

LAST week, the Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission called for one body to co-ordinate enterprise in the region and a think tank to counter London-centric influences.Today, new Mersey Partnership chief Robert Crawford told Commission chairman Prof Phil Redmond: "Look no further, your search is over."

The former Scottish Enterprise chief, who moved to Liverpool in September, wants the Partnership to be seen as the natural leader for the region, able to influence national and international opinion.He said the Partnership's influence as a sub-regional partner of the Northwest Development Agency, which funds many enterprise organisations across Merseyside, could bring focus to promoting enterprise and entrepreneurship."We can help the NWDA arrive at a strategy on where the funds should be allocated."He added: "My tanks won't be on someone else's lawn. It is not our goal to shut people down. Our goal is to improve productivity for Merseyside and sustainability of businesses."Turning to the role of a northern-based think tank to fight the region's corner, he added: "The Partnership can be a serious thought leadership body, not just for Liverpool and the north west, but global issues."I want to improve our research skills. Is there an opportunity, for example, for health life sciences on Merseyside to sell to Thailand?"

Mr Crawford, 54, who worked for the World Bank, relishes his new role.
His key targets are to significantly improve the number of small businesses.
"We also have to find more investment and improve the level of innovation and technology across the business community."
And he wants to encourage a cluster of specialist professional services.
"Five years from now, we need to have more lawyers specialising in intellectual property and an inward migration of corporate bankers. This is the sign of a dynamic economy.

"The international press should be doing stories on what is happening in Merseyside as an economic tiger

Fitzroy

December 20th, 2005, 09:18 AM

Not media per se but a choice of Liverpool as a distribution centre for the NW.

Murdoch delivers another revolution
By Roy Greenslade (Filed: 20/12/2005)

In those long ago Fleet Street days of hot metal there were very few occasions when anyone shouted out the legendary injunction: "Hold the front page." But night after night a wizened man wearing an ink-stained shirt and red braces ascended from a sub-basement housing the Sun's presses to shout at the night editor: "Give me leeway on me rails."

In layman's language this meant, "get the front page off stone as soon possible" because it was essential that the first edition caught the north-bound trains. If it didn't, the papers would have to go by lorry, a time-consuming and expensive business.

Rupert Murdoch's Wapping revolution changed all that. Unable to use trains because of union action his company, News International (NI), set up its own road distribution service to transport papers to the wholesalers' depots.

Within months other owners followed suit and no newspaper has since been constrained by railway timetables though, of course, there is still pressure on editors to meet their deadlines. But publishers face other problems in ensuring that their newspapers reach readers.

For a start, distribution is costly. Given the growing sophistication of pre-press technology, virtually anyone can produce a paper on screen. It's also feasible to print it for a reasonable fee. Getting it to people, especially when they are strung out across Britain, is an altogether more expensive and complex matter.

Papers are delivered first to wholesalers with exclusive geographical monopolies and it is they who are then responsible for distributing them to retailers, both large - such as supermarkets - and small, such as local corner newsagents.

This system has survived competition inquiries because it is so efficient and no one has been able to devise a better method of ensuring that papers are available to the public every morning from Land's End to John O'Groats.

It is a benign monopoly arrangement which means that if one person living in the Outer Hebrides wants to buy the Financial Times and another wants a single copy of the Independent the papers will be on sale. No matter how few copies are required the wholesaler will provide them.

Now it appears that NI has plans to institute another revolution (though reform might be a fairer description) once its new printing plants in Enfield, Liverpool and Glasgow come on stream. It cannot see the point of passing on papers to wholesalers in the areas around those plants and aims instead to deliver itself to retailers in the vicinity.

Ian Jackson, NI's director of strategic development, says: "It is yet another example of this company challenging the status quo." He will not be drawn on any further details.

It is difficult to divine what those "opportunities" might be, given that NI's initiative clearly eats into the wholesale monopoly. It's only a small bite, of course, but could it be the beginning of a much more radical move by Murdoch to compete with Dawson and the other two giants, Menzies and WH Smith?

At present, it is being promoted as a way of allowing the new presses to run on beyond the current cut-off times. Wholesalers stick to strict time schedules and these can be extended by more than an hour, perhaps longer, if NI wishes to distribute papers with later news to retailers in the proximity of its plants.

JUXTAPOL

December 20th, 2005, 03:23 PM

The N.I. printing plant on knowsley business park south is a massive building, which is currently having a large extension built, for said new printing presses as mentioned above.

Still i don't buy any of these papers, especially the S*n newspaper (who are really sorry now and want us to forgive them and start making profits for them again).

Fitzroy

December 22nd, 2005, 09:54 AM

Merseyside economy 'catching up'

I was in two minds whether or not to post this because it's full of misleading stats. In particular the uncritical rendition of the average wealth generated by each citizen living in inner London. These figures are grossly inflated by the turnover in the City and the wealth of some very rich individuals who live in inner London. Inner London is far from a universally wealthy place, many of the boroughs; Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Lewisham, Southwark etc. have areas of deprivation that make even the run down parts of Liverpool seem bearable. The main difference beteen these areas and parts of rundown Merseyside is that even the most deprived boroughs have quite a lot of economic activity and some of them have a bit of a buzz about them that you don't find in places like Bootle or Speke. (I went to the shopping centre in Speke on my last trip OMG). Also, what has gone wrong over the water? I always thought the Wirral was relatively prosperous. Perhaps it's Birkenhead's fault?!

Merseyside economy starting to catch up

Dec 22 2005

By Larry Neild, Daily Post

LIVERPOOL'S economy is growing at a faster rate than both the national and regional average, a government report revealed last night.The city's economic wealth grew by almost 6.2% in the past year, compared with a national growth figure of 5.6% and a regional level of 5.4%.Merseyside as a whole, while still near the foot of the UK's wealth charts, leapfrogged over Durham to move to fifth from bottom. The region's wealth per head is still only 73% of the national average.However, Liverpool's money-generating fortunes have grown by over 51% in the past decade, with the city's population generating a total wealth of almost £6.5bn a year.The same figures show that Knowsley, St Helens and Sefton all grew at a faster rate than the British total, but Wirral's growth trailed behind both the North West and UK figures.

Although the economic barometer shows a steady growth in Liverpool's wealth, it also reveals the cavernous gap between the wealth generated by local people compared with those in the wealthy South East. Statistics known as the GVA, or gross value added, are compiled by the Government using figures that indicate how much wealth is generated for each person in particular areas.Liverpool City Council said in a statement last night that the new figures demonstrated how Liverpool's economy was continuing to go from strength to strength.The overall wealth of the city grew to £6.459bn, an increase of £377m on the previous year.The gross value per head in Liverpool in 2003 was £14,619 compared with the 2002 figure of £13,771. This is 2.5% above the North West (£13,586) level, but below the UK level of £16,485.Top of the income league table is Inner London, where each person generates wealth of £38,8000.That compares with Merseyside where the average wealth generated is £11,800, which remains a long way behind both the NW and the UK levels.Last night, Robert Crawford, chief executive of the Mersey Partnership said: "This is another set of strong figures for Mersey-side. The continued growth of Merseyside's economic output, ahead of the UK rate, underlines our sustained renaissance."There are still, however, major challenges ahead. Economic wealth per head is still only 73% of the UK average, and we need to accelerate even faster to make up this shortfall with a greater focus on innovative fast-growing business growth, skills training and improved levels of inward investment."Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration said: "These figures are proof of the dramatic turnaround we have seen in Liverpool's economic performance."The city's economy is performing extremely well compared with neighbouring economies in the NW, and both regional and national performance.

Awayo

December 22nd, 2005, 10:04 AM

Good news. We now beat the Boro with the second lowest GVA/head of an large urban conurbation in the UK. Still onwards and upwards.

Doug Roberts

December 22nd, 2005, 10:13 AM

Fitzy, a good question about the Wirral and the bad news continued last week with the announced closure of Champion Spark Plugs.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16492955%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

A few years back the Wirral out of Merseyside movement scored what they thought was a big victory when the Post Office changed their post codes from L to CH. It seemed like a fairly big smack in the face to Liverpool at the time with stories about how much Wirrallians would save on their car insurances and stuff. Turned out to be a bit of a poisoned chalice after CoC award sent L postcode property into orbit. Whether they like it or not I think their future would be best served in Liverpool's embrace and bring Ellesmere Port in also.

Awayo

December 22nd, 2005, 10:32 AM

The Wirral, like Sefton has a very low GVA/head as little economic activity happens there. Both places do contain some very well off residential areas, but the people who live in them work (and generate wealth) elsewhere.

the golden vision

December 22nd, 2005, 11:36 AM

Yapachoo

December 22nd, 2005, 05:26 PM

Birkenhead needs something of a miracle now. While Liverpool and most other urban areas of the country have been picking themselves up, Birkenhead and North Wirral seem to have continued to slump.

The retail centre of B'head is becoming very tatty - I never go there, only to L'pool and sometimes Chester. There is a hell of a lot of potential for the docklands of B'head with regards to business and residential/leisure development just as is being realised in Lpool, but Wirral council is bloody awful and fantastic catalyst schemes such as the Remington (???) masterplan have seemingly disapppeared.

Meanwhile smaller peripheral centres such as Heswall, Oxton and West Kirby seem to be faring better. When I came home from Uni, Heswall had acquired a large Costa Coffee, a large Thornton's with cafe and some more small shops serving market niches. There is still talk of M&S moving in next to the police station. High quality town centre flats are also still in demand.

It really is B'head and the industrial areas in North/East Wirral that need a major makeover, and the council should be looking at these issues in a far more pro-active way. The cycle of deprivation in these areas is still very stark.

Gareth

December 22nd, 2005, 07:11 PM

Indeed. It's a shame because the potential of Birkenhead-Seacombe-New Brighton in immense. There's loads of undeveloped land crying out for new roles as modern living and leisure facilities. This area carries the best views of the Liverpool skyline, unless you live on a ferry that is.

scouserdave

December 22nd, 2005, 07:24 PM

Stupid fucking Council don't realise the money to be made building waterfront properties overlooking the Mersey/Liverpool waterfront.

Gareth

December 22nd, 2005, 07:27 PM

It's a hung council though. Nothing ever gets done over at Wirral MBC. And us right-bankers thought we had it bad. :no:

Yapachoo

December 22nd, 2005, 07:35 PM

It's true, Liverpool CC are saints in comparison, I have absolutely no idea about anything going on in the Wirral and I doubt the council does either.

I was wondering if it would be viable for B'head waterfront to take advantage of the relative construction lull in Liverpool during CoC itself to try and jump start regeneration there and attract business/developers?

liverpolitan

December 27th, 2005, 03:10 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4557696.stm

"Investment hopes for engine plant

Expansion plans by car manufacturers Toyota are set to bring more investment at the firm's Flintshire engine factory, it is hoped.
The company has told the more than 700 workers at the plant that it aims to increase sales in Europe from 800,000 vehicles a year to 1.2m by 2010.

Toyota said its plans were still being developed, but the Deeside plant was expected to play a key role. Five years ago, a £200m investment saw the plant's workforce more than double. Earlier this week, Toyota said it expected to boost output by 10% next year, a level which could see the company overtake General Motors as the world's biggest carmaker.

The prediction came as US rivals GM and Ford continued to struggle to reverse declining sales and profits. This year alone, the Toyota factory on the Deeside Industrial Park produced 188,000 engines for the company's UK assembly plant at Burnaston near Derby.

In addition, almost 240,000 machined engine sets were sent to production centres in France, South Africa, and Venezuela. Further growth could also mean more spin off jobs in the components industry in Wales. "
---
PS Link that shows Deeside Industrial Park location

http://www.dipl.co.uk/Location/location.html

JUXTAPOL

December 29th, 2005, 04:48 PM

Apparently, if you have a scouse accent, then it doesn't go down to well with business types. As opposed to your successful posher sounding scouser, who doesn't have the broad scouse accent, and therefore wouldn't be recognised as being from Liverpool, of who we have many.

The following is quite alarming.
However, only 24% of executives consider those with a Scouse accent to be hardworking.
Are they talking about all scousers, or just the business types...!

See full story here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4566028.stm)

Metrolink

December 29th, 2005, 05:02 PM

It's all regional sterotyping.

Remember one of my old senior managers, had the broadest cockney accent ever.

He used to sell millions of pounds worth of IT services every year, but to be honest, he sounded like a dodgy cockney type, a kind of Del Boy, who you'd expect to own a second hand car dealership in east London.

It's all very bizzare how we make general assumptions about someones attitude, just becuase if where there are from.

Fitzroy

December 29th, 2005, 05:58 PM

I wonder how large the sample size was. Also, how neutral is Mr Aziz? Perhaps he is trying to assuage concerns that people have when they phone Lloyds or M & S and find that they are speaking to someone in India? This obsession with accent is so fucking English and I'm well tired of it!

Blabbernsmoke

December 29th, 2005, 06:03 PM

The BBC are as sensationalist and silly as a typical tabloid.
Where is the information on those polled- how many? Where?

In the last month or so it has been claimed in yet more polls that the scouse accent is seen as being very friendly, and is very successful in customer services. But now it is untrust worthy and bad for business.

Why on earth do I encourage this filth by purchasing a TV license? Oh yeah because I'll be fined £1000 if I don't.

Metrolink

December 29th, 2005, 06:13 PM

Bad idea... deleted.

Blabbernsmoke

December 29th, 2005, 06:26 PM

I like the way you say South Mancs and Cheshire don't have an accent? How can a speaking person not have an accent?

Awayo

December 29th, 2005, 06:31 PM

he's messing blabbs.

although I've heard several people in the south east of england describe anyone who speaks any differently to them as "having an accent", rather as you'd talk about someone having a lisp or a medical complaint.

jawida

December 29th, 2005, 06:38 PM

Think he means that he doesn't hear the accent.

Tony Sebo

December 29th, 2005, 06:38 PM

There are lies, danm lies and statistics. This is a very interesting thread, including the stuff that goes back some time.

re the Wirral post codes and GVA - this is a profound problem we have, Balkanisation of the metropolis, by small minded local no brain politicos - each just tenatiousely hanging onto their own little patch...fucking the greater potential...and in truly scouse areas like Bootle and 'knowsely', betraying their own culture, heritage and roots! especailly as these were the ones who's mams had them running round scottie with no shoes.

Wirral again...are they the 'posh bit' of Liverpool or the arse end of Cheshire? their snobbery ironically only works for them in the Liverpool context.

I remember reading that merseyside had less days lost per employee per year to strike action than any other conurbation. This was for every year since whoever compliles the records started doing it ( I read it about ten years ago)

When Tate & Lyle and Nabisco shut plants here in the late 70s' and relocated 'darn sarf' both suffered terrible drops in productivity (and the nabisco also saw a huge rise in theft!) Sorry... again no details, fading brain cells... the figures may be online somewhere though!

I forgot the top bit of discussion
For every survey that reveals how 'important people' see us as scum there are five that state we aree the best workers, with the cheeriest accents that are most suitable for work in call centres. They are ALL bollocks

Metrolink

December 29th, 2005, 06:43 PM

Scarecrow

December 29th, 2005, 06:48 PM

Bollocks. They set up where it's cheapest. How annoying is it when you're called by some muppet from the Indian subcontinent with a 20 second time delay wanting to sell you a fucking credit card or double glazing? As soon as I gear a 'bing gong... Hello Mr Cravy..' I fucking well hang up. Shite customer service done on the cheap, and the prick on the end of the phone seldom know dick about British law or legal practise.

jawida

December 29th, 2005, 06:51 PM

I get irritated when it's their returns or technical line. If it's not scripted its not there.

Tony Sebo

December 29th, 2005, 06:52 PM

Aye, you are right. There are so many contratictory 'surveys' out there though that we should ignore both the damning ones, like todays, as well as the stupidly waxing ones.

Blabbernsmoke

December 29th, 2005, 10:26 PM

Pietari

January 3rd, 2006, 12:41 AM

Tony - that may well all be true - be the BBC article talks about perceptions and not reality - and when setting up a call centre etc, when accent will be important, surely for the company wanting to locate the call centre, the perception of thir customer will be very important, whether or not that perception is based on reality?

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Liverpool named IT and Telecommunications Capital of Europe

Liverpool wins accolade ahead of Frankfurt and Milan

A panel of judges from ForeignDirectInvestment magazine, published by The Financial Times, has voted Liverpool as having the Best IT and Telecommunications Infrastructure in Europe.

Liverpool is a winner in the prestigious European Cities and Regions of the Futures 2004/05. The City beat off stiff competition from other well-connected locations like Frankfurt, Paris, Glasgow, Dublin, Budapest and Milan. The rigorous judging process involved three rounds, with 33 individual criteria used to gauge which locations offer investors the best deal in eight categories.

Liverpool's low telecom charges and 100% broadband coverage impressed the judges, with a one minute call to the US from Liverpool costing as little as Î0.014 per minute.

"Information technology is a vital part of our ongoing campaign to promote Liverpool as a modern and competitive business location to investors across the world," says Thomas O'Brien, Chief Executive of The Mersey Partnership. "Our growing communications capability means companies based in the Liverpool area can distribute information across the globe, just as effectively as if they were based locally".

Steve Smith, Sector Director for ICT in Merseyside, said: "This accolade reinforces the City Region's claim to be a first choice destination for ICT inward investment and demonstrates why the 1000+ ICT based companies already based here are flourishing in digitally enabled Merseyside".

The awards were presented in Hong Kong, at the Investors of the Future Forum.

Sorry I can`t find the previous link/post to Liverpool being the `only UK` city in the `European Top Ten` of call centres (can`t remember if it included `acsent`- may have been part of but not all - so go hunt previous posts.)

Night night.
:sleepy:

Awayo

January 3rd, 2006, 12:51 AM

The economic statistics for 2003 (released in December just gone) show that Liverpool's (and Merseyside's economy) grew again over the national and North west regional averages. Merseyside's GVA/head looks to be continuing its trend of catching up (if slowly) with the national and regional average that has been evident since the mid- to late-nineties.

Toadboy

January 3rd, 2006, 11:01 AM

Good news that, something really tangible to work with, an asset no business can over look.

How can this be turned in to real competitive advantage in the short term?

Martin S

January 3rd, 2006, 01:48 PM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Liverpool named IT and Telecommunications Capital of Europe

Liverpool wins accolade ahead of Frankfurt and Milan

A panel of judges from ForeignDirectInvestment magazine, published by The Financial Times, has voted Liverpool as having the Best IT and Telecommunications Infrastructure in Europe.

Liverpool is a winner in the prestigious European Cities and Regions of the Futures 2004/05. The City beat off stiff competition from other well-connected locations like Frankfurt, Paris, Glasgow, Dublin, Budapest and Milan. The rigorous judging process involved three rounds, with 33 individual criteria used to gauge which locations offer investors the best deal in eight categories.

Liverpool's low telecom charges and 100% broadband coverage impressed the judges, with a one minute call to the US from Liverpool costing as little as Î0.014 per minute.

"Information technology is a vital part of our ongoing campaign to promote Liverpool as a modern and competitive business location to investors across the world," says Thomas O'Brien, Chief Executive of The Mersey Partnership. "Our growing communications capability means companies based in the Liverpool area can distribute information across the globe, just as effectively as if they were based locally".

Steve Smith, Sector Director for ICT in Merseyside, said: "This accolade reinforces the City Region's claim to be a first choice destination for ICT inward investment and demonstrates why the 1000+ ICT based companies already based here are flourishing in digitally enabled Merseyside".

The awards were presented in Hong Kong, at the Investors of the Future Forum.

Sorry I can`t find the previous link/post to Liverpool being the `only UK` city in the `European Top Ten` of call centres (can`t remember if it included `acsent`- may have been part of but not all - so go hunt previous posts.)

Night night.
:sleepy:

This could do with a bit more publicity. We should be able to do a lot better than call centres, which flock to low wage areas of the country and abroad.

I'm wondering if this has got to do with our geographical location as I remember some years ago talk of the 'fat pipe' a massive capacity trans-atlantic internet connection coming ashore near Southport.

Whatever the reason, telecommunications are at the heart of modern business and we need to be able to sell Liverpool as the ideal location for business.
l

Fitzroy

January 5th, 2006, 08:49 AM

More positive perceptions from outside the city

Nothing new here but the frequency with which such stories appear in the nationals provides a good marker of Liverpool's current standing. In paricular I like: 'This is thought to be the biggest speculative commercial development outside London.'

The Times January 03, 2006

Surge in office deals as a new Liverpool takes shape
By Jenny Davey

OFFICE lettings in Liverpool soared by 30 per cent to 450,000 sq ft in 2005, according to CB Richard Ellis, the property consultant.

The rise in office take-up coincides with a £2 billion construction boom in Liverpool city centre, representing the biggest surge in commercial investment in the city’s history.

The skyline is dominated by more than 20 cranes, building shopping centres, hotels, offices and residential skyscrapers. The developments are designed to help Liverpool to catch up with Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, which have benefited already from large-scale regeneration programmes.

At the heart of the investment programme is Liverpool One, a £900 million shopping scheme by Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s property company. In cash terms, it represents the biggest investment in Merseyside yet.

The site, close to Liverpool’s historic waterfront, spans 42 acres and is a hive of activity as construction workers begin to pile in the foundations of the scheme. The development is scheduled to open in 2008, when Liverpool will be crowned the European Capital of Culture.

In contrast to older-style covered shopping centres, the Grosvenor project will be made up of 30 different buildings, created in six districts, which will form a normal streetscape. Incorporating giant John Lewis and Debenhams stores and a 14-screen Odeon multiplex cinema, it will also contain bars, restaurants, hotels and more than 500 residential apartments.

Less than 100 metres away from Liverpool One, Milligan, a private developer, is developing a £75 million shopping scheme behind the listed façade of a former Victorian post office. The scheme will open next year and bring a clutch of new designer shops to Liverpool for the first time.

A newly revived commercial quarter close to the Royal Liver Building is awash with luxury residential skyscrapers. The Beetham Organisation, a local developer, sold some of the first £1 million flats in the city when it completed a 30-storey tower there last year.

The tower was part of a £40 million scheme that also included a 200-bedroom Radisson hotel and a new office scheme housing Unisys and UK Passport Services. Permission has been granted for a second 40-storey West Tower next door, which recently has started construction.

Nearby is Project Unity, a £67 million project by Rumford, a private developer, to transform 1970s concrete office buildings into modern office and shopping space. This is thought to be the biggest speculative commercial development outside London.

To help to support the city’s £1 billion tourist industry, a Malmaison hotel is under construction near the waterfront and a Beatles-themed Hard Days Night Hotel is being built near the site of the Cavern Club. In addition, plans are afoot to rejuvenate the run-down area outside Lime Street Station.

tommygunn

January 5th, 2006, 10:54 AM

The future looks very bright for Liverpool thats for sure :) i just hope this is the springboard we need for more taller buildings.

Tony Sebo

January 5th, 2006, 11:39 AM

If we develop the downtown growth and commercial activity that demands it then you would think that serious minded people would disavow themselves of the notion that building heights should be determined by 'easthetic' considerations, rather than pressure for floorspace providing work.....

Sorry! The demand is already there but our planners are getting further involved with the growth limiting ideas... should that not be raised...Victorian aesthetics over revival?

Fitzroy

January 9th, 2006, 12:16 PM

Yeah - I know Liverpool doesn't just want to be a freakin tourist theme park but any city that generates more than £1 billon just by pleasing the punters has got to be doing something right!

£2bn tourism boom could create 10,000 Mersey jobs Jan 9 2006

By Larry Neild, Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE'S tourism industry generated more than £1bn for the local economy last year, with 2006 expected to be worth even more.

Tourism chiefs last night predicted that, by 2008, the leisure and tourism sector will be worth £2bn to the Merseyside economy, creating up to 10,000 jobs.

Martin King, Director of Tourism at The Mersey Partnership, said last night that the coming three years would see massive growth in the sector, spurred on by the Open golf championship in Wirral and Liverpool's 800th birthday and European Capital of Culture celebrations.

He added: "As the tourist board for the whole of Merseyside, we are happy to report that it's been a great 2005. We've hosted some incredible events like the start of the Clipper Race and the North West Masters, saw the continuing expansion of Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the beginning of two huge projects, the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre and the Paradise Project.

"Year on year, our tourism industry takes on greater significance in the wider economy. At the moment, it is estimated that it generates £1bn for the region and supports 20,000 jobs.

"We are looking to double the spend as we head toward 2008, with an industry supporting 30,000 jobs. As 2006 will be the year of Liverpool Performs, we are confident it will outperform everything that's gone before."

TMP and the Liverpool Culture Company signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2005 agreeing a schedule of activity which will benefit the region's entire tourism sector.

The agreement covers areas of activity including tourist information and accommodation bookings; destination marketing; working with the cruise industry; tourism research; marketing events and destination and brand development.

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk

Merseyside highlights of 2005

* NW MASTERS - Sefton and St Helens teamed up to host a brand new event which was greatly welcomed both by the racing world and punters alike, generating around 20,000 visitors. This will be built upon next year.

* Start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht race - On Sunday September 18, thousands of people gathered on Liverpool's

UNESCO World Heritage waterfront to watch the spectacular start of the 05-06 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. The yachts will sail back into Liverpool on July 1, 2006.

* Mathew Street Music Festival - The 2005 festival generated a record £32m for the Liverpool economy, up by 35% on the previous year. A new report shows the annual three-day August Bank Holiday Festival also generated 100% hotel occupancy rates.

* Grand National - Record crowds for each day, including 70,739 for the Saturday. Watched by hundreds of millions worldwide. Regularly generates between £30m and £35m for the north west economy.

* Antony Gormley's Another Place - Thousands of visitors have converged on Crosby to view 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the beach, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.

* Liverpool FC Champions League win - The team's continued success in Europe regularly fills hotel rooms in the city during the week, but the remarkable win in Istanbul re-established the team as one of the world's biggest and best.

* World Museum Liverpool - Since National Museums Liverpool opened World Museum Liverpool, it has welcomed 400,000 visitors. A £35m project has doubled the size of the popular museum, an attraction in the city since 1851.

Ambitious highlights for the future

* LIVERPOOL Conference Arena - Infrastructure work on the 14.6 hectare site started in June and has continued on construction of the waterside complex.

The Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre will include a 9,500 capacity arena, an auditorium with a capacity of 1,350, a multi-purpose hall of 3,600 sq metres, total exhibition space of 7,000 sq metres and 18 additional meeting rooms.

It will be supported by a 1,600-space multi-storey car park, and a public piazza where outdoor events can be held.

A privately funded adjoining hotel development will cater for business and leisure visitors.

* PARADISE STREET - Work is well under way the transformation of Liverpool city centre in what is the largest retail construction development of its type in Europe.

The £750m project by Grosvenor is a massive programme to transform the centre of Liverpool in time for the city's year as European Capital of Culture in 2008.

* MET QUARTER - Liverpool's newest shopping quarter will open next spring. The Met Quarter will be one of the key shopping destinations in the country where you can buy a multitude of designer names including Hugo Boss, Armani, Gieves and Hawkes, Flannels and Moulton Brown.

* CRUISE Liner Facility - Work will hopefully have begun on this multi-million pound project which will re-establish Liverpool as one of the UK's key cruise liner gateways.

* MALMAISON - Work started on this £28m project in July and will be completed in late 2006. The 11-storey boutique operator will feature 131 rooms as well as 48 apartments.

Fitzroy

January 25th, 2006, 10:39 AM

Sometimes when I read this forum I'm depressed by the readiness with which people talk down Liverpool, emphasising the negatives etc. I'm not disputing the negatives, I'm just puzzled by what can sometimes seem like an inability to see what is going on in the city. Perhaps I'm wrong but I am sure that I read somewhere that it is currently the object of more inward investment than it has ever been. I'm not suggesting complacency but, well a bit of 'talking up' never did much harm. Anyway this piece of positive news is by Bill Gleeson, from the Daily Post and here it is:

LIVERPOOL'S city centre office market enjoyed a record year in 2005, according to a report to be published next week. The Merseyside Property Forum and Liverpool Vision have compiled figures that show 500,000 sq ft of space was let last year. This figure compares with 2004's figure of 480,000 sq ft, which was, at the time, also a record year. The surge in lettings has been led by law firm Hill Dickinson signing a lease for 130,000 sq ft at St Paul's Square on Old Hall Street.

Chris Connor, chairman of the Merseyside Property Forum and director of Mason Owen, said: "The big difference between this year and earlier years is that in the past the market was being driven by government lettings. "This year we have seen more private sector lettings. While the Hill Dickinson letting is the biggest single one people can remember, the bulk of the business is for smaller lettings. The big lettings get the headlines, but we are dependent on the smaller ones. It demonstrates that we are in a very active market. It's spilling into this year. There will be a lot of activity in the next couple of months."

The survey covers office buildings let in the core business district of the city centre. Mr Connor added: "The market is probably more active than Leeds at the moment, though not Manchester." Jim Gill, chief executive of urban regeneration company Liverpool Vision, said: "This is a very good story for the city. "Ten years ago there was only 130,000 sq ft let in a year in the city centre. By the late 90s that figure was 250,000 sq ft. Now it's higher than at any time since we started these records. What St Paul's Square shows is that if you build new office space, it gets let. Another difference with the past is that investors are more interested in the city."

There is still plenty of office space available in the city centre. Metropolitan House on Old Hall Street is currently vacant. Royal & SunAlliance is planning a sale and leaseback of its New Hall Place head office with at least 100,000 sq ft of that building coming onto the rental market. Bruntwood, owners of the Plaza on Old Hall Street, need to find tenants to occupy up to 250,000 sq ft of the former Littlewoods headquarters. The retail giant's staff are currently relocating to new premises in Speke.

A second building with more than 100,000 sq ft of space is to be constructed at St Paul's Square and Liverpool Vision has plans for a further 1.5m sq ft of space on nearby at Pall Mall currently used as a NCP car park.

liverpolitan

January 26th, 2006, 10:27 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4648940.stm

More great news for the Liverpool city region economy. We are a high-tech industrial power-house, with a major stake in aerospace.

"Hundreds of new jobs for Airbus

The Broughton site is making wings for Airbus's new A350 passenger jet
Aircraft builder Airbus is to create 650 new jobs with an expansion at its wing-making factory at Broughton in Flintshire, north Wales.
The Welsh Assembly government is giving the company a grant of £5.2m which it said would help boost production.

Employing more than 6,000 people, the Airbus plant is already Wales' biggest manufacturing facility.

Last week, the company said it had a record backlog of orders for more than 2,000 aircraft.

The company is increasing production schedules to tackle its order book, having already boosted deliveries by 18% to a new record of 378 aircraft last year, and said it showed there was optimism in the air travel sector.

Broughton, and the firm's Filton site, near Bristol, will share production of the lightweight carbon-based wings for the Airbus A350, launched in October last year, and due to enter into service in 2010.

The north Wales plant has already begun making wings for the A380 super-jumbo, which will be able to seat more than 800 passengers on two decks. The plane had its maiden flight in April 2005.

The Welsh Assembly Government said the grant to be announced on Thursday was a major vote of confidence in the Broughton workforce.

Welsh Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies said: "Airbus UK is one of Wales' exemplar companies, a highly innovative company, working across geographical and technological boundaries to set new standards in the competitive global aerospace industry."

Flintshire council's chief regeneration officer, Dave Heggarty called the announcement "wonderful news" for both the company and the region.

"The company now employs well over 7,000 people on the site and around north Wales there are around 12,000 people employed by companies that supply Airbus," he said.

"The wage bill in Broughton alone is around £6m a week.

"Employing people in an industry like aerospace manufacture is extremely expensive - training costs are particularly high. The 650 recruited will go through a lengthy programme and the grant will assist with that training."

Alwyn Rowlands, regional officer with the union Amicus said it was "a tremendous vote of confidence in the work force and in the joint working of the company and trade unions."

"The fact that the jobs that are being created are highly skilled and well paid is even better news for the local economy and we will be pressing for them to come on line as quickly as possible," said Mr Rowlands.

Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami led a delegation of Broughton trade union leaders to meet Downing Street last year to press for a government loan to support the launch of the new A350.

He welcomed the investment announcement, saying: "This news comes on the back of record orders for Airbus and shows that the Broughton plant is the world's finest producer of aircraft wings.

"This will take the total number of employees at Broughton beyond the 7,000 mark which is a fantastic endorsement of the present staff, managers and trade unions.

"By the end of 2006, the first delivery of the A380 super jumbo will have taken place and Broughton will be flying higher than ever."

Pietari

February 9th, 2006, 10:12 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16682759%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=city%2dclimbs%2dits%2dway%2dup%2dthe%2dimage%2dleague-name_page.html

City climbs its way up the image league Feb 9 2006

By Sophie Freeman, Daily Post

LIVERPOOL has come third in an image league table of UK cities, according to new research conducted on behalf of Merseyside's investment and tourism body, the Mersey Partnership.

Independent researchers carried out the Image Tracking Research to compare the Liverpool city region - which includes the whole of Merseyside and the Halton area of Cheshire - to Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

The survey tracked the perceptions of 150 companies, including 100 large corporates and 50 intermediaries, such as investor brokers, property specialists and financial houses, from across the UK.

Notably, Liverpool has moved up from fourth to third as an overall investment location - arguably the most important of the indicators used to gauge companies' perceptions of the different cities.

It was only beaten into third place by Manchester and Newcastle.

The survey also found that the city is ranked:

* First for availability of sites and premises

* Second as a location for competitive operating costs

* Second for access to funding and financial incentives

* Third on future potential for growth

* Fourth for accessibility and transport infrastructure

Chief executive of the Mersey Partnership, Robert Crawford, said: "This research is all about the perceptions of business, and that's why the results are so encouraging.

Inside Merseyside, we know that the city region is undergoing an amazing transformation, but if we're serious about attracting major investors from outside the area, it's vital to convince them of the opportunities.

"Looking ahead, there is still room for improvement when it comes to skills training, accessibility and transport infrastructure.

"However, the Mersey Partnership is committed to a lobbying programme which includes a second Mersey Crossing and radical rail improvements between Liverpool and cities such as Manchester and London."

Roy Morris, chairman of the Mersey Partnership, added: "Messages about Merseyside's competitive advantage are getting through to high-level decision-makers across the UK's business community.

"It's now vital we maintain this momentum and push the city region even higher up the Image League."

sophiefreeman@dailypost.co.uk

And without a TV station in sight ..... :runaway:

Pietari

February 11th, 2006, 04:45 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16688566%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=planners%2dput%2don%2d2008%2dalert-name_page.html

Planners put on 2008 alert Feb 10 2006

By Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL planners should lighten up or the city risks its Capital of Culture thunder being stolen by rivals like Manchester.

That's the view of property expert Martin Jackson, head of Water Street-based agents Knight Frank.

He said mixed messages about development schemes like the proposed Brunswick tower, Central station and Lime Street towers are confusing investors and developers.

"It is confusing for a city starting a period of UK-beating economic growth. I can understand a desire to maintain the quality of the city's buildings and a reluctance to see large empty buildings, but that should not prevent schemes which are well-founded and supported by occupiers and operators from moving forward and creating the regeneration the city aspires to."

He warned: "The World Heritage status of the city is in danger of becoming a poisoned chalice.

"We applaud the desire to maintain and enhance the historic architecture, but it must not be at the expense of modern architecture.

"Liverpool has created bold architecture in the past, but the past is not where the city should dwell as the future is even more promising."

He also warned that, because of the development pipeline delay - it takes 18 to 24 months from the start of a scheme to building and delivery - this year will be crucial if the city is to take full advantage of its 2008 Capital of Culture status and positive sentiment towards investment.

If development was limited this year, it could allow competing cities Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham to take centre stage as a focus for investment and development.

He said: "Liverpool's potential should not falter because of a lack of direction and confidence."

neilhodgson@liverpoolecho.co.uk

westisbest

February 11th, 2006, 08:50 AM

on beetham 1?
Sorry in wrong thread

Pietari

February 13th, 2006, 06:24 AM

http://www.theperfectsquare.co.uk/capital.htm

About Liverpool.....

Liverpool is enjoying a sustained investment boom that has made it England’s fastest growing city outside London.

More than £3bn of investment is currently under way in and around the city centre, leading to unprecedented demand for city centre residential accommodation as Liverpool’s population grows.

Liverpool : strong fundamentals

Liverpool’s city centre is growing year on year
City centre population growth of 10% a year
More than 50,000 jobs created in the last five years
House price growth of 22% in the year to April 2005 (source: Halifax)

Rental yields healthy

New retail district, convention centre and arena, cruise liner terminal and airport expansion

The state of the art,
£800m Grosvenor shopping complex

A further 8 new hotels by 2008 in time for European Capital of Culture year

Fitzroy

February 13th, 2006, 10:25 AM

I'm not sure how much of this is 'spin' put out by the St Paul's Square development team. It's good to hear though, and a welcome counter-balance to the voices on this forum who, whenever planning decisions do not go the way they want them to go, portray the city as though it's some kind of basket case constantly flailing behind Manchester.

Awayo

February 13th, 2006, 10:43 AM

There is a news article in this week's Estates Gazette stating that last year was a record one for office space take up for the Liverpool market, that rents are also at record levels for the city and that much of the take up of office space has been from private customers, in contrast to the situation in the 90s when whatever office space was taken was usually from the public sector.

Fitzroy

February 13th, 2006, 11:32 AM

By Sophie Freeman, Daily Post

RENSBURG Sheppards, one of Liverpool's leading investment management firms, is creating 70 new jobs at its Old Hall Street office. The decision follows the merger of Rensburg Investment Management and Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite at the end of 2005 and sees the transfer of the central administration function from the London office to Liverpool.

David Owen, senior investment director at Rensburg Sheppards, said: "We have been established in Liverpool since 1873 and have a very strong base here in the city. Creating one central administration function was one of the final parts of our integration plan following the merger and we are especially pleased that this brings such opportunity to Liverpool."

The jobs will include a variety of skill levels, from basic administration support to senior level roles with responsibility for processing key client and fund documentation. A small number of the London team have decided to relocate. The administration team will serve all of Rensburg Sheppards' 11 UK offices and brings the Liverpool staff count to almost 200. All posts will be filled by May.

The Financial Services Authority gave its approval for the takeover of Rensburg by Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite last May. The decision followed the previous month's shareholder approval for the £188m deal for Carr Sheppards, owned by South African-based financial firm Investec. The acquisition created the seventh largest private wealth fund management firm in the UK.

Last year, Liverpool investment firm Rathbone failed in its battle to take over Rensburg. In January, Rathbone paid £14m for private bank Ely and said more acquisitions could be on the way. Rensburg reported in November that its interim pre-tax profits for the 10 months to September 30 had more than doubled. Pre-tax profits for the period were £15.1m - up from £7.2m a year earlier. Chief executive Mike Burns said integration of the two businesses was proceeding smoothly.

(My emphasis)

Fitzroy

February 13th, 2006, 11:57 AM

Nick Fletcher
Monday February 13, 2006
The Guardian

The gaming group Gala is paying £14.5m for the Leo Casino in Liverpool, taking its total number of British casinos to 31.
Gala is buying the business, which opened in 2002 and is near the Albert Dock, from Amaury Taittinger, who also owns the Dolby hotel in the city.

Neil Goulden, Gala's chief executive, said: "Casinos like Leo rarely become available. We are well placed to develop the business by adding operational, management, marketing and promotional skills to an already successful operation." Gala has more than 1.2 million members. Its casino division employs about 3,000 people.

maggie

February 18th, 2006, 04:15 PM

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/471bc0c9-1901-471f-88fc-27cc2a975aaf.jpg http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/80d9ffa3-beed-464b-8e07-66df40702141.jpg http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/222f1ec7-76e7-4ebe-868a-eecd42fa3a14.jpg The Foundation offices are sited to the east of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral adjacent to the nexus of Liverpool University where the pedestrian precinct intersects Brownlow Hill, immediately opposite the Victoria Building.

This articulated and prestigious corner building responds to the mass of the Victoria Building and addresses the landscaped piazza to the foreground of the University of Liverpool Student Union. The volume and placement of this building was determined by the desire to create an elongated landscaped courtyard which opened up views of the Lutyens Crypt frontage. Additionally the design provides an ante space route to the Crypt entrance, and a setting for the existing Chaplaincy building. The design is of appropriate scale, articulated to resolve the corner junction, of ‘modernist’ design, and composed of limestone and zinc to complement the Cathedral design palette.

maggie

February 18th, 2006, 04:16 PM

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/da2f177f-03cc-4b90-93c8-e2a93c99a83f.jpg The existing boarding facilities for the Isle of Man and Dublin Seacat are housed within a series of linked prefabricated cabins which offer very little to the Liverpool Pier head. This proposal envisages a high quality contemporary structure which, whilst lightweight and moveable, will provide an appropriate facility for vistas leaving and arriving in the city via the Seacat.

maggie

February 18th, 2006, 04:22 PM

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/4f3c1219-31ec-4aa4-bec9-6e690616ffd3.jpg http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/0e10f7fd-d657-4aee-9d38-0bd03175295c.jpg http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/b5333fb0-17e7-4e8a-a17d-2a935ff41d65.jpg A striking design, this proposal for a new City Hall for Liverpool City Council embodies and represents transparent government.

Innovative design features include a response to environmental design by using passive ventilation.

Paul D

February 18th, 2006, 04:26 PM

Thanks for all of this Maggie you have been busy. :)

JUXTAPOL

February 18th, 2006, 05:45 PM

This looks like a good development, but isn't this the development the council later said they now had no need for.

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/4f3c1219-31ec-4aa4-bec9-6e690616ffd3.jpg

Not unless it's back on again...!

Hadn't noticed Falconer Chester had updated their website, some good renders in there

Falconer Cherster (http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/content/home.aspx). Cheer's Maggie :cheers:

The rear of Elysian fields
http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/60beb0f1-2626-4dd9-9cfc-5534569a75a2.jpg

Paul D

February 18th, 2006, 06:05 PM

This looks like a good development, but isn't this the development the council later said they now had no need for

I hope it gets built it's a nice building isn't it,does anyone know any more about this,whether or not it's still on the agenda? :?

maggie

February 22nd, 2006, 11:00 PM

Site at Prussia Street, Liverpool 3 (Central Ward) PDF 104 K

To consider a recommendation that Application No 06F/0009 to erect 8 storey office building with retail/leisure use at ground floor level, on site at Prussia Street, Liverpool 3, be granted subject to the conditions proposed by the Planning Manager.

Additional documents:

Appendix PDF 48 K
06F0009 site at Prussia St PDF 57 K

bustcapl

February 22nd, 2006, 11:14 PM

where is prussia st...? i am begining to detect a real change in tact now with investors increasingly looking at the office market!

Great news!

Kevin

February 23rd, 2006, 07:45 AM

According to google; Pussia Street is just behind St Pauls Square.

Prussia Street (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Prussia+Street,+Liverpool,+Merseyside,+L3&ll=53.410146,-2.993281&spn=0.005832,0.021629)

bustcapl

February 23rd, 2006, 11:29 AM

is this the one that we seen earlier ... the pictures on st pauls thread ... think it may be!

Pietari

February 23rd, 2006, 10:12 PM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Liverpool City Region climbs UK Image League

Liverpool City Region has secured third place in an Image League of UK cities, according to new research conducted on behalf of The Mersey Partnership.
Independent researchers carried out the Image Tracking Research among 150 companies, including 100 large corporates (firms employing more than 200 people) and 50 intermediaries (such as investor brokers, property specialists and financial houses) from across the UK. The survey tracked the perceptions of Liverpool in comparison to six other major cities: Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.
Crucially, the Liverpool City Region has moved up from fourth to third as an overall investment location - arguably the most important of the indicators used to gauge companies’ perceptions of the different cities.

The survey also found that the Liverpool City Region is ranked:

First for Availability of sites and premises

Second as a Location for competitive operating costs

Second for Access to funding and financial incentives

Third on Future potential for growth

Fourth for Accessibility & transport infrastructure

Chief Executive of The Mersey Partnership, Robert Crawford, said; “This research is all about the perceptions of business, and that’s why the results are so encouraging. Inside Merseyside we know that the City Region is undergoing an amazing transformation, but if we’re serious about attracting major investors from outside the area, it’s vital to convince them of the opportunities.

“Looking ahead, there is still room for improvement when it comes to skills training, accessibility and transport infrastructure. However, The Mersey Partnership is committed to a lobbying programme which includes a second Mersey Crossing and radical rail improvements between Liverpool and cities such as Manchester and London.”

Roy Morris, Chair of The Mersey Partnership, added; “It’s clear we’re making real progress in improving the image of the Liverpool City Region nationally, and the messages about Merseyside’s competitive advantage are getting through to high-level decision-makers across the UK’s business community. It’s now vital we maintain this momentum and push the City Region even higher up the Image League.”

The Mersey Partnership commissioned TNS Direct Services to carry out the 2005 Image Tracking Research. Interviews took place by telephone using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing).

Pietari

February 24th, 2006, 01:36 AM

http://www.merseydocks.co.uk/index2.htm

7 February, 2006

Second New Atlantic Container Service Strengthens Liverpool-Shanghai Ties
Liverpool is to be the UK port of call for a new trans-Atlantic container service to be launched by China Shipping Container Lines and CMA CGM, two of the world's top container shipping operators.

etc ......

31 January, 2006

Liverpool Strengthens North Atlantic Container Trade Lead
The Port of Liverpool's position as the UK's major gateway for container trade with North America will receive a further boost with the launch of a new weekly service to Canada.

The world's second largest container shipping line, Mediterranean Shipping Company, will introduce a Monday sailing from the Seaforth Container Terminal to the Racine Terminal in Montreal in co-operation with global container leader, Maersk Line.

etc .....

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/sector/ports.asp

With a maritime history dating back almost 300 years, Liverpool and the surrounding region of Merseyside is home to a thriving maritime community. In fact, there are more than 500 companies based in the area involved in the maritime industry, including ship-owners, freight and forwarding agents, ship agents, shipbuilders, law firms, insurance companies, cargo handlers, communication providers, engineers and manufacturers. Between them they have a combined turnover of £1.3 billion and employ more than 6,000 people. In fact, the top 50 companies alone represent sales of £906m.

etc .....

Pietari

February 28th, 2006, 06:12 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16756058%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=there%2ds%2dstill%2da%2dlot%2dto%2ddo-name_page.html

There's still a lot to do Feb 28 2006

By Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

MERSEYSIDE'S economy continues to improve - but the latest figures reveal the gulf between the region and the rest of the UK.

The 2006 Merseyside Economic Review will be launched by regeneration agency The Mersey Partner-ship tomorrow.

It will show that the region's over-all wealth, including businesses and residents, grew by 5.9% compared with 5.6% for the UK and 5.4% in the north west.

Merseyside's employment rate has also risen by 4.5 percentage points over five years to 68.1%, delivering 49,000 jobs.

And there were 26,070 VATregistered firms in 2004, up 0.8% since 2003 - and 12.2% since 1997 - compared with 0.1% in the UK and 0.4% in the north west.

But despite the encouraging progress, the region still has to close the gap on other regions caused by years of decline.

The average economic wealth per head in Merseyside is still only 73%, despite almost 12 years of Objective 1 funding which aimed to bring it in line with the European average of 75%.

Merseyside's economic growth still lags behind Tyneside and Sheffield; self-employment rates trail the UK and north west; and only Tyne and Wear fared worse than Merseyside for the number of businesses the region supports.

Partnership chief executive Robert Crawford said: "Merseyside is moving forward - but so too are our competitor regions. We must accelerate the growth of local businesses in Merseyside."

neilhodgson@liverpoolecho.co.uk

Pietari

February 28th, 2006, 06:35 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16756044%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=residents%2dforce%2dinquiry%2dinto%2d%2dpound%2d80m%2dship%2dterminal-name_page.html

Residents force inquiry into £80m ship terminal Feb 28 2006

By Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

MASS protests from residents could stop an £80m shipping terminal being built.

Families have forced a public inquiry into the scheme which will be held in about two months.

Thousands of people in Seaforth, close to where the £80m quayside would be built, have objected.

A government inspector will hear the arguments for and against the development, which would let Sea-forth dock handle giant container ships.

If he sides with the objectors, the scheme might have to be shelved for the near future.

Mersey Docks and Harbour Company wants to open up the dock to bigger ships, potentially bringing millions of pounds into Merseyside's economy.

But some residents fear it will lead to an increase in traffic, pollution and environmental problems.

One Seaforth resident said: "This expansion would double the size of ships using the dock.

"Containers will have to go onto HGVs, which will have a massive effect on traffic and the environment.

"Already people cannot put their washing out or open their windows because of diesel fumes."

Sefton council originally objected to the scheme on grounds of traffic and environmental impact.

A recent survey showed as many as 77 extra HGVs an hour would go to and from the dock if it expanded.

But the council is now happy with the plan.

MDHC has also offered to reopen the Radar Tower, near Crosby marina, so people can visit its observation deck.

A spokesman said: "A new terminal will safeguard the port of Liverpool's trade and attract business, which means more work and wealth for the region.

"A potentially high number of ships would unload straight into another ship rather than onto the roads."

nick.coligan@liverpool.com 0151 472 2488

Political Reporter Nick Coligan says...

THE dock expansion is a typical example of the tricky balancing act faced by big business these days.

It would bring millions of pounds into the local economy - but that is little consolation if you live a few hundred yards away.

Residents have told the ECHO how they cannot even hang their washing out because of the dirty fumes pumped out by traffic going to and from the dock.

MDHC will have to prove that the benefits of a bigger, more modern dock outweigh day-to-day problems experienced by its neighbours.

:bash:

(Maybe if the MDHC build a few free launderettes ..... or am I being unsympathetic?

After all what is the bigger problem - 60,000 dockers jobs down to less than 600 or hanging out your knickers?)

General Zod

February 28th, 2006, 07:19 PM

I live down by Seaforth Docks and there are trucks coming and going constantly all day and night. It was anoying at first but it is like living by a railway track - you get used to the noise. I don't know how an increase would impact though.

I don't begrudge the owners expanding the place to make the business better. Let's face it though, we didn't expect it to benefit the residents. No-one has knocked on my door offering me a good salary operating container cranes. In fact, no-one has knocked or posted leaflets for or against the scheme. It will generally only benefit the owners and a few lucky job hunters.

Seaforth does have a lingering polution smell to it. It's not as bad as around the Bootle/Kirkdale area though. There is a molasses processing plant.thereabouts. Sulphur is used in the process which gives it that eggy pong. On a bad day it waffs down to Seaforth. Those people who claim their underwear is ruined by these smells are probably liars and just have bad diets resulting in ploppy pants. I have a washer/dryer which eliminates the problem of air-borne smells if I had of dried them on the line. It does however bake in skids if left on too long and hot.

Pietari

February 28th, 2006, 07:27 PM

Well as you put it like that - I suppose there always is an alternative view.

I`m just trying not to think about it.

:) :runaway:

PS: I used to work on Great Howard Street and the smell from the (now demolished) Bibby Oils building near King Eddies pub used to be horrendous on a hot day and even used to seep down into `Moorfileds` underground - so I have some sympathies .....

PPS: Have you tried using a cooler biological powder?

General Zod

February 28th, 2006, 07:56 PM

You are right on the washing powder front. Perhaps MSHC should pop washing powder recomendation leaflets through the doors of Seaforth residents and all will be rosey!

I remember bibby's too. Stinky stuff indeed!

richie1878

February 28th, 2006, 11:39 PM

Those people who claim their underwear is ruined by these smells are probably liars and just have bad diets resulting in ploppy pants. I have a washer/dryer which eliminates the problem of air-borne smells if I had of dried them on the line. It does however bake in skids if left on too long and hot.[/QUOTE]

One of the funniest lines I have read in a long time, thank you Zod. :cheers:

It's a fuckin Seaport for fuck's sake, :bash: It's not like this new addition is something unseen before.

One thing I will say though is, Peel should get the proposed Seaforth relief road moving again. God knows what happened to this suggestion from a few years back?

Delboy

March 1st, 2006, 11:09 AM

Please remind me why Liverpool grew in the first place? Surely it's because of the the port and it's shipping industry. You would think people would attempt to save and build up it's primary industry and not stop it!

Tony Sebo

March 1st, 2006, 12:02 PM

that was an extremely funny line!

It is also sad that a few dozen folk can possibly undermine the future wellbeing of the whole metropolis!

Fitzroy

March 1st, 2006, 07:55 PM

Maybe Peel can buy them off with free washer-dryers and free installation?! Maybe there's still a residue of anger in that part of town towards anything to do with the docks as a result of what occurred before and during the last Liverpool dockers' strike?

Pietari

March 2nd, 2006, 12:46 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16762885%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=towering%2dattraction%2dof%2dradar%2droom%2dwith%2da%2dview-name_page.html

Towering attraction of radar room with a view Mar 2 2006

A redundant landmark could be the key to an £80m development. Graham Davies reports .....

FROM the outside it is nothing more than a dull example of 1960s architecture, an amalgam of corrugated iron and grey bricks set alongside wind turbines and rusting piles of scrap metal.

But inside, the Seaforth Radar Tower offers possibly the most spectacular panorama on Merseyside.

A glance across Liverpool Bay takes in the Royal Liver Building and both cathedrals, while a few turns of the neck bring into view Wallasey and New Brighton, snow-capped Welsh mountains and even Blackpool Tower.

Now this dormant tourist attraction could open its doors to the public for the first time in its 40-year history.

Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC), which owns the 98ft (30m) tower, is in talks to lease it to Sefton Council and make it the centrepiece of a major dockside regeneration.

Visitors would be able to climb to the top of the tower, which would be fitted with radar screens so they could keep track of vessels they spotted in the shipping channels.

MDHC would also build a public footpath connecting the tower to Crosby beach, currently home to Antony Gormley's Another Place sculptures.

The proposals were made last month to encourage Sefton to withdraw its objection to the company's application for an £80m container terminal at Seaforth.

Now MDHC has the council's support, the changes will go ahead if the company wins its bid to build the terminal at a public inquiry next month.

"The Gormley statues and the public's response indicate how interested people are in the river front," said Eric Leatherbarrow, MDHC's head of corporate affairs.

"I think we have always recognised that, but it has always been a matter of what opportunities there are to enhance these facilities. This is one of those opportunities.

"With the business we would be attracting with the new container terminal, there will be more shipping coming into the river than there used to be, and more for people to see, as well as the panoramic views.

"People would also be able to stroll along the river front using the new footpath after taking in the views from the tower."

Built in the late 1960s to monitor vessels using the Mersey shipping channels, the tower was manned 24 hours a day.

But as technology developed in the 1970s and 1980s, staff moved to the Port of Liverpool building then Seaforth's Maritime Centre, where information from the tower is fed through a cable.

For the past 25 years, the building's only visitors have been workers who enter it twice a week to make routine checks on the equipment.

The area around the tower would be cleared and resurfaced for the footpath and the building refurbished to include the removal of asbestos.

Tim Bownes, MDHC's chief engineer, said: "Once the observation deck is sorted out, we will be happy to provide a radar screen in there.

"People will be able to see which ships are coming in and then check their details on the screen. Hopefully, we will be able to make it a more interactive experience." The new terminal would be capable of accommodating simultaneously two of the new generation of large container ships, known as post-Panamax vessels because they are too big to use the Panama canal.

Currently, the largest vessels using the port carry 4,000 containers. The post-Panamax vessels can hold 8,000 units. A public inquiry will start next month.

graham.davies@liverpool.com

Pietari

March 2nd, 2006, 12:51 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=16762879%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=ship%2drepair%2dwork%2dto%2dreturn%2dto%2dcammell%2dlaird%2dyard-name_page.html

Ship repair work to return to Cammell Laird yard Mar 2 2006

By Bill Gleeson, Daily Post

LONG-TERM ship repair and conversion work will return to the former Cammell Laird shipyard.

The resumption of marine engineering work at the famous Birkenhead yard follows an agreement being struck between Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders and site owner Reddington Finance.

The two sides have been in dispute since last summer when Reddington terminated a lease on dry docks at Cammell Laird that had been operated by A&P Birkenhead.

But when A&P Birkenhead was acquired last year by Northwestern, Reddington moved to exercise a break clause in the lease.

At the time Reddington said it did accept that Northwestern was a reliable tenant.

Northwestern now gets a 15-year lease on dry docks on the northern side of the former Laird's yard. Reddington says it intends to develop the rest of the land for residential and leisure use that could see up to 4,500 homes built there.

Northwestern owner John Syvret has been trying to return the yard ever since Cammell Laird was shut in 2001. At the time Mr Syvret was managing director of the yard.

Yesterday Mr Syvret said: "It has taken five long years to get back into the yard with many hurdles to overcome along the way.

"But the last five years has seen us retain the reputation of Merseyside as a centre of excellence of ship repair, refit and conversion work of both commercial and military vessels."

Mr Syvret lost out to A&P Group when the yard was sold five years ago by its receiver. Since then, he has been running his shipyard business from dry docks owned by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company on both sides of the River Mersey.

But now the two sides in the dispute appear to have buried their differences.

Reddington site director Mike Ryder said: "We are delighted to have completed the deal with Northwestern to facilitate the long term future of the maritime industries on the site.

"We look forward to the integration of the shiprepair industry into our overall development plans."

Northwestern has always insisted it needed the better quality dry docks at Cammell Laird to grow the business locally.

billgleeson@dailypost.co.uk

Fitzroy

March 6th, 2006, 02:39 PM

City-based ad agency clinches Culture deal
By Bill Gleeson
Daily Post

ADVERTISING agency Finch has won a major contract to publicise the city's Capital of Culture year nationally.The Liverpool-based agency beat competition from Manchester and London-based rivals to clinch the deal.
The appointment of Finch follows months of indecision after the Liverpool Culture Company failed to make an appointment after an initial round of pitches last summer.

The campaign follows extensive independent research conducted throughout the UK that highlighted that, although the perception of Liverpool was improving, most people knew very little about the city and the breadth of its cultural offering. The campaign focuses on a series of themes ranging in subjects from Liverpool's world-heritage waterfront to some of the city's more hidden treasures.

The adverts will appear in outdoor positions in the South East and North West of England including busy London underground stations and TV sponsorship.

The campaign starts in May. Kris Donaldson, marketing director of the Liverpool Culture Company, said: "This is a really important step towards building momentum towards 2008. Finch's creative thinking was refreshing and demonstrated a clear understanding of what makes Liverpool unique in the people and the place."

Cllr Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool City Council, said: "I'm delighted that a Liverpool-based company has won this contract. Finch are a shining example of the city's burgeoning creative talent and I look forward to people around the country having their heads turned and their minds turned on to what is happening in Liverpool.''

Tim Crutchley, joint managing director of Finch, said: "It comes with a lot of prestige, but more importantly a responsibility to deliver a first-class campaign. Being based in Liverpool encouraged us to go the extra mile whilst understanding the key issues."

The national campaign will be backed by an extensive local campaign throughout Merseyside detailing how Capital of Culture will benefit the region now and in the future. An extra 1.7m visitors are predicted to visit Liverpool in 2008, spending £200m.

maggie

March 8th, 2006, 02:21 PM

Merseyside councils 'must work together' Mar 8 2006

By Robert Merrick, Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE will only match the economic miracle of Manchester when its local authorities co-operate rather than compete, the author of a key report to the Government claimed yesterday.

The "State of the English Cities" study hailed the renaissance of places such as Liverpool, which had closed the gap with London since the late-1990s.

But the report also highlighted how Manchester was soaring ahead of its North West rival in wealth created, employment growth and its success in developing "economic niches".

While most urban areas in the North still lagged behind their counterparts in the South, Manchester was among a select group "leading the national economy", it concluded.

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Its gross value added (GVA) per head had risen by 58% since 1995, compared with the 47% achieved by the Liverpool "primary urban area", which includes Knowsley and St Helens.

Professor Michael Parkinson of Liverpool John Moores University, who carried out the study, stressed the value of dynamic local leadership and co-operation between local partners.

Speaking to the Daily Post at Westminster, the professor said: "Ten years ago, Manchester bullied the other authorities in the metropolitan area, but that has changed now.

"They understand that it is all about doing deals - I'll give you this if you will give me that - rather than the authorities being in competition with each other.

"It is something the authorities in Merseyside need to copy if they are to prevent themselves lagging behind Manchester.

"In Germany, they call it the 'chapel steeple approach', everything that can be seen from the steeple on top of the chapel is your patch."

The 267-page report focused on the 56 English urban areas with populations above 150,000, which include Birkenhead, taking in Wirral, Ellesmere Port and Neston and Warrington.

It highlighted how Liverpool, along with London, had suffered the biggest loss of manufacturing jobs since 1991, but was now a "high-flier" in financial services. Unlike the capital, the outer areas of Liverpool had outperformed the centre since 1997 and it still had "by far the highest level of deprivation" of any of the 56 areas.

Almost half of the neighbourhoods in Liverpool are in the poorest 10% in the country, double the proportion in Birmingham and Manchester.

Liverpool also had the dubious distinction of claiming the highest proportion of jobless citizens and was fourth worst for educational performance of children.

Although Liverpool is only four places behind Manchester in the European league table for gross domestic product (GDP) per head, its figure is just £16,466, compared to its rival's £22,099.

The study will feed in to government moves to devolve powers to the big cities, possibly to be overseen by elected mayors for "city regions".

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A report last month by a political think-tank concluded Liverpool was not ready for greater tax-raising

powers because political infighting had sapped business trust in the city council.

'They already do'

THE claim that Mersey authorities were not co-operating closely enough was instantly rejected by the body charged with winning vital investment to the area.

Robert Crawford, chief executive of The Mersey Partnership, insisted he was hugely impressed by the joint working of local authority leaders since taking up the post in September.

And he suggested the reason why Merseyside still lagged behind Manchester economically was simply that it had "a longer road to travel".

The Daily Post reported last month the attack by St Helens council leader Marie Rimmer on her Liverpool neighbours for failing the Merseyside region.

The Labour leader accused the city of a lack of leadership and delivery because of its "two egos" - former council leader Mike Storey and departing chief executive Sir David Henshaw.

But Mr Crawford said: "The professor is entitled to his view but I have been incredibly encouraged by the support and co-operation I have encountered.

"If you consider where Liverpool and Manchester have come from in less than a generation, Liverpool has to travel a longer road and has done quite brilliantly."

Fogarty welcomes report's findings

LIAM FOGARTY, chairman of amayorforliverpool.org, the campaign trying to trigger a referendum on an elected mayor for the city, welcomed the findings of the report.

Mr Fogerty said: "The case for real reform and real leadership for Liverpool is growing stronger day by day.

"Take a trip to Barcelona, or Madrid, or Cologne and see how far behind those places we are.

"Those cities and many like them have visible, accountable leaders who have a vision for their city and the powers to see that vision through. Our system of local decision-making is a muddle of quangoes, part-time politicians and unelected officials. No wonder Liverpool gets left in the slow lane."

maggie

March 8th, 2006, 03:19 PM

just a few pics of this brilliant (completed) development
http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/2de652b4-3926-47b9-8bcf-277344547f0f.jpg
http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/912230ea-0ced-4961-a24f-bba569db9e92.jpg
Falconer Chester have been engaged in the redevelopment of Temple Square Liverpool for over 10 years. The final piece of the development provides a 4 storey commercial office which will house a studio for the practice in a flexible open contemporary space. The upper level mezzanine links to the new external square via a projecting terrace above and meetings rooms below.

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/9fbe3d6b-2199-48a6-846a-171a6775fb41.jpg
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Falconer Chester Architects are responsible for the design of a new speculative office development in Liverpool City Centre.

The new structure provides 40,000 square foot of open plan space over 7 floors linked to a new underground car park.

The palette of construction materials picks up on adjacent buildings by utilising ashlar limestone on a granite plinth combined with steel and glass walling.

This development forms the second phase of the Temple Square master plan.

http://www.falconerchester.co.uk/Resources/Images/d33984a2-c4aa-41d5-929f-3abe15ce046b.jpg
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Temple Square occupies a central position within the Dale Street Conservation Area of Liverpool City Centre. The former Regency and Sovereign Chambers have been converted and extended to provide 51 no. new apartments facing a new landscaped square. Whilst the facades of both buildings have been restored to match their original appearance the apartment interiors now provide open plan spaces.

Tony Sebo

March 8th, 2006, 03:26 PM

Funny enough I was there on Monday morning. I am afraid that the finished landscaping is not as exciting as that in the renders below.... very domestic really. The centrepiece is a sundial which is a cool idea, but I am sure that they bought it rom the marshalls paving catalogue!

I did not have my camera to get a pic, though I did put a piece on the downtown site about it.

Fitzroy

March 10th, 2006, 09:21 AM

By Neil Hodgson,
Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL insurance giant Royal & SunAlliance beat market forecasts today to unveil an annual surplus of £698m, a 171% rise on £258m in 2004. The group, which includes general insurer More Th>n, beat market expectations by more than £50m in a year that eclipsed the previous performance, which was dragged down by underwriting losses in America. The company said it had taken further steps to derisk the business in the US. R&SA said profits from underwriting motor and household insurance rose 70% on a year earlier to £39m. The figure benefited from efficiency efforts and the increased use of the internet as the division's combined operating ratio (COR) - the amount of money spent paying out on claims and in costs for every £1 of premiums taken in - improved by 1.7 percentage points to 95.6%.

Chief executive Andy Haste said R&SA's core group delivered an underwriting result of £263m to December 31, up 42% on 2004 and a COR of 94.1%. "As we see it today, we would expect the core group to deliver a COR of around 95% in 2006." He said the improvement was helped by an operational shake-up: "We have reorganised claims handling, rolled out a new claims platform and launched a new supply chain management system which improves our control and reduces overheads. "We are market leaders in this area and have won contracts with Lloyds TSB and Co-operative Insurance to use our supply chain infrastructure." However, he warned of further turbulence in the US division - which took a hit on the 2001 twin towers terrorist attacks and is involved in costly asbestosis litigation - in a bid to reduce its exposure to risk. The improved results were achieved despite absorbing the impact of weather events, including floods in the UK and India, storms in Scandinavia and Canada and hurricanes in the Americas.

Fitzroy

March 10th, 2006, 09:26 AM

By Sophie Freeman
Daily Post

WEALTH management firm Rathbone Brothers had a record year in 2005 with pre-tax profits soaring 23.9% to £35.3m. Assets under management at the Liverpool-based company, which handles the wealth of private clients and trustees, now stand at £10bn, and profits from Rathbone Unit Trust Management grew by a massive 182.4% in 2005. The assets were boosted in January when Rathbone bought the British private banking business of French-Belgian financial group Dexia, bringing in assets of around £850m. Like many of its peers, Rathbone's fortunes have waxed as stock markets have improved, boosting investment confidence and inflows to fund businesses.

Chairman Mark Powell said: "Particularly noteworthy is the achievement of Rathbone Unit Trust Management where funds under management over the year increased by 46.5% to £1.2bn. "This growth in funds under management has continued since the year end with total funds under management as at March 2 2006 standing at £10bn. These are record results for Rathbones. We are busy and face the future in all three of our activities with enthusiasm and confidence." He added: "The FTSE 100 has now risen by over 75% since its low point in 2003 and during 2005 there was clear evidence of increased volatility in equity markets. Yields on government stocks have fallen, a trend which has been exacerbated by the desire of pension funds to match liabilities with their investment assets. These market conditions underline the value to private investors, in particular, of an investment management service which embraces carefully considered and balanced investment processes." He said Rathbones welcomed the Government's clarification of the asset classes that will be able to be held in self-invested personal pension plans (SIPPs). "Rathbones has been a SIPP provider since 1993 and we already manage £300m of SIPP funds for clients," he added "During 2005, we have been preparing for the implementation of the new pensions simplification regulation and regard the management of SIPP accounts as an area of particular growth potential for us."

Fitzroy

March 10th, 2006, 09:35 AM

Cosima Marriner
The Guardian

Never let it be said that Metro boss Steve Auckland isn't devoted to the free newspaper cause. The diehard Leeds United fan spent his 51st birthday on Merseyside this week, handing out copies of Metro's new Liverpool edition. Auckland did make it back to London late in the day but there was still no time for birthday celebrations - an evening business meeting beckoned. He did receive many birthday wishes throughout the day, including a call from Johnston Press boss Tim Bowdler.

maggie

March 13th, 2006, 02:45 PM

Chiron gears up for bird flu fight Mar 11 2006

By Tony Mcdonough, Daily Post

CHIRON'S Liverpool vaccine factory is gearing up to produce vaccine round the clock in the event of a UK bird flu pandemic, it was revealed last night.

A senior company executive warned that such an outbreak could last 18 months or more, putting millions of people at risk.

Dan Soland, US-based president of Chiron's vaccines division, said on a visit to the Speke plant yesterday that it would switch to "24/7" production if the deadly H5N1 strain were to mutate into a human form.

Liverpool's role in combating that would be "critical", he added.

Yesterday, it was confirmed bird flu had claimed what is believed to be its 98th human victim, a 12-year-old girl in Indonesia. She had been in direct contact with infected poultry.

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The virus is now known to have killed birds in more than 30 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa.

Cases have been confirmed in France and experts believe it is only a matter of time before it turns up in the UK.

Governments are on high alert in case the virus mutates into a form transmissible between humans, potentially killing millions of people around the world.

Both the UK and US governments have signed contracts with Chiron to supply a vaccine that it is hoped would offer some protection for people against the virus.

However, a specific vaccine against a human strain of the disease could not be produced until such a strain appears.

The Speke plant employs around 700 people making conventional flu vaccines and the H5N1 vaccines. The facilities and expertise at the site mean it is right on the front line in the fight to conquer bird flu.

Mr Soland said: "There is a belief that it is not a matter of if, but when, the virus mutates. If a pandemic were to occur the ability of this plant to produce vaccines will be critical.

"Any pandemic could last just a few months or it could last 18 months or more, and could even go through further mutations."

The factory has only just recovered from a contamination crisis which led to having its licence to produce vaccines temporarily withdrawn in October 2004.

A shipment of around 40m vaccines made in Speke and bound for the US had to be scrapped, costing the company £150m in lost revenues.

The licence was restored last year following remediation efforts but was only able to produce around 14m vaccines for the current flu season.

For the 2006/07 flu season Chiron aims to get that back up to 40m.

Mr Soland added: "We are very proud of the efforts made by the employees here during the past year and the wider community in Liverpool should be proud of the work that is being carried out here."

Avain flu has spread to 14 countries in the past month.

tonymcdonough@dailypost.co.uk

sounds like some much needed business is headed our way. should be brilliant in sustaining jobs at the plant

Fitzroy

March 17th, 2006, 05:35 PM

500 jobs
Mike Hornby
Liverpool Echo

FIVE hundred jobs will be created at a new £15m business park in Liverpool. Liverpool Land Development Company today revealed it had raised the money to build the 12-acre Wellington Employment Park in Kirkdale. The funds were released by the Northwest Devlopment Agency after vital meetings yesterday. Regeneration officials said today's good news means that work can start in August, and the park will be open for business by the end of 2007.

The scheme will create 164,000 sq ft of office and light industrial business space on three sites around Derby Road near Sandhills Railway station. Ian Hassall, development director at LLDC, said: "Wellington Employment Park is a key part of our plans for the regeneration of north Liverpool and it will help us to attract much-needed investment and jobs to this part of the city." A £1.8m package of highway, infrastructure and landscaping works has recently been completed along Derby Road to improve the area's attractiveness to potential firms. Stephen Barnes, senior development manager for Langtree Group, which was today appointed to build the park, said: "Wellington Employment Park will provide a range of offices and workspace for small businesses. The scheme has been designed to provide quality, functionality and affordability and the development will provide a huge boost to the economic fortunes of north Liverpool and Bootle."

The accommodation at Wellington Employment Park will provide a range of units ranging in size from 1,000 sq ft for the smallest office up to 12,600 sq ft for the largest industrial unit. Officials will now start marketing the scheme to potential tenants.

Fitzroy

March 22nd, 2006, 11:14 AM

Mar 22 2006
Deborah James

Daily Post

LIVERPOOL is to become one of the first in the UK to offer blanket "wi-fi" wireless internet access across its entire city centre, the Daily Post can reveal. Business and tourism leaders last night welcomed the move, which will allow people to hook up to the world wide web through laptops and palm computers from anywhere in the city. Communications groups Cloud and BT will provide the service through a series of transmitters fitted in businesses, venues, cafes, shops, and on 'street furniture' like lampposts.

The system, to be installed in nine areas across the country, will join up interspersed coverage which is currently on offer in some businesses, including Starbucks cafes. Steve Pearse, spokesman for Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, said it would propel Liverpool onto the world stage as a forward thinking city. He said it would change the culture of the way business was conducted in the city by allowing more people to communicate on the move and provide a huge boost to tourism by giving Liverpool the edge over other cities.

He said: "In truth this has to happen to ensure that the city is perceived as a technologically advanced place, and to enable it to take its rightful place on the world stage as being accessible to external visitors. If we didn't have this system and Manchester did, then possibly people would be more inclined to stay in Manchester, because they would know they would be able to keep in touch with colleagues and do everything they want on the net while they are there."

The network, set to go live in May, is also being set up in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge and the London boroughs of Kensington, Chelsea, Camden and Islington. Customers will be able to sign up for a contract through one of Cloud's partners like BT, TMobile or Openzone, or around a £5-an-hour 'pay-as-you-go' tariff to access the system, although the price is expected to drop as more people sign up. Anyone whose business houses a wireless router for the company will receive a cut of the profits - which will include some city councils, as the owners of all street furniture. Dave Whittle, of Maplin Electronics which supplies wireless technology, said: "Eventually the UK will have constant connectivity, no matter where you are, you'll always be able to pick up the internet."

westisbest

March 22nd, 2006, 04:43 PM

good, i can use my PSP internet now:)

Pietari

March 24th, 2006, 12:24 PM

http://www.merseyside.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=31

Cutting-edge company signs deal with Liverpool Science Park 23/3/06.

Hi-tech company Chimatica has signed a five year lease to establish its HQ in Liverpool, creating more than 30 highly skilled jobs.

Working with The Mersey Partnership (TMP) and BusinessLiverpool, the innovative drug discovery company was shown a range of locations before deciding on Liverpool Science Park. The firm also secured a £100,000 grant from BusinessLiverpool.

Chimatica is involved in identifying candidates for drugs trials within pharmaceutical companies. Their industry-recognised team maximises the potential of high power computing and cutting-edge techniques and technologies. The company is planning to create 34 jobs over the next three years, with the potential for more.

"One of the major advantages of Liverpool Science Park is its proximity to the University and a potential pool of highly skilled employees," says Mark Basnett, Director of Investment at The Mersey Partnership. "Biotechnology and ICT are both booming sectors in the Liverpool City Region, and The Mersey Partnership was able to help Chimatica make the right decisions on property, finance and people."

Dominic Szewczyk, Chief Executive of Chimatica says; "Our team offers thanks for the timely guidance and financial assistance from The Mersey Partnership and Business Liverpool. A wealth of potential synergies exist with Biotech and ICT companies in the area that ready to be developed and capitalised. With proximity to the renowned expertise and resource of the University, high calibre graduate employees and a world-class facility in Liverpool Science Park - Chimatica selected Liverpool City to be the most fertile location for our growth."

"Liverpool Science Park is intended to play host to young companies with bright ideas in purpose designed Office/ Laboratory compatible accommodation," adds Peter Leather, Business Support and Development Manager, Liverpool Science Park. "We are delighted to have been able to accommodate Chimatica into the centre as they will become a real asset to the city in the future. A further seven exciting companies have taken up residence since we opened our doors in January of this year confirming there is a real need for a facility like this if we are going to compete in the global knowledge economy."

Flo Clucas Liverpool City Council's Executive member for Economic development and Europe says: "Chimatica is a company that combines innovative software technology with a practical approach to pharmaceutical development, and Liverpool Science Park is able to provide exactly the environment they need. The fact that companies like Chimatica now see Liverpool as their natural home is a testament both to the city's growing international reputation, and to the professional support they have received from BusinessLiverpool and its partners."

Pietari

April 25th, 2006, 08:09 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16986536%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=promise%2dto%2dlocal%2dbuilders-name_page.html

Promise to local builders Apr 24 2006

By Nick Coligan Political Reporter, Liverpool Echo

A CAMPAIGN was launched today to guarantee jobs in the construction industry for Merseysiders.

As the ECHO revealed in January, dozens of qualified construction workers complain they cannot get jobs on the building projects in Liverpool.

Now politicians want to force big firms to take on local staff when they win contracts for regeneration projects.

They are seeking a formal agreement to make companies draw a certain percentage of employees from Merseyside, similar to Manchester's existing policy on employing local workmen.

Earlier this year, city leaders launched the Merseyside Construction Initiative, which will train 20,000 youngsters over the next 10 years for jobs on building sites.

But some politicians believe action is needed now to make sure skilled tradesmen do not miss out on work.

Cllr Joe Anderson, leader of Liverpool's Labour group, said: "We cannot just say we have an aspiration to create jobs. We have to tell these firms that if they come to our city for lucrative work, the people of Liverpool should benefit as well."

But Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration, said: "We have a team within our People Pool, whose job it is to match skilled workers with jobs, and it does work.

"One roadworks contractor had 61% local labour, and the Paradise Project has 70%."

Riverside MP Louise Ellman, whose constituency includes construction schemes like the £920m Paradise Project and Kings Dock, today backed Cllr Anderson's call.

She said: "I think a combination of direct recruiting and skills training would make a big difference.

"But we must act quickly because this is a big opportunity, and we should not let any more time slip."

Paul D

May 3rd, 2006, 04:39 PM

Firms develop new partnership scheme May 3 2006

LIVERPOOLS biggest landlords and developers are banding together to form a powerful group to accelerate the development of the citys central business district.

Big hitters including Albany Assets, Bruntwood, Amec, Downing, Peel UK Land & Property, Shepherd Developments and Beetham are all taking a keen interest in the Liverpool Business District Partnership.

Both Liverpool Vision and Liverpool City Council are also eager to be involved in the partnership, which hopes to emulate the success of Manchesters Piccadilly Partnership, which helped generate more than £1bn of investment for the previously run down part of the city.

Most own land and property around the Old Hall Street area, which is now one of the fastest growing financial quarters in the country.

The firms want to unite to drive forward plans for the area, which already includes developments such as St Pauls, Unity, Bruntwood, Pall Mall and Princes Dock.

Helping to set up the partnership is Paul Rice, who for three years was Liverpools city centre manager. More recently, he was the chief executive of the Manchester City Centre Management Company.

He told the Daily Post: I am working on a consultancy basis and my initial role is to bring together the various partners, get the organisation launched and then help develop a business plan.

There are of course high profile developments already on site in this area but there are other things that need to be brought forward.

One issue the partnership will look at is tackling the perceived isolation of Princes Dock, which is currently separated from the main business district by the dock road.

On a physical basis we want to work with the local authority to get a super crossing built between the two locations, added Mr Rice. It is also important we work with the businesses at Princes Dock to make them feel more a part of the central business district.

One of the big lessons we learned from Piccadilly was how important it was to create a critical mass and how it was much more cost effective and time effective for the big players to work together.

If you have the key private sector stakeholders working together and talking with one voice then it is more likely the public agencies will sit up and take notice.

Albany Assets chairman, Chris Nisbet, said his company and Bruntwood were already member of the Piccadilly Partnership and would be founder members of the Liverpool Partnership.

He added: The Piccadilly Partnership, which was formed by a consortium of developers with a common interest, was a great success and we hope to be able to transfer that model to Liverpool.

We have seen how that works and we believe it can be successfully transferred to Liverpool.

By having the developers, landowners and city council around the table we can make decisions and effect change quickly

Paul D

May 3rd, 2006, 04:41 PM

Regeneration firm moves into city May 3 2006

ONE of the UK’s foremost brownfield regeneration experts, Priority Sites, has opened an office in Liverpool, one of only two to be located outside of the developer’s West Yorkshire headquarters

The expansion plans come in the wake of the speculative developer’s active presence in the North West where market demand for high quality industrial accommodation has been high and is set to continue.

The new office is located at the Corn Exchange in Liverpool City Centre.

Since its establishment in 1997, Priority Sites, a commercial joint venture company owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland and English Partnerships, has built more than 2.5m sq ft of business accommodation throughout England.

More than 600,000 sq ft of space has been constructed across the North West region.

Projects are currently on site at Croft Business Park, Bromborough; Jackson Street, St Helens and Banks Road, Speke.

In addition, work will commence shortly at Wirral International Business Park; Brookfield Drive, Liverpool; the Vesty Site at Bootle, and Lea Green, St Helens.

John Boanas, development director for Priority Sites, said: “At many North West development sites demand has exceeded expectations.

“Occupiers comprise local and regional companies who want smart, flexible premises near good commuter links. The inward investment benefits that both categories of occupiers bring is considerable, making a significant contribution to the regional economy.

“The region’s future is bright, with demand set to continue, so it makes sense for Priority Sites to put down firm roots.”

The company has appointed Merseyside men, Murray Carr and Tony Ellis as area development manager and senior projects manager respectively.

tonymcdonough

Pietari

May 3rd, 2006, 06:40 PM

Cheers Paul,

That has made my day :cheers:

Pietari

July 3rd, 2006, 10:47 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/business/news/tm_objectid=17324892%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=investment%2don%2dmerseyside%2dis%2dup%2d%2d%2dand%2dforecast%2dto%2dstay%2dthat%2dway-name_page.html

Investment on Merseyside is up - and forecast to stay that way Jul 3 2006

Daily Post

MOST Merseyside small business owners are confident that the next three months will prove prosperous for their ventures, and the majority also plan to invest in their business over this period.

Around 60% are planning to plough money into their business and three quarter of those (75%) are looking to invest more than £15,000, according to research by Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank.

The bank's Business Banking Observer found that SMEs in the region are also planning to grow their businesses in other ways - with 42%% planning to increase the number of staff in the coming three months.

Almost one in five (19%) Merseyside SMEs experienced better than expected performance over the previous three months and 15% reported strong performance levels.

The Capital of Culture tag is proving popular too, with eight out of ten companies in the region believing the title will provide a welcome boost to the economy.

Debbie Thompson, Head of Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank's Merseyside Business Centre, said: "It's extremely good news for the region that so many small businesses in Merseyside have experienced good performance levels and are optimistic about their prospects over the coming months. I would urge companies to check they have the financial support they need to maximise the returns for their business."

The Merseyside Economic Review 2006, widely regarded as the annual healthcheck of the Merseyside economy, also paints a fairly positive picture as far as small businesses are concerned.

The report, published by the county's investment agency, The Mersey Partnership, revealed that Merseyside has one of the best rates of new business registrations as a percentage of business stock. Its figure of 2,830 new registrations represents 10.9% of the business stock, ahead of other metropolitan regions, the North West at 10.3% and the UK at 10%.

However, there are still challenges as far as retaining those businesses is concerned and Merseyside's business density, which is defined as the number of businesses per 1000 population, is still far behind at 21.4, compared to the UK figure of 37.8 and the North West at 31.6.

During the course of 2005, a private sector-led initiative, City Growth Liverpool, surveyed 1,000 businesses in its catchment area - those businesses beyond the city centre - to look at the opportunities for, and barriers to, business growth. Nearly a fifth of the companies gave Liverpool the highest possible score when asked to rate the city as a place to do business. And almost a quarter reported the current status of Liverpool as a business venue as very much improved, compared to the 3-5 years previously. The three main reasons given for the positive perspective were the growth in the local economy, investment and regeneration.

The Mersey Partnership's report also stated that Merseyside's economic wealth has grown by 5.9%, outstripping the growth shown by the UK, the North West, and many of its comparators.

This growth is forecast to continue for the region's SMEs, with more than four in five (83%) local business owners included in the Business Banking Observer confident that the forthcoming three months will be as prosperous as the preceding quarter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Capital of Confidence ..... :) :cheers:

Pietari

July 16th, 2006, 09:08 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17385254%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=new%2dtenants%2dfor%2dformer%2dglaxo%2dsite%2d-name_page.html

New tenants for former Glaxo site Jul 14 2006

Liverpool Echo

THE regeneration of Speke's former Glaxo plant continues with two new tenants and two more set to sign up.

Mercury IT Consulting and AF Marketing have relocated from Brunswick Business Centre and joined pharmaceutical company Lilly Speke Operations' new distribution operation and tea maker Gold Crown Foods at the 30-acre Speke Boulevard site. The site closed in 2004 with the loss of 700 jobs.

New owner New Capital Developments hopes to eventually attract 1,000 jobs to the site.

Property expert Knight Frank, the BE Group and King Sturge are acting on behalf of New Capital to attract new tenants for the re-branded Southern Gateway site.

Karl Kiernan of Knight Frank said: "Interest continues to grow in the Southern Gateway and we are very hopeful of signing up two other companies. Following on from the Lilly Speke deal this news shows that the Glaxo site does have a strong future."

Liverpool8

July 16th, 2006, 10:51 AM

The Speke-Garston retail/business/research etc complex is booming and good to see.

What a pity that St Mary's Road, Garston appears to be turning into Park Road, L8, and Church Road, well, you don't even want to go there. It's vile. However, for a real bummer check out the so called shopping centre in Speke. OMG.

It's time for trickle down or else there won't be much left to trickle down into.

Pietari

July 19th, 2006, 06:21 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17409234%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=%2dpound%2d650m%2dproperty%2dgroup%2dreports%2dprofits%2dincrease-name_page.html

£650m property group reports profits increase Jul 19 2006

By Tony Mcdonough Deputy Business Editor , Daily Post

LIVERPOOL-BASED Ethel Austin Property Group has this week reported a 14% rise in pre-tax profits to £11.8m.

The group, which was founded by the Austin family 36 years ago and owns Merseyside landmarks such as the Passport Office at 101 Old Hall Street and Knowsley Business Park, is run from offices in North John Street. It has historic links to the retailer of the same name.

Figures to be filed with Companies House next week show the group, one of Liverpool's largest commercial landlords and real estate investors, also saw turnover rise 7.8% to £21.2m on the £19.6m recorded in 2004. Net assets increased by 15.7% from £135.6m to £156.8m.

The group has more than 1,000 properties under its ownership, some 200 associated businesses and a portfolio worth in excess of £650m.

Its investments include high street shops, shopping centres, office premises, industrial estates, business parks and retail parks as well as residential and new building developments.

Around 46% of these properties are in Merseyside and the North West. By sector category, the group's largest area of interest is high street shops and shopping centres, accounting for some 61% of activity.

The highlights from the previous financial year include two major disposals.

A site at Haydock Park was acquired by Tesco for an 80,000 sq ft superstore and the Worcester Crown Passage development in the Midlands sold for £4m. Finance director Andrew Lovelady said: "It's an exciting time for the business. We now have some 5m sq ft of property under our ownership and are delighted with the strength of our balance sheet.

"In the last few years the market has changed and we have seen the chance to increase profits by working with high quality joint venture partners, such as the Beetham Organisation and Vermont Developments."

Current Liverpool developments include the Station Trade Park, an industrial site totalling 10,000 sq ft and the 30,000 sq ft of office accommodation at Yorkshire House, Chapel Street, which is currently being refurbished. Highlights for 2006 and beyond may well include the Sefton Street scheme, in which Ethel Austin Property Group is a 50-50 partner with Vermont Developments.

The proposal features a new 22-storey tower with hotel, apartments and homes at the south end of the waterfront.

tonymcdonough@dailypost.co.uk

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IMPRESSIVE........ :)

Pietari

July 19th, 2006, 06:37 PM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17409251%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=growing%2dinterest%2din%2dexport-name_page.html

Growing interest in export Jul 19 2006

By Tony Mcdonough , Daily Post

MORE than 600 Merseyside firms have sought advice about becoming exporters in the past 12 months, according to an agency set up to help companies trade overseas.

The Liverpool-based International Trade Centre is funded by UK Trade & Investment, a Government body set up to encourage exports.

ITC director Colin Gardner said that during the past year he had seen a dramatic increase in the number of Merseyside small and medium enterprises (SMEs) starting or stepping up exports.

However, Mr Gardner felt the region was still not punching its weight and would like to see even more companies doing business outside the UK.

He said: "There is definitely a fear factor among people running SMEs about trading abroad.

"They worry about things like differences in language or culture. It is our job to help them overcome those fears.

"There are around 35,000 small firms in Merseyside and only about 1,500 are trading overseas. Of course many of those businesses are small shops, or taxi firms, or hairdressers, who would not get involved in exporting anyway.

"But I would still like to think that over the next three years we could get that figure up to something like 3,000."

The ITC maintains contacts with more than 200 British embassies around the world where there are people whose job it is to help UK firms get established in local markets.

The organisation has also launched an intensive programme of overseas' trade missions stretching from the Far East, Middle East, North and South America, Australia and Europe to introduce clients directly to local experts and potential new customers.

Mr Gardner acknowledged the enormous potential for trading with emerging economies like China, but added opportunities for some firms may be found closer to home.

"Smaller SMEs, with perhaps just two or three people, may find it easier to trade in places like Ireland or Belgium which have more traditional starter markets."

The ITC is based in Old Hall Street in Liverpool city centre. To get in touch call 0845 450 4990 or log onto www.itc4gm.co.uk.

tonymcdonough@dailypost.co.uk

Click here to listen to director of Liverpool's International Trade Centre, Colin Gardner, explaining how Merseyside's small firms can become exporters

Liverpool8

August 6th, 2006, 09:56 AM

Trawling through today's Observer to find news on Lebanon, I found this piece. Overall, it's spun as doom & gloom in the local car industry but unless I'm misreading it it does seem a little guility of over-egging the pudding. Has there been a specific threat to cease production at Halewood? Reading the article you might be forgiven for thinking that such a threat was imminent! My spin on the piece, obviously, is highlighted in bold but other narratives are identified in italics. Overall, it's interesting how a new story is being told about Liverpool. The old narratives are still there as a context but my guess is that they will become more and more redudant over time to resurface with a vengeance if the Halewood workers ever go on strike in an attempt to challenge any decision by Ford in the future to 'downsize' their plant.

-------------------------

Merseyside on the edge as its drive to success is threatened

A factory that has become one of Europe's best is under a shadow, reports Nick Mathiason (Sunday August 6, 2006. The Observer )

Once a cauldron of industrial militancy which frequently boiled over, Halewood in Liverpool is now one of the most productive car assembly plants in Europe. The transformation at the works that produces the Jaguar has amazed and delighted politicians and business leaders.

When Ford announced in 1999 that it had chosen Halewood to produce X-type Jaguars against opposition from America and Europe, it came as a surprise. But on closer inspection, it was a tribute to the huge productivity and quality improvements made by the 2,400 workers there who were charged with making cars to compete against the BMW 3 series and the Mercedes C class.

Ensuring Liverpool produced Jaguars cost the government £40m in state aid funding. Ford has injected £400m in the plant. But this weekend the long-term future of those workers is in doubt. At the very least, months of uncertainty will cast a shadow over a region that has used Ford's commitment to the area as a catalyst to haul itself out of a desperate plight.

Jaguar's plant sits next to Speke Garston, seven miles south of Liverpool city centre, tight against the Mersey. Hit by the docks closure and the running down of Halewood by Ford in the Eighties, which in its heyday boasted a workforce of 14,000, in the mid-Nineties 23 per cent of the workforce in Speke Garston was unemployed. Today, it is 7.2 per cent and the area is home to international hi-tech businesses. Modern developments are springing up all the time.

When, two weeks ago, Ford began production of the new Land Rover Freelander 2, on top of the Jaguar production, it appeared to give the plant a new lease of life. Ford bosses chose Liverpool over Solihull - which lost 1,300 jobs - as the workforce was seen to be more efficient and flexible. But perhaps the writing was on the wall last year when results for 2004 showed that Jaguar, which has struggled to make money, posted a pre-tax loss of £429.3m.

Halewood has been producing cars since 1963 with the Ford Anglia. It stopped producing Ford brand products in mid-2000 and has been completely revamped using lean manufacturing principles for efficient production.

The prospect of further job cuts will dismay the British car sector after a dismal two years for the industry, with thousands of jobs lost at MG Rover, the closure of Jaguar's plant at Browns Lane in Coventry and 2,000 jobs to go at Peugeot's Ryton plant in Coventry.

For Liverpool, maybe the future is hi-tech. Speke Garston has the biggest concentration of bio-manufacturing in Europe, with multinational businesses such as Eli Lilly, Chiron Vaccines and MedImmune. More than 2,000 people are employed in bio-manufacturing and a further 3,000 in related processing and support activities. Though that will be little consolation to car workers who will be praying that any prospective new owner will continue its commitment to manufacturing in the region.

Pietari

August 15th, 2006, 07:58 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17558252%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=global%2dgaming%2dgiant%2dtargets%2dstanley%2dleisure%2din%2dcasino%2dbid-name_page.html

Global gaming giant targets Stanley Leisure in casino bid Aug 14 2006

Daily Post

THE world's largest gaming company was said to be eyeing the takeover of two major casino operators in a bid to break into the British market.

Harrah's Entertainment, worth around £6bn, is reportedly studying a proposal to buy Stanley Leisure and London Clubs International - two companies involved in their own ongoing £634m merger talks.

Stanley operates Crockfords, The Colony Club, The Mint and The Palm Beach casinos in London - in addition to 41 sites in cities including Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham.

LCI operates four casinos in London, including Fifty and The Sportsman, as well as The Rendezvous in Southend and Brighton. It has plans for others in Manchester, Leeds, Blackpool, Nottingham and Glasgow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Still a lotto man myself and hope that one day I`ll get even luckier...... :)

JUXTAPOL

September 6th, 2006, 05:34 PM

Hope you haven't been made redundant Sloyne...!See Below :jk:

Canadian firm relocates to Liverpool (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17692651%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=canadian%2dsoftware%2dfirm%2dswitches%2dhq%2dto%2dliverpool-name_page.html)

bustcapl

September 7th, 2006, 11:51 AM

Pietari

September 8th, 2006, 10:55 AM

this is the sort of news we want to see all the time... who else is gonna fill all our apartements!

Investment group profits almost double Sep 7 2006

Daily Post

LIVERPOOL and London-based investment group Shore Capital yesterday reported an 86% leap in half year profits to £9.4m.

Revenue for the six months to June 30 was £20.50m (up from £12.11m last year). This represented a 32% increase on the second half of 2005 and a 69.3% increase over the first half of 2005.

The firm opened its Liverpool city centre operation in August 2003 and since then it has grown and now employs 23 people.

Chairman Howard Shore said: "Our asset management business has developed strong momentum as a result of recent fund launches and the performance of the vehicles it manages.

"This momentum is likely to give rise to further significant growth in the division's turnover in the second half of 2006.

"ECM has experienced rapid growth and has achieved a stronger market share and reputation which position us well in the possible event of weaker market conditions. Diversity of income and the flowthrough from these developments support us in expecting another record year."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry what was the question? :) :cheers:

sloyne

September 8th, 2006, 04:15 PM

Hope you haven't been made redundant Sloyne.Had I been working for this company I would have exercised my union seniority rights and demanded a transfer to the new location. :)

JUXTAPOL

September 8th, 2006, 07:54 PM

Had I been working for this company I would have exercised my union seniority rights and demanded a transfer to the new location. :)
Excellent, and what with the expected new cruise terminal, you could demand travel home by luxury round the world cruise. :)

JUXTAPOL

September 11th, 2006, 07:53 PM

Liverpool based Stanley leisure taken over by Malaysian company to take advantage of expected U.K. gambling boom.

Hope this doesn't lead to the usual, move the company to London etc, outside Liverpool. Look at Sayers the bakers, now effectively just a trademark, with some Liverpool outlets, headquarters and manufacturing outside Merseyside.

Full BBC news article here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5333596.stm)

Pietari

September 14th, 2006, 05:57 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17735760%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=campaign%2dto%2dbeat%2dboston-name_page.html

Campaign to beat Boston Sep 13 2006

By Bill Gleeson Business Editor, Daily Post

A GROUP of prominent Liverpool business people have launched a campaign to make the city more "business friendly".

They say Liverpool City Council must set out to match the standards achieved by cities such as Boston or Barcelona, and the council should adopt the mantra "beat Boston."

The five businessmen want the council to prioritise better economic performance, and have published a manifesto that sets out objectives.

The move follows several years of friction between local property developers and the city council after a number of schemes failed to win planning permission. This resulted in a series of attacks on the council by the likes of Grosvenor, and Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, which claimed Liverpool was failing to meet its own targets for becoming one of the most business friendly cities in Britain.

The people behind the manifesto are Mark Connor, chief executive of property developer Vermont Group, Philip Rooney, a partner at law firm DLA Piper, Alan Bevan of estate agency City Residential, David Owen, investment director at wealth management group Rensburg Sheppards, and Dougal Paver, managing director of Castle Street based PR firm Paver Smith.

Mr Paver said: "Boston shares many similarities with Liverpool and is known by Liverpudlians to be a successful city with a high quality of life and an economy that performs more strongly than ours.

"Beating Boston therefore isn't a bad objective for our civic leaders."

The group senses that Liverpool's current political leadership is more serious about turning the city into a business-friendly location. Council leader Warren Bradley said: "I want the city to make the most of every opportunity for investment and jobs and it is vital that the city council does all that it can to welcome business with open arms."

He said the council had made great strides, and the £3bn now being invested demonstrated the confidence the public and private sectors had in Liverpool.

"But I accept we can do more and becoming a more business- friendly city has been a key priority since I became leader."

The group's manifesto aims include developing a more compelling vision for the city and that the council should accept the top priority should be the creation of a strong economy. They also want the council to get things done more quickly and professionally and urge Cllr Bradley to "sell" the city nationally and internationally.

billgleeson@dailypost.co.uk

:cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer:
"Beating Boston therefore isn't a bad objective for our civic leaders."
:cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer:

Liverpool8

September 14th, 2006, 09:48 AM

You obviously like this one, Pie. I've just seen it on another thread ;)

Pietari

September 14th, 2006, 10:47 AM

You obviously like this one, Pie. I've just seen it on another thread ;)

I put it on here first L8 because I thought it was reasonably fitted for the theme but then after thinking for a while I thought that really this is a chance to throw the same line at the LCC when ever required and should be used against sub standard developments also, thus keeping the LLC and the developers on their toes, hence the seperate thread which might keep the idea current and necessary to update accordingly...... :cheers:

That`s my excuse anyway :) "To infinity and beyond" :runaway:

Pietari

September 14th, 2006, 11:48 AM

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/thebusinessweek/regionalnews/tm_objectid=17744851%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=battle%2dto%2dbuy%2dcity%2dproperty-name_page.html

Battle to buy city property Sep 14 2006

By Tony Mcdonough Deputy Business Editor, Daily Post

INVESTORS are battling "fiercely" to buy commercial property in Liverpool city centre, forcing up capital values, according to a report published today.

The study, by property consultants Knight Frank, reveals Liverpool's relatively low office rents are offering investors a greater margin for potential rental growth.

Last week's sale of 101 Old Hall Street to investment fund MM Warburg & Co and Henderson Global Investors for £39m was the latest in a string of deals that have taken place over the past year.

The yield on that transaction, which is the income return (rent paid) compared to the property's capital value (price), was just over 5%. Office yields in the city as recently as 2000 were around 10% and this fall reflects rising capital values and increasing competition for commercial property.

The report said: "Investors' perception of Liverpool has changed significantly in recent years, and a substantial level of office development is being witnessed.

"For a commercial market of its size, Liverpool's office sector still offers relatively low rents, indicating a greater margin for potential rental growth, and this has led to positive yield play in comparison to other regions.

"Nonetheless, prime office yields in Liverpool city centre have been subject to greater compression than has been seen in any other major UK regional market, having moved in by 300 basis points to 5.1% between 2002 and Q2 2006."

Liverpool-based Downing's acquisition of the Royal & Sun Alliance building in Old Hall Street set a record at £51m.

Yesterday, the Daily Post revealed the sale of 101 Old Hall Street would trigger a repayment of almost £4m in public sector cash handed over to support its construction in 2003. Experts now believe this means the development market is self-supporting for the first time in many years.

tonymcdonough@dailypost.co.uk

LOG onto www.thebusinessweek.co.uk to hear report author Claire Higgins explain what rising capital values means for the Merseyside economy

Pietari

February 28th, 2007, 08:21 PM

Corporate Companies rate Liverpool
as the UK city they're most likely to invest in

Corporate Companies have rated Liverpool top in a list of UK cities for 'Investment Likelihood.

Investment Likelihood assesses whether businesses are considering the Liverpool City Region as a potential location for investment over the next 12 months. Among a wider group of potential investors, Liverpool saw an 11% improvement in its overall rating, with 40% of all the companies asked saying they would consider the city - the biggest improvement of all the cities measured. (1)

Independent researchers carried out the Image Tracking Research on behalf of The Mersey Partnership (TMP). They surveyed 150 companies, including 100 large corporates (firms employing more than 200 people) and 50 intermediaries (such as investor brokers, property specialists and financial houses) from across the UK, with 50% based in London and the South-East.

The survey tracked the perceptions of Liverpool in comparison to six other major metropolitan areas: Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

The review also assessed the cities against ten investment criteria, such as availability of sites and premises, competitive operating costs and as a region embracing new technologies. Overall Liverpool recorded a solid score - up to joint third from fifth last
year. (2)

Dave Moorcroft, Acting Chief Executive at TMP, said; "It's clear that perceptions of Liverpool and Merseyside as an investment location are improving. Corporates are the relocation decision makers and it's heartening that this group have recognised our competitive advantage. It's also an opportunity we must capitalise on as part of TMP's enhanced role as the Single Inward Investment Agency for Liverpool and Merseyside.

At the same time, other locations are also improving at a rapid rate and we can't afford to stand still. We must continue to raise awareness about our key assets, including our accessibility and transport infrastructure, quality workforce and use of cutting-edge technologies.

"Underpinning the hard-nosed business case is our lifestyle message. The Capital of Culture opportunity together with outstanding sport, retail and natural assets is a powerful mix."

Roy Morris, Chair of TMP, added; "These results show that high-level national decision-makers are sitting up and taking notice of the Liverpool City Region. We're making real progress in improving our image, and The Mersey Partnership will be focused on maintaining and gathering this momentum in the year ahead."

TMP commissioned B2B International to carry out the 2006 Image Tracking Research. It is the longest established, independent benchmarking study of perceptions available to those marketing the Liverpool City Region as a location for investment.

….Appendix

Appendix:

(1) Investment Likelihood
2006Rank 2006 2005 2005 Rank (based on %) Ranking change
1 Manchester 42% 35% 2 +1
2 Liverpool 40% 29% 3 +1
3 Nottingham 38% 39% 1 -2
4 Glasgow 33% 27% 6 +2
5 Sheffield 31% 28% 4 -1
6 Newcastle 27% 27% 5 -1
7 Belfast 20% 18% 7 Same

Investment Likelihood
Overall Rank Corporates Intermediaries
1 Manchester 36% (2nd) 54% (1st)
2 Liverpool 39% (1st) 40% (4th)
3 Nottingham 29% (4th) 54% (1st)
4 Glasgow 33% (3rd) 32% (6th)
5 Sheffield 23% (5th) 48% (3rd)
6 Newcastle 23% (5th) 34% (5th)
7 Belfast 20% (7th) 20% (7th)

(2) Overall Image dimensions
2006 Rank Region 2006 2005 2005 Rank 05-06 Change
1 Manchester 6.75 6.52 1 0.23
2 Newcastle 6.52 6.47 2 0.05
3 Liverpool 6.42 6.26 5 0.16
3 Glasgow 6.42 6.24 3 0.18
5 Belfast 6.36 5.97 7 0.39
6 Sheffield 6.33 6.25 4 0.08
7 Nottingham 6.25 6.12 6 0.13

Source: The Mersey Partnership.