Private and public sector partners unite under the “We Are Lancashire – The Place for Growth”banner to promote county to global investment community at Stand G35, MIPIM UK, Olympia, London, October 18-19
The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has strengthened its presence at this year’s MIPIM UK property expo with a larger consortium of public and private sector partners than ever before. Under the brand ‘We Are Lancashire, The Place for Growth’, the LEP will be joined at Olympia by local authority representatives from Lancashire County Council, Preston City Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre councils and Blackburn, Burnley, West Lancashire and Chorley Councils.
Premium partners at MIPIM UK as part of the Lancashire delegation are led by the Eric Wright Group, Lancaster University and Lancaster City Council who are all involved in Business Showcases across the two days to highlight development and investor opportunities. Representatives from Cushman and Wakefield, the University of Central Lancashire, Heysham Port, Seatrucks, Colliers International, NPL Estates and Mott MacDonald will also be in attendance over the two-day event.
One of the key developments to be highlighted will be Lancaster University’s Health Innovation Campus (HIC). The £41m development, which has been supported by the LEP’s Growth Deal Fund, is set to be based at the University’s Bailrigg campus and will spearhead advances in technologies and products to improve health and healthcare.
The HIC will drive business innovation, specifically creating new jobs by supporting 300 Lancashire-based small and medium enterprises to develop new and innovative digital and technological solutions and will have a wider impact by engaging regionally, nationally and internationally with hundreds of companies. The collaborations with SMEs have already begun, and the first phase of the building is due to open in 2019.
The city of Lancaster itself will also be showcased as a dynamic investment destination at MIPIM UK. Lancaster City Council will be highlighting a number of its growing industrial sectors including energy and digital health. In addition, it will be promoting new schemes such as Canal Corridor North, the emerging Bay Gateway development and a new 3,500 home Garden Village situated south of the city, one of the first of its kind in the UK.
The city’s excellent connectivity, high quality education provision, its unique urban, rural and coastal setting, and its outstanding cultural and lifestyle offer, will also be promoted.
Another major scheme at the centre of Lancashire’s pitch to investors at MIPIM UK will be the mixed-use Cuerden development.
Given the green light by South Ribble Borough Council at the end of September, the 65-hectare strategic site next to the M65 motorway, will bring around £241 million per year to the central Lancashire economy, creating thousands of permanent jobs in addition to hundreds of jobs during construction.
The development, led by Lancashire County Council, the Eric Wright Group and Brookhouse Group, will provide around 200,000 sq m and in turn will deliver significant new employment space, offices and logistics, a new IKEA for central Lancashire and five further large format retail units, six small restaurant units alongside new cycle and footways, new homes, a new hotel, and other leisure and hospitality outlets.
The extensive opportunities offered at Cuerden and Lancaster are to set to be put under the spotlight at two special LEP Business Showcase events during MIPIM UK. On Wednesday October 18th, at 12.45pm, Downtown In Business’ Chief Executive Frank McKenna will be chairing a panel entitled A transformational City Deal for Central Lancashire.
This session will focus on the £450m Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal which has been given a massive boost by the Cuerden project
Then on Thursday October 19th, at 10.30am, Place North West’s editor Paul Unger will host a Q&A focussing on the major role that Lancaster University, recently named University of the Year by both The Times and Sunday Times, can play in driving local economic growth through world class innovation, attracting graduate talent to the region, and by working closely with local businesses. The event will also explore how Lancaster City Council is developing new sites as part of their strategic masterplan for the city.
In addition, there will be two events hosted on the We are Lancashire stand which include Mott MacDonald showcasing the developing Blackpool Airport and Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zones masterplans and new housing opportunities in the Pennine Lancashire region.
Lancashire’s MIPIM UK delegation will be led by David Taylor, Chair of UCLan and Vice Chair of the Lancashire LEP. David, who also headed Lancashire’s first presence at MIPIM International in Cannes earlier this year, said:
“Once again Lancashire is taking a unified message to MIPIM UK bringing together more public and private sector partners than ever before reinforcing the confidence and ambition to compete on a national and a global scale to secure interest and investment. Collectively the Lancashire delegation is showcasing the development opportunities to investors, employers and policy makers across a wide range of commercial and industrial sectors.
“This year there is a particular emphasis on the £450 million City Deal programme in Preston and South Ribble including new schemes such as the Cuerden strategic site and the Engineering and Innovation Centre development at the University of Central Lancashire. The emerging masterplans for Blackpool Airport and Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zones as part of the Advanced Manufacturing and Energy Cluster will be presented plus there will be a panel presentation focused on Lancaster University’s Health Innovation Campus.
“The ‘We Are Lancashire’ delegation will also be highlighting the Lancashire LEP’s £1 billion transformational economic programme which has kick-started over 50 major growth initiatives in the last few years.
“These projects are helping to support over 50,000 Lancashire businesses which generate over £29 billion per year, confirming our position as one of the most significant economies within the Northern Powerhouse.
“The county is also benefitting from £320m of Growth Deal funding, the largest allocation secured outside the core city regions with Growth Deal investments on track to deliver up to 11,000 new jobs, 3,900 new homes and £1.2 Billion in new private sector investment by 2021.”
Karen Hirst, from the Eric Wright Group, said: “Eric Wright Group, working closely with local authority partners and the LEP, continues to help drive Lancashire’s economic growth through ambitious schemes such as Cuerden and the wider City Deal programme of which Cuerden is a key part.
“MIPIM UK gives us the chance to not only highlight the potential of transformational projects such as these, but also demonstrate that the private and public sector in Lancashire are committed to generating opportunities through a strategic, partnership approach which is aligned to delivering clear, commercial objectives.”
Mark Swindlehurst, Director of Facilities at Lancaster University, said: “One of my key roles at the University is to connect what we’re doing on campus with private and public sector partners to help boost both the Lancaster and Lancashire economies, so being part of the ‘We Are Lancashire’ delegation is a great example of this collaborative approach in action.
“The HIC is clearly an exciting scheme which will put the city and the county on the global map with regards health innovation, and it’s one of several projects we have in development which will drive regeneration and create jobs. It’s also good to be sharing a platform with colleagues from Lancaster City Council at the Business Showcase event as the city is currently enjoying heightened interest in commercial and cultural investment which will directly benefit the University, the city, and the whole of Lancashire.”
Existing Lancashire assets, which have been primed for investment and rapid growth, will also be key elements in Lancashire’s property portfolio to be presented at MIPIM UK. They will include the Advanced Manufacturing and Energy Cluster programme which is based on three Enterprise Zones on four sites located across the county. The Cluster could support 10,000 new jobs within hi-tech industries including aerospace, engineering, chemicals, advanced manufacturing and automotive.
Blackpool College’s Energy HQ, a national centre for energy research and training, UClan’s £200m regeneration masterplan, Preston’s £50m Market Quarter scheme, Burnley’s Vision Park and the £32m Northlight project at Brierfield Mill in Pendle will also all be part of the We Are Lancashire proposition at MIPIM UK.
We Are Lancashire, The Place for Growth are exhibiting at Stand G35, MIPIM UK, Olympia, London, October 18-19. For more details of Lancashire at MIPIM events visitwww.lancashireatmipim.com
