Liverpool City Region

SPONSORED BY

BROCK CARMICHAEL

LIVE WORK PLAY THINK LIVERPOOL WE ENJOY BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AS MUCH AS WE LOVE TO DESIGN. THE QUALITY OF OUR WORK, OUR PEOPLE CITY REGION AND OUR REPUTATION SPEAK FOR US.

Established, not establishment Value, not vanity Established for over 45 years, we have a By understanding project values from a Client’s well-proven pedigree in architecture across perspective we take care to devise efficient, many sectors and project types. well-considered and sustainable design solutions.

Expertise, not ego Traditional values, modern methods Rather than flex our ego, we help provide you All projects are led and directed by the Partners with the right level of expertise to ensure your with a ‘hands on’ approach and supported “Visual signs project arrives on time and on budget. by the use of latest IT systems including Revit Architecture and BIM capability. of economic www.brockcarmichael.co.uk @BrockCarmichael renaissance” Please ask us about our current and stand-out projects; Housing – over 1,500 homes across the North West. PRS – The Keel, QD2, Hive City Docks, Sutton Point Croydon. Leisure – Baltic Hotel, Puffin’ Rooms, Liverpool Cruise Liner Hotel. Education – University of Chester, City of Liverpool College, Ruthin School. Regeneration – Liverpool ONE, Great George Street Development, Fleetwood Quays. ©Shutterstock.com

pxx_Brock Carmichael_13287.indd 1 08/11/2019 11:20 p30-31 lcr cover.indd 31 19/11/2019 16:00 SPONSOR FOREWORD WE’RE DETERMINED TO MAKE THE MOST OF DEVOLUTION

businesses to grow and prosper and to Maghull North and Newton-le-Willows, attract new businesses to invest here. re-opened the Halton Curve rail That’s why I recently announced line and created half-price bus and plans for the biggest package of train travel for young apprentices. support for local businesses in more Our £460 million investment in new, than 20 years. state-of-the-art trains for the The £75m Business Growth Package Merseyrail network, owned by us will include: locally, sees the first trains arriving on the network next year. n £20m loan fund for local businesses We’re also progressing longer-term to invest in creating jobs and boosting transformational projects. As a city productivity region we have successfully made the n £7m inward investment facilitation fund case for our connections to Northern n £15m to support SMEs in the event of a Powerhouse Rail and HS2. And we’ve Steve Rotheram, the first Metro Mayor No Deal Exit from the European Union started work on the ultra-fast digital of the Liverpool City Region, reflects n Intensive scale-up programme for network that will make us the most on why there has never been a better tech-led and tech-enabled SMEs digitally connected city region in the UK time to invest here: n Skills and apprenticeship training for and boost our economy. Devolution has given us the oppor- up to 1,500 young people In early 2020 we will publish an tunity to do things differently and we’re outline business case for our determined to make the most of it. It will also make it easier than ever for Mersey Tidal Power Project, which Working together across six authorities, companies to access support, through will help us become zero carbon for our 1.6 million people, we are a new growth company – Growth by 2040, potentially generating enough using the powers and funding we’ve Platform – established with the Local predictable, renewable green taken from Westminster and Whitehall Enterprise Partnership to manage energy to power up to a million homes, to make decisions locally to help business growth, investment and sector making the Liverpool City Region build a society that’s fair, prosperous and development services locally. a world leader in this rapidly growing benefits everyone. That means well- At the same time, we are pushing low-carbon industry, while creating paying jobs, access to skills for the ahead with large-scale projects that thousands of jobs for local people. modern economy, better public transport are creating the infrastructure that will With so much going on I am and decent affordable housing. benefit everyone in our city region. convinced that there has never been In order to make that happen we In transport, we’ve opened new a better time to invest in the Liverpool know that we need to support our local and improved Merseyrail stations in City Region.

CONTACT STEVE ROTHERAM, METRO MAYOR OF THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION n [email protected]

p32-33pxx_Liverpool_Foreword_xxxxx.indd lcr stats copy.indd 32 6 19/11/201930/10/2019 16:0015:17 SEFTON IN NUMBERS SPONSOR ST HELENS FOREWORD LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL KNOWSLEY WE’RE DETERMINED TO MAKE CITY REGION WIRRAL THE MOST OF DEVOLUTION POPULATION (2018) 1,551,497 HALTON businesses to grow and prosper and to Maghull North and Newton-le-Willows, AGED 16 TO 64 attract new businesses to invest here. re-opened the Halton Curve rail Liverpool City Region...... 976,487 BUSINESSES BY STAFF (2019) UK...... 41,645,814 That’s why I recently announced line and created half-price bus and Micro (0 to 9)...... 42,660 plans for the biggest package of train travel for young apprentices. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY RATE – AGED 16-64 support for local businesses in more Our £460 million investment in new, JUNE 2019 Small (10 to 49)...... 7,580 than 20 years. state-of-the-art trains for the Liverpool City Region...... 75.5% Medium (50 to 249)...... 1,755 The £75m Business Growth Package Merseyrail network, owned by us UK...... 78.7% will include: locally, sees the first trains arriving on Large (250+)...... 280 the network next year. EDUCATION Total...... 52,275 NVQ4 AND ABOVE, 16-64 YO, 2018 n £20m loan fund for local businesses We’re also progressing longer-term Liverpool City Region...... 32.9% Source ONS to invest in creating jobs and boosting transformational projects. As a city UK...... 39.2% productivity region we have successfully made the LIVERPOOL OFFICE MARKET n £7m inward investment facilitation fund case for our connections to Northern MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS n £15m to support SMEs in the event of a Powerhouse Rail and HS2. And we’ve FULL TIME, 2019 CITY CENTRE HEADLINE RENT...... £21.50 per sq ft Steve Rotheram, the first Metro Mayor No Deal Exit from the European Union started work on the ultra-fast digital Liverpool City Region...... £555.80 OUT-OF-TOWN HEADLINE RENT...... £14 per sq ft of the Liverpool City Region, reflects n Intensive scale-up programme for network that will make us the most UK...... £584.90 PRIME YIELD...... 6% on why there has never been a better tech-led and tech-enabled SMEs digitally connected city region in the UK Source ONS UNDER CONSTRUCTION*...... 160,000 sq ft time to invest here: n Skills and apprenticeship training for and boost our economy. PRE-LET...... 44% Devolution has given us the oppor- up to 1,500 young people In early 2020 we will publish an *AS OF Q3 2019 Source Avison Young tunity to do things differently and we’re outline business case for our determined to make the most of it. It will also make it easier than ever for Mersey Tidal Power Project, which Working together across six authorities, companies to access support, through will help us become zero carbon for our 1.6 million people, we are a new growth company – Growth by 2040, potentially generating enough GVA GROWTH BY INDUSTRY (2007-2017) using the powers and funding we’ve Platform – established with the Local predictable, renewable green 5,000 taken from Westminster and Whitehall Enterprise Partnership to manage energy to power up to a million homes, to make decisions locally to help business growth, investment and sector making the Liverpool City Region 27.5% Manufacturing build a society that’s fair, prosperous and development services locally. a world leader in this rapidly growing 4,000 benefits everyone. That means well- At the same time, we are pushing low-carbon industry, while creating 14.1% Real estate activities paying jobs, access to skills for the ahead with large-scale projects that thousands of jobs for local people. modern economy, better public transport are creating the infrastructure that will With so much going on I am 3,000 and decent affordable housing. benefit everyone in our city region. convinced that there has never been

£m 14.2% Education In order to make that happen we In transport, we’ve opened new a better time to invest in the Liverpool 2,000 Information and communication know that we need to support our local and improved Merseyrail stations in City Region. 91.0% 33.4% Transportation and storage 1,000 CONTACT STEVE ROTHERAM, METRO MAYOR OF THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION n [email protected] 0 Source ONS 2007 2008 200920102011201220132014201520162017

pxx_Liverpool_Foreword_xxxxx.indd 6 30/10/2019 15:17 p32-33 lcr stats copy.indd 33 19/11/2019 16:00 LIVE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

“A totally different offer”

New neighbourhoods are being created across the city region

700 brownfield sites n Birkenhead town centre is the focus of major redevelopment. Emerging with the potential plans for the Wirral town were unveiled in November 2019 by the for 42,000 homes Wirral Growth Company. These include a new business district alongside leisure space, a new residential neighbourhood, an improved market The Liverpool City Region Combined and extensive public realm improvements. Authority has identified 700 brownfield The Wirral Growth Company is a 50/50 joint venture between Wirral Council and urban regeneration specialist Muse Developments. It was sites across the six local authorities. created in 2019 to deliver a long-term vision for regeneration, which aims The updated register identifies 1,813 to improve the homes, lives and communities for key areas across the acres of brownfield sites which could borough. Now entering a second stage of consultation, WGC is inviting provide space for thousands of homes responses to the proposed masterplan. if remediated. Mike Horner, development director at Muse Developments, says: “Engagement is vital for any successful programme of regeneration, as it enables us to bring forward truly transformational schemes that deliver both a sense of place and benefit the community, which is at the heart of the growth company’s vision and purpose.” Elsewhere on the Wirral peninsula, the Wirral Waters scheme is believed to be the largest redevelopment project in the UK. Comprising some 20 million sq ft of mixed-use floor space, consent has been given for up to 13,000 new homes. The development seeks to transform around 500 acres of the Birkenhead docklands into an internationally recognisable destination. In March, Homes England confirmed that Wirral Council’s £6m Housing Infrastructure Fund application had been A new look for Birkenhead town centre approved. The year also saw Urban Splash announce a joint venture with Peel to bring forward a residential quarter comprising 347 homes at Wirral Waters. A formal application was submitted for the first phase of the East Float residential project in July. Other schemes coming forward on the Wirral Waters site include the construction of 500 new homes following the exchange of contracts between Peel L&P, the Legacy Foundation and Wirral Council in August. And in September, the planning application for Egerton Village was approved. This is the £4m waterside amenity village containing retail, events and arts space.

p34-37 lcr live.indd 34 19/11/2019 16:07 LIVE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Plans for Egerton Village

Richard Mawdsley, director of development at Peel L&P, said that Egerton Urban Splash Village was a core part of the development at Wirral Waters: “It will help provide some of the facilities and amenities that are missing but that lie at the heart of a regeneration project.” Across the Mersey, Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters project features more than 20 million sq ft of residential, business and leisure space. The £5bn project will transform Liverpool’s waterfront, and restore the city’s northern docks, stretching from Princes Dock to Bramley Moore Dock, the proposed site for the new Everton Football Club stadium. In February, Homes England announced it was providing a £9.9m grant to Liverpool City Council. The cash injection was to help bring forward Liverpool 1,500 family homes on the stalled Festival Gardens site. The site will include owner-occupied houses, and privately rented apartments. New homes are also the focus in Knowsley, where the ambition is to £195,000 increase housing in the borough by 15 per cent by 2028. To achieve average sale price – 2-bed flat that, Dale Milburn, executive director of regeneration & economic development at Knowsley Council told Insider in September that Halsnead Garden Village was a “key proposal” that will bring in a “totally different £1,000 housing offer to the borough”. average rent £pcm 2-bed flat One of only 14 sites designated to become a garden village in the UK, Halsnead Garden Village in Whiston is Knowsley’s largest development site. Stewart Milne and Bloor Homes have submitted 15.9% planning applications. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority cumulative rental growth 2019-2023

has approved £12m of funding to enable the delivery of transport Source: JLL, 2018 infrastructure improvements necessary to develop the site. In Sefton, full planning permission has been granted for phase one of a major housing development in Maghull, which will bring forward in total 1,700 new homes, amenities and employment opportunities.

p34-37 lcr live.indd 35 19/11/2019 16:07 p34-37 lcr live.indd 36 19/11/2019 16:07 p34-37 lcr live.indd 37 19/11/2019 16:07 WORK LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Industry focus Start your Northern Trust Company and Network Space are two developers seeing demand for engines industrial space in St Helens. n The final industrial unit at Mere Grange Growth plans are revving up in completed in November marking the end the Liverpool city region of three phases of development which have collectively realised 162,000 sq ft of n Appreciate Group is the new name for gifting and engagement company new high-specification commercial Park Group. Consumers know it for its gifting and rewards products: floor space for St Helens delivered by Love2shop, Park Christmas Savings and highstreetvouchers.com. Network Space. Current tenants include The updated moniker is part of the company’s ambition to strengthen commercial laundry firm Synergy LMS its market position in the UK. But it’s not the only change for the which took 51,800 sq ft on a 25-year business. In September it announced it was moving 248 employees working lease and Spanish electrical distribution in its core business to a modern office at Twenty Chapel Street in company Ormazabal which took 20,000 Liverpool city centre, following what was described as Liverpool’s largest sq ft on a 15-year lease. office deal earlier this year. The business retains a presence in At Gerards Park, Northern Trust is Birkenhead, with its distribution of gift cards and hamper operations creating units targeting smaller occupiers. remaining at the Valley Road site. It is set to secure funding from the Ian O’Doherty, chief executive of Appreciate Group, says: “One of Combined Authority for the second the key criteria for selecting Chapel Street as our new home was phase of development that will comprise to help retain and attract the kind of people and skills we need now and 35,605 sq ft of modern industrial and in the future.” workshop accommodation split into 20 Liverpool ranked very highly in that regard, he says, admitting that units. The units will range in size from Manchester and London were also considered for the move: “We chose 815 sq ft up to 2,895 sq ft. Liverpool because of a combination of factors. One of the key focuses there was ‘retain’, we didn’t want the move to displace our existing people, we just wanted to Chapel Street free-up a bigger talent pool.” The business has not forgotten about its Birkenhead operations. “We have refitted the space they use, and they are more efficient and effective, and volumes are significantly up on last year. Liverpool now offers us even more opportunity. It is a diverse city; it has a buzz about it and is a city that has huge ambitions. It has a great digital economy that has been building up and holds a lot of great opportunities. I always say that the North West is the UK’s second ‘engine’ and the big cities in this region are positive drivers for growth, for change and progress.”

p38-39 lcr work.indd 38 19/11/2019 16:01 WORK LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Liverpool Road Studios

“Like Shoreditch but with more culture”

n Asif Hamid is chief executive of the Contact Company move in, and it is something we’re encouraging.” Lawler and chair of the Liverpool City Region local enterprise believes there is an opportunity in the wider Baltic Triangle partnership. He says he’s seen Liverpool undergo an “evolution” area to provide an additional 600,000 sq ft of commercial and today it boasts one of the most vibrant digital and space. “In order to reach the ambition in the next five creative clusters. “For us culture, creative, and digital years we can’t do it on our own. We need the private connectivity are key assets we can capitalise on. Innovation sector’s help. We’ve made a decision not to compete with is massive. We’re the same as Shoreditch the investment coming in.” but with more culture.” So where will the company’s growth come He highlights the Baltic Triangle as from? Lawler talks about opportunities an area of the city home to a thriving in Sefton, in Wirral and other parts of the digital and creative cluster. Mark Lawler, city region where he sees “bubbling activity”. managing director of Baltic Creative CIC, He’s also seen an opportunity in the says: “We were managing 60 businesses emerging Fabric District on the outskirts of in 45,000 sq ft about three years ago. We the Knowledge Quarter. “We’ve identified are working with around 180 companies some assets we believe we can acquire with now across 120,000 sq ft.” the support of the city region and the city.” Among the new space created in 2019 In Crosby, the team behind Jordan is Digital House. “Digital House is a Street Studios, Baltic Creative Offices, £3m investment that has seen us provide Clock Tower and Baltic Market is working additional space for 17 digital and on its next big project. Situated on the Digital House tech companies. It is fully let. Of the 17 site of a former car showroom, Liverpool businesses, ten of them came off the waiting list and seven Road Studios will be an 11,000 sq ft mixed-use regeneration were from existing tenants who needed grow-on space. project of offices, studios, creative workspaces and a We are not a speculative developer.” café/restaurant. Miles Pearson, of developer Next Big Originally set up to support the growth of the digital Thing, says the space will create a “vibrant coworking and and creative industries, the community interest company’s hot-desking location” aimed at SMEs and micro-businesses. purpose, says Lawler, is to contribute to the regeneration A pre-planning application was submitted to councillors of the place. “Where value was low, it is now increasing. in September and Pearson says: “Subject to planning, the As a consequence the private sector is now beginning to first offices will be ready early 2021.”

p38-39 lcr work.indd 39 19/11/2019 16:01 SPONSORED BY ROUND TABLE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

A standout candidate Liverpool has become a far easier sell as an investment opportunity, according to Insider’s Liverpool Investment Forum participants.

SPEAKERS TONY REEVES chief executive, Liverpool City Council

RACHEL DICKIE head of urban regeneration, Legal & General Capital

PAUL SARGENT chief executive, Queensberry

SIMON MOSCOW, head of portfolio management, UK real estate, Aberdeen Standard Investments

Tony Reeves BRENDAN SARSFIELD n We are about inclusive growth and therefore our employment, skills, chief executive, Peabody transport, housing agendas are all central to creating a place that is DARRAN LAWLESS thriving and leaves no-one behind. What we can see now with the Liverpool development director, Peel Land & Property Waters scheme starting to pick up pace, is the Knowledge Quarter being connected to the core of the city through the Upper Central JO DAVIS development and the potential for 2.5 million sq ft of development as national head of planning, development and regeneration, Avison Young part of it. At the Pall Mall development in the central business district, there is planning consent for 400,000 sq ft of commercial space. COLIN SINCLAIR chief executive, Colin Sinclair KQ Liverpool and Sciontec Liverpool n If you look at Manchester’s exponential growth it started by selling MARK BOUSFIELD it as alternative to London. It did a good job of attracting foreign director of commercial development direct investment into the city. If we do that now in Liverpool at the and investment, Liverpool City Region point where we are developing property like Paddington Village, Combined Authority like Pall Mall and we can prove that we’ve got that talent pool, I think STEPHEN COWPERTHWAITE we could enter a similar phase of growth. But there are two big principal and managing director – Liverpool, differences between us and Manchester: our focus on health and on Avison Young inclusive growth. Our plans to develop commercial workspace office and SALEEM FAZAL labs are absolutely aligned to developing health and education. partner and head of the Liverpool office, Taylor Wessing Saleem Fazal HELEN LAFFERTY n We did a huge amount of research over two years, looking at cities senior marketing coordinator, Arup like Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol, Belfast, Newcastle and what we found about Liverpool was that there was an enormous amount

p40-46 lcr rt.indd 40 19/11/2019 16:01 p40-46 lcr rt.indd 41 19/11/2019 16:01 ROUND TABLE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

of talent that was untapped. We realised that if we opened in Liverpool we’d offer a local opportunity to that talent, we’d attract the best and engender loyalty. That’s what we’ve managed to do.

Helen Lafferty n Ideas for Liverpool brought together 80 participants from across the city all in the first ten years of their careers. It was a big collaboration “Regeneration is about project looking at how we make the city more engaging, and a good place social wellbeing, to live and work. Ideas ranged from helping people get into their first it’s about economics, careers to improving transportation and connections. Their ideas will be published in a book to be presented to the city. We’re hoping the city it’s about environment” will take some forward as some firmly sit within the public sector but Jo Davis maybe with some public and private sector partnerships.

Jo Davis n Regeneration is about social wellbeing, it’s about economics, it’s about environment. If you don’t look after people socially, if you don’t train them, two of the big strands fall over and you just end up with pretty places. It’s about improving opportunities. It’s about making sure people who are going to use those spaces are informed in writing the policy, rather than trying to shoehorn their ▼ Brendan Sarsfield ideas into a policy that’s so rigid it doesn’t work. The critical ingredient is Tony Reeves moving people around sustainably. Darran Lawless

Darran Lawless n At Liverpool Waters there’s outline planning consent for 20 million sq ft of development. We have around five projects delivered and just under 1,000 homes on site; that’s an investment of £300m. We have planning applications in for bespoke residential developments that can deliver another 500 or so homes, and we are in the process of securing planning consent for our next neighbourhood at Central Docks. There is a lot of work going on around the cruise liner terminal, and the relocation of Everton FC to Bramley Moore Dock.

Brendan Sarsfield n Thamesmead was a town built in the 1960s, most famous for A Clockwork Orange. We are regenerating 6,000 homes there and we own enough land to build 20,000 homes. There’s potential for 11,000 of those to be on the waterfront. The key is transport, if we don’t get the DLR extension there, we can [only] build 6,000 homes. Jo Davis ▲ One thing we’ve learned is that housing is the easy bit. But what is the Paul Sargent retail and commercial offer? Are we a commuter town or are we creating Mark Bousfield local jobs? It’s too big for us on our own, so we’ve brought Lendlease in as a partner. What’s also interesting is the role of politics and the need for greater support. You need a strong mayor and a strong vision.

p40-46 lcr rt.indd 42 19/11/2019 16:01 ROUND TABLE SPONSORED BY LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Mark Bousfield ▼ Saleem Fazal n We’re now much clearer about what we’re good at. Next month we’ll Helen Lafferty sign off the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s footprint in the city. Stephen Other strategic projects for us are the expansion of the medical school; Cowperthwaite a centre of excellence based on smart and sustainable packaging based on Unilever’s strength in materials science; the Maritime Knowledge Centre, and sustainable and advanced use of glass in St Helens. We have £173m of Transforming Cities Fund, and bringing in a new fibre network across the city region.

Rachel Dickie n Since L&G first started having conversations [with Liverpool] the thinking and approach has changed completely. We did an exercise with the British Chambers of Commerce and we visited ten cities across the UK. In Liverpool the language used was quite defeatist. Other cities would talk about how they were going to ‘go for it’. Over the last 12 months, the rhetoric has changed, it’s now: ‘we know where we’re heading and we’ve got the right people to do it’. Next steps for L&G in Liverpool? To invest.

Simon Moscow Colin Sinclair ▲ n We invested in the commercial element of Royal Albert Dock around Rachel Dickie four years ago and at the time, we had very little in Liverpool. There is Simon Moscow all this doom and gloom around retail and leisure but this is one of our best performing schemes. It’s given us confidence to do more in the city. Within the first year since our investment in Albert Dock we invested in office space in St Pauls, we’re buying distribution and warehousing around the region and now looking back again at the city.

Paul Sargent n Liverpool is a standout candidate for further involvement and further investment. The biggest issue I have with some London-based investors “Liverpool is a standout is perception. When you’ve got to write a £100m ticket for Liverpool it’s still a barrier. But that doesn’t dissuade me. I see a really good council candidate for further with a clear message. We see Liverpool as a location we can invest in involvement and residential, into offices, into placemaking.

further investment” Stephen Cowperthwaite Paul Sargent n Liverpool is a global leader. In my time being involved with the MIPIM delegation we’ve changed the dialogue in terms of what we talk about on a national and international stage. It’s moved away from a whole series of projects that may or may not be deliverable to concentrating on what we’re very good at. Liverpool is a far easier sell as an investment opportunity now.

p40-46 lcr rt.indd 43 19/11/2019 16:02 WE ARE CREATORS COLLABORATORS & CHALLENGERS.

WE ARE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Liverpool is at the centre of the UK’s second largest regional economy with access to six million customers.

With a regional economy worth more than £167 billion, over 260,000 businesses, strong connections to global markets and a cost competitive environment it’s easy to see why businesses choose Liverpool City Region.

To find out more about expanding or relocating your business in Liverpool City Region please contact Alice Lamb at Growth Platform on +44 (0)151 237 3919 [email protected]

investliverpool.com investliverpool

VIRTUAL ENGINEERING CENTRE | LIVERPOOL CITY REGION.

p40-46 lcr rt.indd 44 19/11/2019 16:02 WE ARE CREATORS COLLABORATORS & CHALLENGERS.

WE ARE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Liverpool is at the centre of the UK’s second largest regional economy with access to six million customers.

To find out more about expanding or relocating your business in Liverpool City Region please contact Alice Lamb at Growth Platform on +44 (0)151 237 3919 [email protected] investliverpool.com investliverpool

VIRTUAL ENGINEERING CENTRE | LIVERPOOL CITY REGION.

p40-46 lcr rt.indd 45 19/11/2019 16:02 PLAY LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

“There’s a high energy, momentum, regeneration thing going on”

The Liverpool city region has always had a great reputation as a world-class destination but to stay competitive, the ante is being upped

n Major events such as the Terracotta Warriors and the wider city region events programme including the Tall Ships Regatta and the Giants Spectacular, staged in Wirral and Liverpool, helped to contribute to a £4.9bn Liverpool City Region’s visitor economy 5 per cent increase in visitors to the Liverpool city region in 2018. Couple this with the increased supply of hotel beds across Liverpool over the past five years and it’s little wonder that the number of staying 67.3 million visitors was also up last year. visitors There is more hotel development under way. In Liverpool, architects practice Brock Carmichael has released designs for the proposed 57,000 jobs 200-bed, ten-storey, four-star hotel adjacent to Liverpool’s planned (2018) Cruise Liner Terminal (CLT), part of Plans for the Cruise Liner Hotel the city’s waterfront regeneration. The hotel will operate in conjunction Bliss Hotel with the CLT on cruise days and work independently on other days. Its facilities include a grand lobby, bar at ground level, panoramic views, conference facilities, car and coach parking and pick up/drop off. John Cassell, partner at Brock Carmichael says: “The continued success of Liverpool’s cruise industry sees the return of large cruise ships like Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria to Liverpool. It is one of the most visual signs of Liverpool city region’s economic renaissance over the past decade. “In 2019 there will be over 75 visits from cruise ships, often holding over 4,000 passengers and crew. Liverpool should and can be a ‘must see’ destination for visitors from all over the world and by improving quayside cruise facilities, the city is planning for the future. A world-class hotel is essential.” In Sefton, Daniel Broch, the founder of the Everyman Cinema chain, is behind the Bliss Hotel in Southport, a comprehensive, £15m redevelopment

p46-47 LCR play.indd 46 19/11/2019 16:03 PLAY LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

of the old Ramada Plaza hotel. Broch says: “We’ve created new hotel areas in the old hotel. We’ve refurbished all the rooms on the top floor in the new Bliss style, with the fifth floor looking out to sea. All the common

areas have been done. We’ve created the Bliss Kitchen where the old Shakespeare North restaurant was, and we’ve created a new roof garden. There was a little- used terrace which we’ve turned into a 3,000 sq ft roof garden.” Next on his list is continuing work on the first floor and reopening the All the world’s multi-function room – which would make a great wedding venue, he says. For Southport, this means that all the key component parts are a stage now in order. “For the first time ever, the entire waterfront site is New museums and theatres under the same ownership and control,” he says. “The hotel and the on the cards for the region waterfront were never in the same hands, neither was the operation of the STCC [Southport Theatre and Convention Centre]. We’re partners n A £11.8m project expected to attract with Sefton Council, who are the asset owners of STCC.” almost 200,000 visitors a year to For the past 18 months, Bliss Investment Partners has been working Wirral’s waterfront is a step closer to to put together a development plan for Southport’s waterfront, reality after Eureka! The National which will see it become more connected with the town centre. The Children’s Museum secured £3m of plans are a close collaboration between BIP, Sefton Council and Norman funding to open its second attraction. Wallis of Pleasureland. The proposals, approved by Wirral “There is a high energy, momentum, regeneration thing going on to Council, will see the museum take over reaffirm Southport as the North West’s coastal location. Southport the existing Spaceport building to create needs to be doing inventive things; the ante has to be upped.” an attraction for six to 14-year-olds, with Working together, Broch sees this vision as a five-to-ten year regeneration an additional area for the under-fives. project. The redevelopment of the waterfront will complement and The site is set to open in 2021. connect with Southport’s Townscape Heritage Initiative, approved in Scheduled to open a year later in September 2019, and emerging Prescot is the Shakespeare North plans for the town centre as Playhouse. As well as forming partnerships part of the £25m Stronger with schools, universities, colleges and Towns Fund. Sefton is already conservatoires, the Playhouse is set to home to 17 golf courses, Aintree host a variety of comedy, music and Racecourse, and is famed for its other performances. The project is coastline – it attracts 9.2 million being funded by £12.2m from Knowsley visitors a year. Council, £10m from Liverpool City Region Broch believes the demand is Combined Authority, £5m from central there to support the ambition government and £250,000 from the Ken and the next steps are to find Dodd Charitable Foundation Trust. more collaborators to bring it to Bars and eateries have opened in life and formalise all the plans on Prescot in preparation for the 350-seat one strategic framework. theatre. The council has confirmed plans “We had a jigsaw puzzle with for a hotel and investment into transport, all the pieces thrown down access and public art. It says Shakespeare on the table but now we’ve North will add more than £10m of value got some corners and some to the local economy through secondary borders. It’s starting to look like spending on leisure and accommodation. something.”

p46-47 LCR play.indd 47 19/11/2019 16:03 JB_Leitch_Insider_185x 250_Layout 1 10/10/2019 11:24 Page 2

Real Estate Lease drafting, extensions & variations Licenses and Assignments Commercial Acquisitions, Sales and Transfers Lease Renewals & Dilapidations PRS Enfranchisement & Right to (z) Manage

Residential

Z. jbleitch.co.uk

p48-50 lcr think.indd 48 19/11/2019 16:03 JB_Leitch_Insider_185x 250_Layout 1 10/10/2019 11:24 Page 2

THINK LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

JB Leitch are specialist solicitors Litigation for property and asset managers. Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery Whatever the tenure and whether Ground Rent Arrears it’s residential, mixed-use or Recovery Service Charge Arrears commercial – if you manage it, Proof of concept Recovery we can help. Breach of Covenant Liverpool’s knowledge economy is driving new developments across the city region Forfeiture Fire Safety Major Works and Section 20 n Before taking the helm as chief executive of Knowledge Quarter Technical and Complex Liverpool, Colin Sinclair worked in a variety of property, regeneration claims and inward investment roles. Among them was chief executive at Manchester’s investment agency MIDAS between 2005 and 2010. Real Estate The Spine, under construction, What Manchester did well in the late 1990s, he says, was that big Lease drafting, extensions & and how it will look in 2021 variations employers realised that “graduates need jobs”. Licenses and Assignments He says: “That enabled the inward investment Commercial Acquisitions, Sales and brokers to sell the story and Manchester grew Transfers exponentially.” Liverpool, he says, is starting to Lease Renewals & see that opportunity too. Dilapidations There’s talent in the region already, with PRS more than 54,000 students attending its three Enfranchisement & Right to universities. But where does that talent go after (z) Manage university? Sinclair sees an opportunity and says he is working on the 2020-2025 Knowledge Quarter strategy. Liverpool has a competitive edge when it comes to pricing. In Manchester, office space is around £30 per sq ft, while in Liverpool it ranges from £20 to £24 per sq ft. Sinclair Residential acknowledges that there is a lack of grade-A office space in the central business district. However, steps are being taken in the right direction. October saw Kier Property and CTP secure planning consent for the Pall Mall office development, while at the Knowledge Quarter, the Spine building is scheduled to open in 2021 with the Royal College of Physicians as anchor tenant. “The Spine will give confidence to build more,” says Sinclair. Also making a significant footprint in the Knowledge Quarter is the Coventry-based Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), which is opening a new facility with a staff of more than 60 at Liverpool Science Park with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority set to “The Spine will give approve a £15m grant to expand facilities further in the Sci-Tech Daresbury confidence to Campus. Sci-Tech Daresbury is already home to the Science and Z. Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Hartree Centre. Earlier this year it build more” jbleitch.co.uk announced an industry 4.0 collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries Colin Sinclair and Atos to launch an Industrial Digitalisation Accelerator (IDA) to offer businesses a practical, collaborative space. The partnership brings together experts in computing, analytics and the Internet of Things to enable businesses of all sizes the chance to produce proof of concepts,

p48-50 lcr think.indd 49 19/11/2019 16:03 THINK LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

to use modelling, simulation and sensor technology through the Made Sandon Smarter programme. One of the businesses that started out on the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus is LPW Technology. Since then the business expanded into a 20,000 sq ft unit in Runcorn, and more recently a 98,000 sq ft unit in Widnes. Its growth has not gone unnoticed. In 2018, the business was acquired for $81m (about £62m) by Carpenter Technology Corporation. Growing from a one-man operation when it was established by Dr Phil Carroll, LPW Technology develops and supplies its products to the additive manufacturing industry. Now employing about 80 “In Liverpool you have workers, the business operates from a manufacturing facility in Widnes, with additional processing operations in Pennsylvania, US. Having the potential to do already more than doubled its operational capacity in the Liverpool city stuff that is globally region, it has planning permission to double its footprint in Widnes. Another expanding business in the borough is Sandon Global. Exporting significant” to 53 countries from its UK laser engraving and engineering facility Ben Todd in Runcorn, the business is developing a new-build facility to be opened in 2020. The new UK headquarters will provide extra capacity and contain a research and development function. It will enable Sandon to create up to 10 apprentices each year plus 30 skilled jobs over the next five years. “My dream project” Why Ben Todd jumped at the chance of returning to work in the Liverpool city region

n Returning to the Liverpool city region to produces hydrogen for industrial customers work after 20 years working outside the area in the region and further afield. was a chance Ben Todd couldn’t pass up. Todd was in London when he received the The chief executive of clean-tech business call from Mark Griffin at BOC. “This is my Arcola Energy has taken on a 15,000 sq ft dream project. It brings me back into the newly built unit for expansion into Knowsley. region.” He is due to open his factory in early He says the region has “a national, possibly a 2020 and starts taking orders for buses in global leading position on low carbon – all the April. The buses should be on the road within stuff we work in”. 12 months and Todd sees Arcola employing Arcola Energy supports vehicle manufacturers more than 50 people in the region. “We expect to develop, manufacture and deploy there to be a really good ongoing business zero-emission commercial vehicles. It is working doing low carbon and clean transport [from in partnership with BOC in St Helens and the Liverpool]. From that base we can then Liverpool City Region Combined Authority export across the UK and internationally.” to trial hydrogen buses. The bus project will Todd says: “In Liverpool you have the potential see the creation of a new hydrogen refuelling to do stuff that is globally significant but station at the BOC plant in St Helens, which in a place small enough to get things done.”

p48-50 lcr think.indd 50 19/11/2019 16:03 BROCK CARMICHAEL

WE ENJOY BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AS MUCH AS WE LOVE TO DESIGN. THE QUALITY OF OUR WORK, OUR PEOPLE AND OUR REPUTATION SPEAK FOR US.

www.brockcarmichael.co.uk @BrockCarmichael

Please ask us about our current and stand-out projects; Housing – over 1,500 homes across the North West. PRS – The Keel, QD2, Hive City Docks, Sutton Point Croydon. Leisure – Baltic Hotel, Puffin’ Rooms, Liverpool Cruise Liner Hotel. Education – University of Chester, City of Liverpool College, Ruthin School. Regeneration – Liverpool ONE, Great George Street Development, Fleetwood Quays.

p30-31pxx_Brock lcr cover.inddCarmichael_13287.indd 30 1 19/11/201908/11/2019 16:0011:20