MIPIM: Birmingham investors demand results from Cannes
Birmingham is caught in an investment conundrum, according to the city’s investment and property professionals.
And they have called on the Birmingham delegation at MIPIM 2010 in Cannes to fight tooth and nail for inward investment and the billions that is still needed to beef up the region’s attractiveness to global companies.
City Council leader Coun Mike Whitby has hailed the next ten years as the Decade of Delivery, citing projects such as the Birmingham Gateway development of New Street Station and the Library of Birmingham which are now underway.
But the city’s investment professionals argue that if the infrastructure isn’t there – and Birmingham still has some way to go – then it is hard to attract inward investors. But how do you get the millions needed to improve the roads, rail, airport and broadband offering?
The light on the horizon is that HS2 has been announced and should be starting to make a difference by 2018, and this week saw the announcement that the final £25 million piece in the funding jigsaw required to finance the all-important runway extension at Birmingham International Airport has been found.
Birmingham’s theme this year at MIPIM is about Birmingham going into a “Decade of Delivery”, but with public sector spending cuts expected from whoever wins the coming General Election that is going to get more difficult.
The city has a vast shopping list of projects it would like to get started, and, though the private sector is very active, some will need central government kick-start cash.
There are hopes for progress on schemes like Paradise Circus, the old Post & Mail building and elements of Eastside.
The council is trumpeting Bordesley Park, totalling 37 acres to the east of the city centre, and the “jewel in the crown”, the strategically important Southern Gateway area of 150 acres which has at its heart the wholesale markets – due to relocate in the near future.
The giant 198 acre Ladyport area which surrounds the Icknield Port Loop site is at present a shaded area on a wishlist.
But in some cases the picture is not quite so positive - there is little sign of life over the likes of Arena Central and the V Building. There have, however, been significant investment successes.
Deutsche Bank and HSBC have announced they will be creating a total of 600 back office jobs in Birmingham.
Public services provider Amey chose the city for its international design hub and is rapidly building to 700 staff.
Some Whitehall posts have moved from London to Birmingham in the form of the Big Lottery Fund, English Heritage, the Gambling Commission and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The arrival of the Office of Legal Complaints is further good news.
However, every time there is a win, Birmingham gets knocked back – in recent years the auto industry has suffered grievously, with the demise of MG Rover’s Longbridge plant, the recent announcement by Tata that one of its Solihull or Castle Bromwich operations is to go, and the collapse of van maker LDV.
The Kraft takeover has put a question mark over the future of Cadbury. Yet Birmingham has much going for it.
