Date: Wed 18th November, 2009
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 90
With three major developments still going ahead, Bury’s looking well placed. Insider convened a panel debate to discuss how it got there and where it’s going now.
Robert Hough, chairman of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, was a fitting keynote speaker at
In a town that he said “has more construction than anywhere I can think of bar MediaCity and the Olympics site”, Hough said there are reasons to be cheerful: “We have a more diverse economy than others and towns like Bury, with the Team Bury initiative, have shown how enlightened public-private working can work. Although there may be a further readjustment next year with VAT increases and other factors, we have turned the corner - the purchasing index is on the move, companies are restocking and housing is recovering.”
He pointed to four key topics that will both set this recession apart from others and will be instrumental in recovery: the growth of the Asian markets; the speed of communications, which had played its part in accelerating the fall (could it play as big a part in the rise?); the greater weight of universities, which gives the ability to better capitalise on intellectual property; and how to deal with climate change.
Ask Developments' chief executive Ken Knott reinforced Hough’s view that recover will not be construction-led: “My concern is that sentiment is running way ahead of the statistics. There’s not a bank in the universe would lend on speculative development right now and it doesn’t look like 2010 will be any better than 2009 – we’re probably looking at 2012 before things are very much better. But for those that have the ability to deliver product to reach the market at that time there are great opportunities.”
Fellow developer Dominic Pozzoni, a director at Property Alliance Group (PAG), said: “It’s difficult, but we’re pleased to say we’re close to doing some deals at The Green in Bury, there’s a good level of interest from local companies. Hopefully we’ll be in a position to speculatively develop some units in the next year on the back of some deals. Bury and Greater Manchester do have better prospects than other places – our joint venture partner in the Axis in central Manchester, Development Securities, say they won’t take on such a scheme anywhere but London or Manchester right now.”
Also on the panel was Bob Bibby, leader of Bury Council and vice chairman of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. He said: “We do have an advantage over other city regions, having worked towards the pilot status for some time we’re leaps and bounds ahead. One of the key areas we’ll be able to be more responsive on the ground is with skills and education.”
In response to an audience question on whether the focus on the town centre – where Ask, PAG and Thornfield Properties with The Rock are all on-site – had meant other boroughs had been neglected, Bibby replied: “It’s probably true that over the years more could have been done, but we’re trying to overcome that. URBED has been commissioned to rework the plans for Radcliffe as the plans developed before the recession won’t work now.”
The final panelist was Matt Button, director of DS Emotion, responsible for much of the branding of Team Bury. He said: “The strength of partnership here is that it’s not just the property developers, but the police, the educational authorities and more. Thornfield have in place a big programme of events for 2010 that will all help towards maintaining footfall and supporting inward investment.”
