Recession or no recession, Plymouth has plenty of reasons for optimism as the city’s Mackay Vision gradually takes shape. Kurt Jacobs reports on a year of progress.
Few people are likely to mistake
Plymouth for Barcelona, but the city
did turn to the capital of Catalonia for
inspiration for its biggest transformation in
half a century.
If you talk to leading business and civic lights in Plymouth today, they still talk a lot about the Mackay Vision. Launched more than six years ago, the strategy was developed by architect David Mackay – who renovated Barcelona’s port area – to transform the Devon city. The vision is to create a thriving metropolis with a growing population, a knowledge economy, big buildings and a new waterfront.
Cathy Francis, of property agency King Sturge, says: “The city wants to increase its population from 250,000 to 300,000 by 2026, the idea being that if you have a bigger population you get a higher order of goods and services to promote. The Mackay Vision was brought in by Plymouth City Council to raise its profile and win the inward investment needed to grow the population. And it’s working – the city has been flexible with developers in getting investment and development away. It’s an authority with open doors and a real idea of where it’s going.”
Guided by the Mackay Vision, Plymouth has plenty to celebrate: a host of landmark buildings either built or in construction; one of Britain’s biggest universities; a new football stadium on the way – which may hostWorld Cup games; an Olympic-sized pool; transport investment; and major waterside developments. There is even a concerted Facebook campaign to have Plymouth named the capital city of Devon.
Now the city is keen to tell the wider world about its progress. In mid-February 2010 Plymouth City Development Company (PCDC), the public-private partnership overseeing regeneration, appointed international consultancy Lloyd Northover to create a new brand identity for Plymouth. Lloyd Northover has form – it has been involved in rebranding projects in places as diverse as Belfast, Dubai and the Black Country. The consultancy will lead the project to design a ‘toolkit’ of brand components that campaigns. To really understand what the brand agency will be selling, and how Plymouth functions as a regional business centre, it is necessary to remember the role that water plays: not just the sea that has defined its naval history, but the two rivers that run through the city.
“The topography of the city has had a real effect on business and investment,” says King Sturge’s Ifan Rhys-Jones. “Being carved up by two rivers and the sea has caused unusual growth and means we don’t have a dedicated Central Business District (CBD). Most professional business are housed in small office blocks or above shops, even though they serve a huge area.
“Plymouth is also one of the few large cities in the UK not to have had a construction glut in the past few years, meaning we have a limited supply of commercial space.” Stephen Hurlance, development director at PCDC, adds: “Because we don’t have a CBD, we have no major office occupiers. However, we are looking at creating a CBD at North Cross, by the railway station. This will be a major scheme with the potential for 1.2 million sq ft of office space. A CBD will give us the chance to attract occupiers needing 50,000 to 100,000 sq ft of space.”
The lack of inward investment in Plymouth is a sore point: in 2009 the city just missed out to Newcastle on getting the Marine Management Organisation to relocate 200 jobs from London, as well as failing to secure a major private sector relocation.
Also in: March 2010
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