The ones that got away
Momentum has carried projects through while the recession has halted others.
The North West economy has suffered a number of knocks to its confidence during 2009, but the story of the year has been the projects that were completed before the rot set in, and those that haven’t been finished as a result.
In previous recessions Liverpool’s economy has been ravaged. But this time around the city has been able to enjoy the last legacy of the good times with the launch of the Liverpool One shopping centre, opened by developer Grosvenor in 2008. There have also been significant improvements to the central office core, which took place during the Capital of Culture year and lifted the city to new heights. The new Arena and Convention Centre, which has put Liverpool on the map for national conferences, has also had a strong first 12 months of operation.
Manchester has been populating its Spinningfields business district with relocations by firms such as BNY Mellon, BDO Stoy Hayward, Pinsent Masons and Baker Tilly, soon to be joined by Barclays Commercial Bank. Progress towards the relocation of large chunks of the BBC at Salford Quays continues unhindered, despite bleatings in sections of the media trade press and cosseted corners of the corporation.
Corporately, the Co-operative Group has been on an upward trajectory since the merger in 2007, which brought the two biggest societies together. The good sense of that deal has served the group well as it added the Britannia Building Society to its financial portfolio and installed able chief executive Neville Richardson at the helm of the much bolstered Co-operative Financial Services. The group’s creation of a new headquarters complex is also set to define the next part of the city centre to be regenerated. The development is set to be an exemplar of green building and is North West supporting the clear message behind the group’s ethical stance.
But what of the schemes that have stalled? In Preston, the Tithebarn development has been thrown into doubt by the withdrawal of Grosvenor, one of the partners in the scheme. Yet the project is emblematic and has pitched the region’s newest city against neighbours Blackpool and Blackburn.
Liverpool’s maritime sector has been consolidated and prospered in recent years. As the owner of the docks Peel has been an ambitious developer, but the recession has put to rest any immediate plans to build a post-Panamax terminal, to host larger ocean-going container vessels.
Several sites around Manchester remain unoccupied and others lie undeveloped, but the public sector has mopped up office capacity at schemes such as Piccadilly Place (the ever busy Insolvency Service), Central Park (Greater Manchester Police) and First Street (Manchester City Council).
If you analyse all the statistics for the year, it reads like a rotten one. Volumes of mergers and acquisitions have been down. Property prices have trundled along. Profit warnings have been regular. But if there is one metaphor that sums up the power in the North West region in the new era it is this: it is a legacy of 12 years of a free-spending, profligate Labour government, obsessed with icons and driven by bold statements – a Dome in every town. The North West has several. The National Football Museum at Preston is one. The Urbis centre in Manchester is another. One is to be closed and moved into the other. Manchester wins. Enough said.
Michael Taylor
Editor of North West Business Insider