Our second edition of UK Business Insider provides an up-to-date insight into the health of the UK regional economy following one of the worst recessions in history.
In the following pages we will explore just how major towns and cities across the country have been hit by, and responded to, the downturn and identify key areas of growth for the future. Last year’s inaugural edition of this publication explored the early impact of recession on the UK economy. Inward investment plans were at risk, urban regeneration schemes in the balance and job prospects unknown. Twelve months later, and the R word is still on everyone’s minds. Traditional economic strengths have been hit, development projects shelved and the jobless total has grown to well over two million.
But out of bad comes good; and some are even touting the current economic readjustment as the next industrial revolution – the point when the map of corporate UK is, once again, redrawn. Up and down the country there is a clear and fundamental shift going on, as companies compete in a global market place and new industries emerge to beckon the dawn of a knowledge-based, hi-tech economy. Manufacturers looking to rebound will increasingly exploit the value they can add, not just the widgets they can make; and the growth of creative, digital and technology clusters offer balance to the declining power of financial services.
From Manchester’s Media City, to Silicon Fen in Cambridge, and Newcastle’s Science City, the shape of corporate UK is changing. A good example of this shift is the Nissan car factory in Sunderland, which has been a local economic driver for more than 20 years and praised for its productivity and efficiency. In January 2009, after being rocked by a worldwide decline in the automotive markets, 1,200 jobs were cut in what has been one of the toughest markets ever seen by the sector. But every cloud, or Nissan in this case, has a silver lining. The plant has been earmarked by the government as a national hub for the creation of electric vehicles, jobs have been created, and an operation that started the year in reverse is now looking ahead to what the future could bring.
Rupert Cornford, editor rupert.cornford@newsco.com