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LIVERPOOL CITY REGION CHESTER MANCHESTER

Mar-Apr 2011

MOVE COMMERCIAL The north-west’s guide to property and business

Issue 22

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON? Public sector cuts NO CANNES DO Exclusive pics inside INTERVIEW

NICHOLAS HAI Chief Executive Arrowcroft

SHANGHAI-LIVERPOOL The key players

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www.albertdock.com

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Issue twenty-two Move Commercial

Contents News 06 Peel’s International Trade Centre unveiled 07 Liverpool City Council puts land and buildings on the market 08 New Brighton’s seafront development 09 Skelmersdale College takes shape 10 Pastures new for Venmore 11 Grade A site for tenants 14 Businesses get ready 16 Nobles on target to grow 17 Manchester’s new culture hub 18 Supermarkets flock to Haldane shopping centre 19 No more Netto

09

Welcome to Move Commercial A few short months ago, Liverpool was the centre of attention in Shanghai - with the promise of major investment on the horizon Move Commercial looks at the key players behind the Liverpool Shanghai partnership and upcoming projects. Liverpool’s waterfront was also the topic of conversation with Arrowcroft Chief Executive

Nicholas Hai, developer of Albert Dock, whose influence on Liverpool’s regeneration is paramount. Entrepreneur Tim Bacon’s mark on Liverpool and the North West whetted our appetite at the launch of new and exciting restaurants, and John Downes unveiled the long-awaited festival gardens in Otterspool, closed to the public for nearly three decades.

Features 13 Bitesize Thinking Food for thought 24 Entrepreneur Tim Bacon of Living Ventures 28 Rising Star Paul Rodgers of RMJM Architects 30 Mover and Shaker John Downes of Langtree 34 Lunch Debate Council’s budget cuts 40 Focus Beyond Liverpool - Shanghai 42 Founding Father Nicholas Hai of Arrowcroft 46 Ask the panel Attracting investment to the North West

Key Events

42

11

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move publishing ltd Advertising Director Fiona Barnet Tel 0151 709 3871 Account Manager Jo Tait Tel 0151 709 3871 Editorial Team Dina Karim. Email: dina@movepublishing.co.uk Tel: 0151 709 3871 Emma Pinch. Email: emma@movepublishing.co.uk Tel: 0151 709 3871

Designer Rob Whyte. Email: rob@movepublishing.co.uk Published by Move Publishing Ltd Directors David O’Brien, Kim O’Brien, Fiona Barnet Printed by Precision Colour Printers Ltd Distribution Liaison Manager Barbara Troughton Tel: 0151 733 5492 Mobile: 077148 14662

20 No Cannes Do exclusive pics Professional Liverpool 26 Breakfast at Chapel Street Room with a view 33 Knowsley Chamber of Commerce Property & construction networking 38 The property games The elites network

Careers 44 Appointments Property movers and shakers

Copyright Move Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced copied or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in any information storage or retrieval system without the publishers written permission.

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published, Move Publishing can accept no responsibility for the veracity of the claims made by advertisers.

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News Move Commercial

£150 million Project Jennifer moves forward LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL has officially made the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) needed to progress the £150 million regeneration of Great Homer Street, signalling another major step forward for the project.

The CPO will enable the council and its development partner St. Modwen to move ahead with the acquisition of land needed to deliver the communityled regeneration project. The scheme will transform the 45-acre site in North Liverpool, creating retail and

employment floor space, new homes, improved public spaces and new community and leisure facilities. The scheme, known as Project Jennifer, will also feature a 110,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s supermarket - the largest food store to be built in Liverpool to

Great Homer Street regeneration

PEEL INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE A £130M Northwest international trade centre proposal has been put forward by the Peel Group.

The new business concept derives from the business links and progress that the Peel Group made through the Liverpool Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. This facility would be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and the largest and most sustainable wholesale Trade Centre in Europe. The sites currently identified are on West Float in Birkenhead and near Ellesmere Port on the site of the former Bridgewater Paper Mill, now disused.

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Wirral Council Leader, Cllr Jeff Green welcomed the news that Peel are looking at West Float as one of two locations. He said: “The construction of the Peel International Trade Centre will act as a catalyst for other investors and fits perfectly into Wirral’s and the Coalition Government’s ambition for growth and creating the private sector jobs that will re-balance our local economy. This investment has the potential to run into hundreds of millions of pounds and would create thousands of jobs for local people.”

The building would be a two level facility with a ground floor building

footprint of 1 million sq ft. This would enable over 1,000 companies from countries such as China, India, Korea and other emerging economies, to exhibit, sell, assemble and distribute their goods into the UK, Irish and European markets.

Peel ITC would showcase an unlimited variety of high quality goods to the wholesale market that have been manufactured overseas. This would serve not just as a trading ‘Gateway’ into the domestic market but to the whole of Europe. Goods would include but not be restricted to: electrical items, textiles and clothing, kitchenware, furniture, fixtures, fittings, building materials and more.

Peel ITC would include showroom and promotion spaces, warehousing/storage and assembly facilities, and would benefit from excellent transport connectivity via

date and will act as a catalyst for the wider redevelopment of North Liverpool.

Michelle Taylor, regional director at St. Modwen, said: “This decision is another major milestone for the community-led regeneration of Great Homer Street. There is still a great deal of work to be done but, with the CPO process officially underway and providing there are no major objections received, the scheme could start on site as early as 2012.”

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Kennedy said: “The community has needed something like this for a long time, so it’s fantastic that we are now a significant step closer to it becoming a reality. It will help transform North Liverpool, provide vital new facilities and create more than 1,000 jobs. I am optimistic that we will now see this scheme progressing very quickly.”

Once completed, Project Jennifer will deliver a new food store, 80,000 sq ft of additional retail units, 80,000 sq ft of light industrial units, 480 new homes, and 40,000 sq ft of community facilities, including a new market and community health centre.

road, rail, water and air.

The decision on which location to progress is clearly for a later date but Peel is presently pursuing both sites by seeking the necessary consents from the separate Local Authorities who are generally supportive in principle. It is hoped these will be in place by Autumn 2011.

Cllr Jeff Green

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Move Commercial News Scandinavian hotel redevelopment

Scandinavian Hotel

THE FORMER Scandinavian Hotel is set to be redeveloped after plans were given the green light by Liverpool City Council.

The site in the heart of Liverpool’s Chinatown will be converted into a 180-bedroom hotel, bar and restaurant, expected to be a Marriot Courtyard Hotel.

Paul Houghton, development director at Downing, commented: “We are pleased to receive planning approval from Liverpool City Council for our proposals to redevelopment the Scandinavian Hotel. Downing has always believed in the potential for this site to offer something unique in this part of the city centre and we’re looking forward to progressing the development in due course.”

English Heritage welcomed the proposals to bring the buildings back into use. From a historic environment point of view, they are pleased to see the safeguarding of the existing buildings and their incorporation into the hotel scheme.

Liverpool City Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport, commented: “The hotel proposal is very much welcomed as important and much-needed investment in the area.

This key ‘gateway’ building has been vacant since c.1980, with the compulsory acquisition commenced by the Ropewalks Partnership in 1999 failing to deliver the regeneration of the site.

“The building’s re-use was envisaged as a catalyst for wider area regeneration, which has progressed albeit on a small scale through the heritage-led ‘Creative Ropewalks’ grant and enforcement programme. Delivery of this scheme will boost this on-going investment activity in the area, contributing to the economic and physical regeneration of the city centre.”

Liverpool council sites on the market LIVERPOOL City Council plans to sell off 20 major sites to encourage investment from developers.

The properties it plans to sell includes Former Toxteth Community College, Falkner Street, Calderstones Mansion House, Coach House and Stable Yard, Former Rodney Youth Centre, Mulberry Street and many more. The council have decided to sell the sites following the withdrawal of Central Government capital grants for supporting development - it is now hoping the sites will be turned into housing, business and leisure developments. The full-colour prospectus of key development sites are currently being advertised at the Liverpool in London embassy, in London.

Councillor leader Joe Anderson commented: “The bottom line is the council, irrespective of the tough times we are in, has to get on with the marketing and selling the city to encourage people to come and invest. We have big opportunities here in Liverpool and big ambitions for the city.

Doing nothing is not an option.”

The prospectus was launched as part of the opening of the embassy in London and will be used as a key marketing tool by embassy staff. It will also form part of the Council's wider package to help attract new investment into the City and a proactive marketing strategy will underpin the prospectus in order to drive up awareness and interest from developers.

Dale Street site

Calderstones Mansion House

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News Development

New Brighton’s latest development LIVERPOOL-BASED developers Neptune have entered a new phase of the New Brighton seafront redevelopment with the original plans of an apartment retail block redrawn to become an entirely residential development.

Danny Hynde from Neptune Esplanade commented: “The revised application follows a review of the scheme aimed at improving the design and quality of the residential element. We have increased the size of the units, and the new scheme enables us to ensure that every apartment has an external balcony, sea view and a dedicated parking space.

“There was evidence that a single use residential building would be more attractive to prospective buyers and it’s important that we are sensitive to market conditions and amend plans accordingly. There was also an increasingly strong view emerging locally that any new retail element in New Brighton should preferably be accommodated in the main part of our development or in Victoria Road. Our evidence is that

New Brighton seafront CGI

neighbouring residents prefer a residential building that has been redesigned to conserve views rather than the original mixed-use proposal.”

The apartments at Victoria Gardens, off Marine Promenade, were part of the £18m phase one of Neptune’s plans for New Brighton and included a new town square with

Ellesmere Quay plans unveiled Ellesmere Port’s waterfront

PEEL LAND and Property has unveiled its new vision for the future of Ellesmere Port’s waterfront.

The Ellesmere Quays scheme will include a mix of quality homes alongside leisure and tourism related development, local community facilities, an ecology park and a promenade alongside the Manchester Ship Canal – all benefitting from sweeping views across the Ship Canal and the Mersey Estuary. The first phases are proposed adjacent to Lower Mersey Street. Improvements will also be made to the existing historic Docks Conservation Area, aimed at making the area into a more popular and vibrant destination for existing residents, visitors and the wider community.

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Peel Land and Property, The Waterways Trust and Cheshire West and Chester Council are working in partnership with the Ellesmere Port Development Board to help to transform Ellesmere Port’s waterfront and promote the area as a destination for residents, tourists and visitors alike.

There are also a number of potential new development sites adjacent to the Conservation Area, including the existing Ellesmere Port Docks site, to the north of Lower Mersey Street.

Additionally, Merseytravel’s Manchester Ship Canal cruises, leaving Liverpool for Salford in Manchester, will stop at Ellesmere Port’s waterfront from this summer.

cafés and 37 new apartments.

Although now in the second phase of the project, the Victoria Gardens apartments have not been built yet.

The new plans are for 24 substantial apartments, each with a car parking space plus 13 parking spaces reserved for the theatre next door. Instead of one and twobedroom homes, the new scheme

will include larger apartments with up to four bedrooms, potentially making them more attractive to families.

The planning application is due for consideration soon and if approved work will begin following the completion of the second stage of the regeneration, expected to be completed in August 2011.

REGENERATING WIDNES WIDNES regeneration is set to continue with a new business park planned.

Widnes Regeneration, a joint venture between St. Modwen Properties and Halton Borough Council, is bringing a 12-acre development site in Widnes to market. The site, known as Harrier Business Park, will offer bespoke design and build opportunities with units available from 20,000 sq ft to 80,000 sq ft.

Located on Gorsey Lane, Harrier Business Park plans to provide the ideal relocation opportunity for businesses affected by the Mersey Gateway crossing - the proposed sixlane toll bridge connecting Widnes and Runcorn. Situated within the Widnes Waterfront Economic Development Zone, the site has excellent transport links to both the M62 and A557.

Leader of Halton Borough Council, Councillor Rob Polhill, commented: “This is another positive move in the regeneration of the Widnes Waterfront. With its great location

and excellent accommodation it is set to be a very attractive proposition for businesses.”

In the last decade, Widnes Regeneration has completely transformed and revitalised the town centre, acting as a catalyst for substantial new investment in adjoining areas. Ongoing development at Heron and Harrier Business Parks and Venture Fields Leisure Park is now building on this success, revitalising the Widnes Waterfront.

Dixon Webb and GVA Grimley are joint agents for the scheme.

Heron Business Park

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Development News

SKELMERSDALE COLLEGE TAKES SHAPE THIS IS the stunning new shape of the £42 million Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College.

Due for completion this August, the building represents the first phase in the regeneration of Skelmersdale town centre.

The college, which will provide a state of the art campus for 4,000 students, boasts facilities including professional real life working environments like a

hairdressing salon and digital recording studios, which will be available for public use.

A team from UK-based international architects firm RMJM designed the building, led

by Principal Paul Rodgers.

Paul Rodgers said the new campus will contrast the old with the new, bring the “beautiful Tawd Valley” landscape closer to the town and

provide a strong identity for the college within the new town.

Sustainability, both social and environmental lay at the heart of the design.

The building is designed to achieve the highest level of environmental rating for buildings, which is known as BREAMM, and the new campus has already secured an excellent rating. The idea behind achieving

Skelmersdale and Ormskirk College CGI

DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR FORMBY A POTENTIAL future residential development has been identified for Barratt Strategic in Formby, Liverpool.

The land and planning team from GL Hearn have identified 30-acres of land north of Liverpool Road. Acting on behalf of Barratt the team subsequently negotiated terms for the option to buy the site from current landowner, TR Silcock.

The Barratt Strategic department actively seeks new strategic land leads for a wide variety of schemes, which include greenfield extensions to existing settlements, stand alone new settlement proposals and long term brownfield redevelopments.

Following securing the site, the team plan to continue working with GL Hearn.

the green status is to minimise the use of energy through a number of measures. One of these ideas will be to collect rainfall from the buildings to flush the toilets instead of using fresh water.

Paul Rodgers said: “Our proposals for Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College will provide a wholly sustainable campus at an environmental, social and economic level. The college will form a major component of the town’s renaissance and as well as its education function it will serve as a much needed social hub that can be enjoyed by students, staff and the local community.”

RMJM has recently completed education projects for schools, colleges and universities all around the UK such as the Faculty of Life Health and Social Science for Edinburgh Napier University, University Campus Suffolk, University of Hertfordshire the Forum, and the Buckinghamshire New University Gateway building.

• Turn to page 28 for a full interview with Paul Rodgers.

Manchester Water Street master plan published DRIVERS JONAS DELOITTE has advised on a master plan to regenerate Manchester’s Water Street area with the creation of a mixed-use scheme, which could create up to 2,000 jobs.

The framework outlines plans for the development following ITV’s relocation to Media City and the Coronation Street set to Trafford Wharf. It proposes to include a range of residential and business properties as well as a hotel, retail and high quality public realm space. The master plan is designed to connect the site with Castlefield, Spinningfields and the remainder of the city centre together with St George’s Island and Central Salford.

The vision is for a new city centre, mixed-use destination with high quality public realm, which responds to the areas features of listed viaducts, canal basins and rivers.

Drivers Jonas Deloitte has been working closely with landowners self storage company Big Yellow, ITV, developers Crosby Lend Lease and Manchester City Council to design a framework that supports the area’s wider regeneration objectives.

John Cooper, Director of Planning at Drivers Jonas Deloitte Manchester, said: “The Water Street regeneration framework shows how the area can be transformed in a way that will provide significant benefits to the local communities and will complement wider regeneration objectives for the city centre.

“Given its location, we expect that the scheme will offer the opportunity for competitively priced commercial accommodation to be made available on terms designed to attract small and medium sized enterprises, and generate entrepreneurial activity. It will provide an affordable ‘close to

centre’ offer, for which there is an identifiable demand and will generate a market in the city for occupiers who would otherwise look to out of town locations.”

Coronation Street

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News Lettings

Pastures new for Venmore From London to Liverpool

Venmore offices

LEADING Liverpool auctioneer, estate and commercial property agent, Venmore, has expanded into 5,600 sq ft of brand new office space on Dale Street.

The firm, which used to be

situated on Stanley Street in the city centre, has moved into a large office in Imperial Buildings, formerly home to the Allied Irish Bank.

A total of 32 employees are now housed at the new city centre office,

GRADE II Warehouse For Let

Humyak House

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A VICTORIAN warehouse in Duke Street, Liverpool, is available for rent.

Grade II listed Humyak House was built in 1864 and is a typical example of a warehouse from the mid-Victorian era.

The five-storey property, near the Casartelli building, expands over 18,515 sq ft and still has original features such as a jigger loft, which comes with winder gear and castiron window shutters. Made of brick, it has a pitched slate roof and suspended timber flooring.

Mark Coulthurst, of agent Mason Owen, said: “This quirky property has a number of ideal uses. The owners would consider a sale and we would urge interested parties to get in touch.”

where they provide all estate agent services including property auction, sales, lettings and professional services.

Rob Farnham, chief executive at Venmore, said: “In a short space of time we have already noticed an

increase in footfall compared to our previous office, proving that the move to a prime location will improve our profile in the city, and help us to continue to grow in a challenging economy.

Century House Fills Up DEAN PROPERTY GROUP Limited has secured tenants for more than half of the office suites in its newly created Business Centre in Century House in St Helens.

Around 65 per cent of the refurbished office suites in the heart of the town centre building are now let.

Modern facilities include comfort cooling and heating, suspended ceilings, carpeting, fully self-contained units, occupancy sensors and energy efficient design.

Jonathan Beaver, director of the Cheshire-based Dean Property Group, said: “Century House is an exciting, modern office space which will meet the demands of a host of organisations, large or small.

Princes Dock of “The fact that 65 per cent

the space in the Business Centre is occupied and the growing number of enquiries means we are considering our options to repeat this model in the building and provide smaller units for businesses offering greater flexibility in line with their budget requirements as well as room for expansion in a high quality environment.”

Century House

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Lettings News

TASTY TENTANT FOR DOWNING Out to Lunch comes to Old Hall Street No. 1 Old Hall Street

LIVERPOOL PROPERTY GROUP Downing has welcomed the latest retail addition to its city centre portfolio.

Sandwich shop Out to Lunch is relocating to a 1,690 sq ft unit in No 1 Old Hall Street, moving from its existing Tithebarn Street site on a 10-year lease. The new premises will allow the shop to offer seating for the first time.

Downing has also put three new 4,800 sq ft suites on the market at the city building that are currently undergoing refurbishment.

It is Liverpool’s largest private commercial landlord with 1m sq ft of commercial space under its ownership and management. Its portfolio includes The Capital and Grade II listed Port of Liverpool Building.

Grade A Site Scores New Tenants RUMFORD Investments are pushing to have their 20 Chapel Street property filled up by the end of the year.

The address is one of the few Grade A office spaces available in the city centre – and more is needed if Liverpool is to attract blue chip businesses in the next five years, according to the group.

The total floorspace of the 15-story building is 155,000 sq ft and 52,000 sq ft remains.

Liverpool City Football Club has taken 30,000 sq ft and Plexus

Cotton Ltd – one of the oldest businesses in Liverpool – has also moved in.

“We have some very high calibre tenants, attracted by the location, high quality facilities and beautiful views,” said William Coleman, sales and marketing manager at Rumford Investments. “The front elevation of the property has floor to ceiling glass and stunning views across the Mersey, so the building is filling up top down.”

He said Grade A office space is a valuable commodity not just for Rumford, but the city’s offer

as a whole.

The only other significant amount of Grade A office space in Liverpool’s central business district is at the final phase of St Paul’s Square.

That is scheduled to be completed in the spring and will bring 109,000 sq ft of office space onto the market.

“In the next five to 10 years Liverpool will fall behind if it hasn’t got enough Grade A office space to offer,” said Mr Coleman. “It is needed order to attract new businesses to the North West.”

20 Chapel Street

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You really should take a look @ our office space at centrix@newton Professional serviced offices, that are located in a local community with excellent access to all major road networks.

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Move Commercial Bitesize thinking

LISA GREEN Director of The County Homesearch Company

In my crystal ball…

I see the private rental sector continuing to need to expand to meet the needs of people either struggling to get mortgage finance or simply not wanting to tie themselves down to one place for too long. With the average age of first-time buyers now at 37, many will continue to choose the flexibility of renting in preference to the traditional aspiration of home ownership. However many landlords still need to recognise that they need to raise their standards to make sure renting doesn’t remain a second class option.

If only I’d known….

That the skills I developed working in the public sector for 20 years would be so transferable to running my own business. OK, so I was in a corporate management role responsible for marketing, customer service, efficiency and partnership development (the public sector equivalent of networking) but if you listen to the popular press you’d think the two sectors were poles apart. Over the years I’ve seen good and bad on both sides and we need to build on the strengths of both to ensure continued economic success for our region.

‘Virtuous Circle’ Buzzword Definition: Complex of profitable events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop. Much loved in management theory; often spotted next to similarly annoying terms like “incentivise”.

Example: “A corporate culture where employees are empowered will result in superior service delivery

Vital statistics

79 percent

The Carbon Trust found decision makers in the North West are more optimistic about the opportunities represented by green growth than in any other region in the UK. It found that a robust 79 per cent of business leaders in the North West think the percentage of UK jobs accounted for by the green economy will increase.

&

Home Away FAVOURITE BUILDINGS

Jonathon Prichard, architect at LAG Prichard Architects Jonathon Prichard, architect at LAG Prichard Architects, had a hard task picking his favourite two buildings. "It is really hard for me as an architect to

Oratory Chapel at Boarbank Hall

that in turn will create customer loyalty and higher profit margins.

Reinvestment in employee development will result in a virtuous circle.

Not to be confused with: Vicious circle.

Odds of actual existence away from a Powerpoint presentation: Low.

Le Corbusier Ronchamp

have to choose only two buildings. It is a little like Desert Island Discs. I suppose my choices are taken from those buildings that reflect my work and my life and have been inspirational in more ways than one.

“My home choice is the Oratory Chapel at Boarbank Hall, a small, perfectly proportioned oratory in Grange-overSands, Cumbria, which is where I live. The simplicity of this building emphasises that whatever you do, do it well and let it speak of who you are.

“My away building is the hardest to choose, and is Le Corbusier Ronchamp. This building has had the most effect on my working life. I take one thing from this, it is the wondrous effect light has on a building. The thick glass that refracts the light – it’s so dramatic. I’ve used that effect in my own work.”

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News Liverpool

Bafta award winners in Liverpool FORMER MEMBERS of BAFTA award-winning developer Bizarre Creations have announced the creation of a new game development studio, Lucid Games.

And they have announced a search for the best creative minds to join them in the venture which could create more than 50 new jobs. Formed by senior management and experienced industry professionals, the Lucid team has been responsible for creating pioneering products over the last 10 years across action, arcade and racing genres. Titles include Geometry Wars, the Project Gotham Racing series, and most recently Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone. Pete Wallace, managing director of the studio said: "With the great history of Bizarre behind us, we are proud to be part of Lucid and are committed to the UK game development community. We plan to build a studio which encourages open communication with its partners, customers and other developers." The studio is currently talking to several publishers regarding potential projects, and beginning the process of building a world class team of artists, designers and programmers to build innovative products. Steve Smith, Digital Industry Director at Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic development company, said: “Liverpool Vision has been keen to keep what is some of the best games talent in the global games market in Liverpool and from day one we have been very supportive of this initiative. This world class talent combined with a very credible and experienced management team, we believe offers the best future for a sustainable and viable business within the significant Liverpool gaming sector.”

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Businesses get ready LIVERPOOL City Council is calling on businesses to review their key services or activities and put precautionary measures in place, just in case of an emergency or business interruption.

The City Council Emergency Planning Unit which has a statutory responsibility under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, have just released a Business Continuity Management (BCM) Booklet ‘Building Business Resilience’, which gives simple advice on how to introduce business continuity into your organisation by following the six simple stages of the BCM Lifecycle.

In June 2010, the EPU launched the Liverpool Business Continuity Management Forum (LBCMF) that is free to join and free to attend.

The forum meets quarterly, providing information and presentations on various business continuity related topics. The benefits of membership include access to Liverpool focussed BCM resources, and to forge business links with a wide range of organisations.

The LBCMF recently launched a free training programme for SMEs and the voluntary sector to train

local businesses in Business Continuity Management and prepare them for the unexpected such as a fire, flood, loss of IT systems or even evacuation.

Steve Lambert, Emergency Planning Officer and Lead Business Continuity Officer, commented: “We are helping local businesses put together business continuity plans and train staff, so they are better prepared and can respond accordingly. Having a robust business continuity plan in place which organisations can refer to during emergencies, reduces the chances of people running around or panicking and increases the likelihood of a successful incident response and recovery. Organisations need to assess the impacts on their business, such as loss of staff, premises, IT, information or loss of key supplier would have on their activities and put arrangements in place, should the worst happen.”

A Business Continuity Plan is a documented collection of procedures and information that is developed and maintained in readiness for use, in the event of a business interruption or incident.

The EPU are also raising awareness on city centre evacuation

(see page 15). They work with multi-agency responders such as the police and the fire service to get the message to people of where to evacuate to and what to put in your emergency grab bag.

For more information on the forum, email BCM@liverpool.gov.uk.

Information on Business Continuity, including the booklet, is available on the LCC website http://liverpool.gov.uk/Business/ business-continuity.

Liverpool City Council

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KNOW YOUR ZONE HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION Liverpool City Council’s Emergency Planning Unit and other partner agencies have prepared a City Centre Zoning Map for use in an emergency situation. The city is divided into numbered zones which can be used for a full or partial evacuation of the city if needed.

BUSINESS EMERGENCY GRAB BAG When an emergency strikes your workplace, having some basic items can make all the difference to you and your colleagues if you have to evacuate the premises.

Here are just a few suggestions of things you could put in your bag.

• Copy of your Business Continuity Plan & building plans.

• Useful telephone numbers (e.g. suplliers, stakeholders/partners utilities etc).

• Cash, debit/credit cards.

• Mobile phone and charger.

• First Aid Kit • Foil Blankets • High visibility vests (indentification of fire wardens etc) • Wind up or battery powered radio and spare batteries • Torch and spare batteries • Notebook & pen • Staffing list • Megaphone or whistle • Salvage inventory • Laminated action cards

3 DISPLAY THE MAP IN A PROMINENT SPACE IN THE 3 MARK UP YOUR ZONE ON THE MAP IN THE SPACE PROVIDED 3 MAKE STAFF AWARE OF WHERE THEIR ZONE IS

Additional copies of this zoning leaflet can be downloaded from the Liverpool City Council’s website under City Centre Emergencies at:- www.liverpool.gov.uk or obtained in hard copy from: Liverpool City Council, Emergency Planning Unit, Municipal Buildings, Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 2DH Telephone: 0151 225 8400 Email: emergency.planning@liverpool.gov.uk

North West Ambulance Service

let’sgetreadyliverpool

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News Commercial

Revamp for Birkenhead Girls School

BUILDER Willmott Dixon has signed a £10.3 million contract to revitalise independent girls school, Birkenhead High School Academy.

The contractor, which has a northern office employing 110 people in Oldham, will remodel and refurbish the existing buildings as well as adding new accommodation.

Academy principal Chris Mann said the plan was to conserve the original buildings but remodel them to add 21st century facilities.

Working with the Girls Day School Trust as sponsor, Wirral Council and Mott MacDonald as technical advisors, Willmott Dixon will start on the site immediately with completion by 2012.

The architects are Liverpool based Aedas, the structural engineers Capita Symonds and mechanical and electrical consultants, TACE. The project will see the nursery, infant and junior school modernised and linked together by a new three storey building, which serves a new library, ICT facilities, an assembly hall and additional classrooms.

The adjacent secondary school’s 1960s hall will be replaced by a multifunctional central space which will offer a theatre, dining room, study areas and a café alongside a new hall.

16 MOVE COMMERCIAL

Nobles on Target to Grow

Peter Linford

LIVERPOOL-based Nobles Construction is on target to grow turnover after securing £8 million of new business in the early part of the year.

Nobles, in Everton, has secured eight new contracts across the health and education sectors, including a £2.1 million contract with St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School in Warrington.

Work at St Margaret’s will involve constructing two new extensions to the existing school and refurbishment throughout to allow the school to amalgamate the infants and junior schools, which

are currently separate.

Nobles has also won a £1.8 million contract with Aintree Hospital to refurbish wards four, 18 and part of 19 to improve staff and patient facilities.

The deal comes in the wake of the £1.5 million redevelopment of Aintree Hospital NHS Trust’s outpatient department, which was completed by Nobles last year.

Director Peter Linford said the company was continuing to perform well despite the economic slump. “Our ethos is to deliver quality work, on time and within budget."

Work starts on Student Hall Ocon win contract CONSTRUCTION on a new £45 million hall of residence for Liverpool University has begun, with completion projected for June 2012.

Manchester-based Ocon Construction won the contract to build the new hall, called Vine Court, which will add 710 en-suite bedrooms and a 250-seat restaurant to the universityís estate.

It will take the number of student rooms offered by the university to above the 4,000 mark for the first time.

The scheme, on Chatham Street in the south-west corner of the campus, was designed by architects Stride Treglown and will be made up of a mix of studio

apartments, two-bedroom apartments and two bedroom duplex ‘loft’ apartments.

Birkenhead High School CGI

The development will vary between five and nine storeys and is on the site of a former car park.

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Commercial News

First glimpse of Manchester’s new Culture Hub Manchester’s new culture hub CGI

THE VISION for Manchester’s First Street, the single largest undeveloped site in Manchester City Centre, has been launched at a property convention in France.

Manchester City Council Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein and Ask Developments’ chief executive Ken Knott unveiled the plans at the MIPIM property convention in Cannes.

The £100 million 20-acre gateway site will provide destination retail and leisure facilities, a new cultural landmark and up to 1.25 million sq ft of office space, in what will form the city’s newest cultural quarter.

It is hoped the project will generate 10,000 jobs.

The cultural focus will be a striking new home for local cultural institutions the Cornerhouse Art Centre and Library Theatre on First Street, which Manchester City Council has pledged to create.

The new 50,000 sq ft iconic building is currently the subject of an international design competition, with outdoor performance space and new public square being added.

Once in place it is expected to draw in up to one million visitors per year.

Balfour Signs Fire Station Deal CONSTRUCTION giant Balfour Beatty has agreed the financial terms for the £48 million North West Fire & Rescue Services public private partnership project.

The 25-year concession will involve the design, construction, funding and provision of facilities management for 16 community fire stations. There will be seven in Merseyside, five in Cumbria and four in Lancashire.

The stations will be built on a mix of new and existing sites in a range of locations from rural stations with retained crews to busy inner city stations with full-time officers.

Construction of the fire stations will begin in February 2011, with all construction work to be completed by 2013.

Balfour Beatty will invest £5.5 million of equity into the wholly owned concession.

First Streetís cultural hub will open in summer 2014, anchoring the northern end of First Street and connecting to Oxford Road rail station, the Conference Quarter and Deansgate Locks.

The first phase, Number One First Street, already frames the southern half of the site, providing Grade A floor space. First Street will also boast the first major new pedestrianised thoroughfare in the city for many decades connecting the community of Hulme through the Mancunian Way to the Hacienda site on Whitworth Street West. Manchester City Council

Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein said: “These plans represent the kind of imaginative and innovative thinking that Manchester is rightly renowned for the world over. ìAs well as supporting existing jobs, this development will help attract others to what is an important gateway site into the city. In the aftermath of the recession and facing unprecedented public sector cuts this is exactly the sort of scheme we need to get people into work, get our economy moving even faster, and show the world that Manchester is still an ambitious city on the up.”

Peel in Shipbuilder Takeover PROPERTY giant Peel and senior directors of Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird have taken over shipbuilder A&P Group.

The move sees Cammell Laird boss John Syvret become managing director of A&P Group’s new owners, Atlantic & Peninsula Marine Services.

The takeover comes after Mr Syvret’s Northwest Shiprepairers’ bid to buy Cammell Laird was beaten by A&P Group a decade ago.

The new owners see huge

potential in expanding A&P Group into the offshore renewable and civil nuclear energy markets.

The move gives them a prime foothold for these energy opportunities on the south and east coasts.

Peel Ports Holdings owns 50 per cent of Atlantic & Peninsula Marine Services, with the remaining 50 per cent owned by a group of investors including existing investors and directors of Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders.

MOVE COMMERCIAL 17

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News Retail

Green light for Edge Lane development

Supermarkets flock to new Halewood shopping centre PLANS to complete the £16m regeneration of Halewood’s Raven Court site have moved a major step forward.

Neptune Developments has signed a legal agreement with Knowsley Council to build a new supermarket on the site along with a range of individual shopping units and a hairdressing salon.

The 48,000 sq ft scheme will accommodate a number of well known retailers including

Aldi, Tesco, Home Bargains, frozen food store Cooltrader and bookmakers, William Hill. A newsagent and a fish and chip takeaway are also relocating to the new development from the old centre.

The plans, which were approved by the council in November, include a new bus interchange facility, car parking and possibly a new pub restaurant. The retail development completes the

major regeneration of the site, which also saw the opening of the groundbreaking Halewood Centre in January 2009. The Halewood Centre brings together a range of Knowsley Council, NHS Knowsley and community services in one building.

Cllr Dave Lonergan, Knowsley Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Economy and Skills, said: “This is another significant step forward in the

plans to completely transform the Raven Court site and is being achieved at a challenging economic time.

Rob Mason, development director at Neptune, commented: “We are looking forward to getting on site and starting work on the development as soon as possible. It is great opportunity to improve the shopping and retail offer for the community of Halewood.”

Edge Lane Retail Park CGI

THE EDGE LANE retail park development has been given the green light to go ahead with the project and will not be subject of a call-in inquiry, following confirmation by the Government Office for the North West.

The £200m Edge Lane Project is an ambitious programme of commercial, residential and infrastructure improvements. It will rejuvenate an area that was once an economically thriving part of the city and, at the same time, transform one of the most important routes into Liverpool city centre.

Independent planning consultancy DPP partner John Francis said: "This is a very significant step towards securing the future regeneration of an important area in Liverpool. The decision represents the culmination of many months of close working and liaison with Liverpool Vision and the officers and members of the City Council, and intense negotiation with the key stakeholders."

Following GONW’s decision, it is hoped that work on the scheme will begin in mid 2011. The project team comprises architects AEW, KFM as quantity surveyors, Roc Consulting as engineering and flood risk work, and Sanderson Associates for highways work.

18 MOVE COMMERCIAL

Halewood’s Raven Court

Bookings soar at Indigo ahead of opening LIVERPOOL’S boutique Hotel Indigo has secured hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of bookings ahead of opening. The hotel, owned and operated by Sanguine Hospitality Ltd, has secured £300,000 of business before its June launch.

Located on Chapel Street, the 151-bedroom hotel has benefitted from the city attracting major events, such as The Labour Party Conference in September.

David Hughes, general

manager at Hotel Indigo Liverpool, said: “Major events in the city are helping to drive midweek bookings, for example high profile concerts such as Katy Perry at the arena.

These, coupled with our confidence in the level of service and product on offer, mean that occupancy is already looking buoyant, four months before we have even opened.”

Sanguine Hospitality Ltd has entered into a licensed agreement with

Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) to own and

operate Hotel Indigo Liverpool.

Hotel Indigo

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Retail News

No more Netto THE HALDANE Retail Group have announced the rebranding of the Liverpool Netto store to ‘UGO’, following the acquisition of this and 19 other Netto

stores across the country.

The new mid-sized grocery stores will build on the discount retailing strengths of Netto but will also have stronger and broader core

New stores to rebrand as UGO

grocery range together with a much wider health and beauty offer.

Entrepreneur and sole shareholder of The Haldane Retail Group, Arthur Harris, commented: “UGO will be a flexible, friendly and approachable company with old fashioned ideas and ethics reconstructed where necessary to encompass a modern trading format.

There is an opportunity in the mid-size discount supermarket sector to do something special and I think UGO, with its established store teams, is the brand that can do it.”

The 20 new UGO stores, currently still trading as Netto, stretch from Northumberland to Warwickshire, with branches in Ashington, Hartlepool, Burnley, Bradford, Hull, Blackburn, Barnsley, Bury, Doncaster, Rotherham, Liverpool and Nuneaton.

In addition to the Netto acquisitions, Haldanes are also in advanced discussions to acquire eight convenience stores and have already acquired one petrol forecourt plus a convenience store with a post office.

MAGHULL TOWN CENTRE REVITALISED MAGHULL TOWN centre is set for a revamp following plans for improving the centre getting the go-ahead. Planners at Sefton Borough Council approved the proposal which include a complete overhaul of Central Square plus the redevelopment of nine existing retail units to create 26,400 sq ft of new modern retail space and the addition of a further 70 car parking spaces.

Maghull Investments, part of the Maghull Group, submitted the plans, with the first phase of the works commencing summer 2011.

This will include the reconfiguration of the existing Central Square car park to provide an additional 30 spaces, the creation of a new 40 space overflow car park and public realm improvement works to the fabric of the centre. Plans also include the introduction of a pay and display car park management system after a two hour stay.

Michael Hanlon, chief executive of the Maghull Group, said: “Central Square’s previous owners had not invested in the fabric of the town centre for more than 20 years, so there’s a very clear need

to upgrade the centre and improve the facilities for both the tenants and their customers.

“We intend to revitalise Central Square by providing new larger retail units which will satisfy the needs of national retailers who wish to be represented in Maghull. We will also work closely with those independent retailers such as

Callaghan’s butchers, who provide a first class local offer, to ensure they can continue to trade in the square for the next 20 years.”

The second phase of work, which involves redevelopment of the retail units, will begin in summer 2012 when current tenants’ leases expire - the programme of works will last for 12 months.

Miller & Carter

Award winning steaks LIVERPOOL is getting its first Miller & Carter in April, creating around 20 new jobs for local people. The new steakhouse at Albert Dock is due to officially open on Friday, April 8, creating a number of positions for bar, waiting and kitchen staff.

Miller & Carter’s Marketing Manager, Tessa Crow, said: “We are delighted to have secured such a fantastic site for our new Miller & Carter steakhouse at Albert Dock.

The area has great potential and we’re confident that Miller & Carter’s unique offering of premium steaks will prove very popular here.

Our new steakhouse has a stylish yet informal setting, perfect for experiencing the expertise of the restaurant’s talented chefs. Our steaks are directly sourced from a select number of hand-picked West Country farms and prepared to exacting standards by master butchers. Few dishes demand such excellent raw material as steak, which is why we place such importance in knowing our farmers and butchers.”

Maghull town centre revamp CGI

MOVE COMMERCIAL 19

By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

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No Cannes Do It was a beautiful afternoon and property professionals mingled at the No Cannes Do, organised by Professional Liverpool, having lunch and enjoying the comedic stylings of Chris Connor and Sean Styles. The hottest property ticket in town and Liverpool’s answer to MIPIM, brought a record 400 guests together at Standard Life’s 5 St Paul’s Square. Chris Connor, of Mason Owen, acted as compère for the lunch as he has done since 2006, and announced he would be stepping down this year and handing the microphone to Tony Reed, of Keppie Massie. The event supported Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services, by raising money for Edge Hill and District Credit Union and Moving on with Life and Learning. Who needs the sunshine on the Cannes Riviera.

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1. Martin Lloyd and Andy Wallace (Liverpool Vision). 2. John Brown (Knight Frank). 3. Helen Johnston (DWF), James Szerdy (DWF) and Dave Tait (Lloyds).

4. Sean Styles raises a laugh. 5. The room is set. 6. Jonathon Prichard (LAGP Architects) and Ellis Hill (Skyline Property Solutions). 7. Neil Kirkham (Hitchcock Wright) and guest. 8. Fiona Barnet (Move Commercial) and Nigel Cooper (Barclays). 9. Sean Styles (comedian), Stuart Keppie (Keppie Massie) and Chris Connor (Mason Owen). 10. Stuart Keppie speaks.

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Professional Liverpool Key events

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11. Nick Rice (CBRE) shares a smile. 12. Robin Ellis (Downing) and guests. 13. Rob Farnham (Venmore) and Helen Jones (The Design Foundry). 14. David Al-Hadithi (The Design Foundry), Sue Taylor (Keppie Massie), William Coleman (Rumford Investments) and Heather Summers (JST). 15. Andrew Lovelady (Ethel Austin Properties).

16. Sean Styles. 17. Tony Bostock (King Sturge) and Kevin Lee (Hill Dickinson). 18. Guests enjoy the afternoon. 19. Clive Bleasdale (Weightmans), Merriel Johnson (Spencer Group) and Ian Steele (GVA). 20. Chris Connor does his thing. 21. Fiona Barnet (Move Commercial) and Kevin Lee (Hill Dickinson). 22. Falconer Chester Hall table. 23. Stephen Burrows (Professional Liverpool).

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N E P O

up to business success.

Talk to our local business experts Whether you are opening a business or are already up and running, talk to Barclays about how we can help make your business a success.

For more information please contact Nigel Cooper, Area Manager for Barclays Business in Merseyside, on 07917 200668, or visit www.barclays.co.uk/business

Barclays Business is a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Bank PLC is registered in England and authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered No.1026167.

Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Barclays Bank PLC subscribes to the Lending Code which is monitored and enforced by the Lending Standards Board.

22 MOVE COMMERCIAL

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By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

“You can tell a lot about the city from the quality and the depth of its restaurants.” In the words of Living Room founder Tim Bacon, at the end of the day a prosperous city has a thriving dining experience - an idea he has worked hard at establishing in the North West.

Raising the bar

24 MOVE COMMERCIAL

starting the consultancy business Bar Biz, in 1989, which trained staff at other bars and restaurants. It was during this period that he bought his first establishment, JW Johnson's, in Manchester in 1993.

“We spent three months working day and night and within three months it had turned the corner and sales went up. As a consultant for

restaurants with new business partner Jeremy Roberts. The partnership created the very popular Life Café, with two sites in Liverpool and Manchester, which were developed before the fledgling brand sold to hotel and restaurant operator Whitbread in 1999. “Liverpool’s Life Café was very powerful, in the recent history of bars and restaurants in

“

The Living Room was a game-changer for us because it was a brand that went national and people bought into it throughout the country.

“

We meet at his company headquarters in Knutsford, a small village curiously more reminiscent of quaint England than the bright lights of celebrity-endorsed eateries - but the face behind the company is larger than life. Diving straight in, Tim explains: “Restaurants are at the heart of any community; I’m a big believer of the ‘third place’.

You’ve got your work and you’ve got your home and you need somewhere else where you socialise - and restaurants are the best forms to do that in.” It is through this concept that Tim, as co-owner of restaurant operator Living Ventures, has expanded the group from its incredibly popular Living Room brand, which sold for over £28 million, to an expansive portfolio of restaurants across the country. A pretty good job for an Australian actor who had never meant to go into the restaurant business.

After a brief stint on the Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters, Tim migrated to England to pursue his career. Between acting work, Tim got a job as a bartender, and his skill landed him on the Terry Wogan show. Displaying his remarkable bartending skills on the show led to

four years, I had opened up many bars and restaurants for other people so learned from their mistakes.

When it came around to opening up my own place, operationally wise, we were bombproof.”

From that point, it was a skip and a hop to expanding his portfolio of

Liverpool Life Café will be quite prominent because it brought food into the city and it was a dynamic attack on the market place.”

However, it was the Living Room that shook up the bar and restaurant scene across the country and launched their new company Living

Ventures. “The Living Room was a game-changer for us because it was a brand that went national and people bought into it throughout the country. It was very up-tempo casual dining with a very strong bar emphasis. This is very AustralianAmerican in its conceptualisation, bar with restaurant. The UK prior to 1999 was very much bars with bars and restaurants with restaurants and anything else was a ‘stylised bar’. It was the exact same formula as Johnsons and Life Café, it was just the market was ready for the Living Room and a wave happened. The Living Room really changed the scene and because of the celebrity endorsement it attracted as well it took a life of its own. We’ve had 13 under that brand and it sold for a lot of money.”

A lot of money equals £28million, with Ultimate Leisure buying out the Living Room estate. The cherry on the cake was being featured in the Sunday Times Top 100 as the fastest-growing company in hospitality - turnover grew from £2.47million in 2001 to £19.55million in 2004. Fully immersed in the business Tim has seized opportunity at every turn,

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Tim Bacon Entrepreneur

Bacon file HQ: Living Ventures, 4/6 Princess Street, Knutsford, Cheshire Annual Turnover: £24.4m Profits in last quarter: £1.5m (EBITDA) Projects: Gusto, Blackhouse Bar and Grill, The Alchemist, The Grill , Red Door, Suburbia, Australasia, Marmalade, Grado, The Olive Press.

but what is the secret to his success? “I get bored if I am not doing anything, I’m in love with the newest thing that we’re doing and moving onto the next thing and that’s what motivates me.”

Following the company’s phenomenal growth, they acquired

the Est Est Est chain of restaurants in 2005 which had began to flag in popularity, and rebranded the chain under the Gusto and Blackhouse Grill name. “I bought 19 of them but it was a brand that wasn’t really well loved anymore. Over the course of a couple of years we have converted

them and the love affair with those brands has grown and grown to an extent that they now dominate the situations they are in and people use them on a regular basis as part of their lives.”

It is this transformation of restaurant brands that is now

Tim’s main focus, and is now concentrated on their new acquisition, the Heathcotes estate.

They include three Olive Press sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheadle Hulme as well as Grado in Manchester and London Road in Alderley Edge. “The Olive Press is a brand that’s known but it doesn’t make any money. In Liverpool, it’s a great location, you’ve got a good team of people in there and it’s an OK business but the Olive Press is not something we’re going to keep as a brand so it will probably go over to a grill. We’re also going to buy the building above, expand and be a dominant restaurant in that location.”

However, the rebranding of the five restaurants is not his only project this year, his latest concept about to be unleashed on the culinary world is Australasia, opening in May in Manchester. “This is based on Pacific Rim Pan Asian casual fine dining and hopefully I’ve got my timing right on that and we should be able to ride a wave of top quality food in a casual environment. We also have The Alchemist, which is our newest bar and is a modern take on the Living Room and that’s flying, the reaction has been fantastic. We opened in Manchester last November and we are opening another one this year. The next push we do will be in London and that will be taking the brands of Gusto and others down there because they are strong enough to hold their own against national chains.”

MOVE COMMERCIAL 25

20 Chapel Street Key events

By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

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Agents’ breakfast with a view On 24 February, the region’s commercial agents gathered for breakfast for the opportunity to look around Liverpool’s most successful Grade A office building of 2010 - 20 Chapel Street.

With current tenants including Liverpool FC, Barclays and Ernst & Young, the office space boasts great views surrounding the Central Business District of Liverpool city centre.

Mike Stares, Director of Rumford Investments, and owners of the building, commented, “it was a great chance for people to see the four remaining floors we have on offer as we expect it to be fully let by the end of this year.”

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1. Jon Swain (Mason Partners) and Tony Reed (Keppie Massie). 2. Neil Kirkham (Hitchcock Wright & Partners) and Graham Wood (Stratos). 3. Stuart Keppie (Keppie Massie) and William Coleman (Rumford Investments). 4. Mitch Poole (Paver Smith), Mike Stares, (Rumford Investments) and David Al-Hadithi (The Design Foundry).

5. Chris Lloyd (DTZ) William Coleman (Rumford Investments) and Neil Kirkham, (Hitchcock Wright & Partners). 6. Jonathan Lowe and Chris Lloyd (DTZ). 7. Richard Peters (Dixon Webb), Jonathan Baucher (Cushman & Wakefield) and Andrew Owen (Mason Owen). 8. Helen Moss & Louise May (King Sturge). 9. Sue Taylor (Keppie Massie) and William Coleman (Rumford Investments).

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By Emma Pinch emma@movepublishing.co.uk

Award-winning architect Paul Rodgers has designed the new Skelmersdale and Ormskirk College, due for completion in August. He tells Move Commercial about the classical vision that inspired it.

From Singapore to Skelmersdale

28 MOVE COMMERCIAL

group, he was challenged to design the £42million new Skelmersdale and Ormskirk College.

The college is the first new build on the campus in 25 years and represents the first brick in Skelmersdale town centre’s regeneration.

“The challenge was designing for a masterplan that didn’t exist yet, and building something that could then be a catalyst for regeneration,” explains Paul.

“In addition, as a centre of lifelong learning, it was going to be used by a broad spectrum of people from teenagers to people of retired age, all studying a huge range of subjects. So it was quite a complex brief.”

The masterplan’s vision is to breathe new life into a centre built when overspill towns or ‘newtowns’ were all the rage.

His idea was to create a building

“

successful design,” he explains. “But the traditional ‘old fashioned’ town design has worked since the days of classical Greece.

“Newtowns presupposed everyone would have a car and it created a lot of dead space. The shopping area was miles away from houses. We wanted to redesign a proper town shape with spaces people could use and streets, squares, terraces and avenues, and a town square and facilities the public could use. With this in mind we included a theatre space, a café space, a library space and wi-fi bar. This way there’s activity on the edges of the square; it’s not just a big dead space.

Their wedge-shaped design sees the entrance of the college form the north side of a public square, literally connecting it to life outside the college. Social

West Lothian, Scotland. His father was a manager at a car plant and the two shared a passion for discovering how things fitted together. Meccano and Lego were favourite toys.

From an early age Paul loved drawing. “I drew anything, landscapes, trees, people, buildings. I just wanted a career where I could draw. My parents didn’t want me to go to art school so I studied architecture. I love creating. I’ve written music since I was 10-years-old. I’m just not very good at sitting still.”

He saw out the recession in Asia, honing his design and project management skills there until 2002.

Work there left him with a strong focus on cost and – 70 hour weeks being the norm – a sturdy work ethic.

No bad thing in the current climate. But isn’t it dispiriting,

I really feel privileged to contribute to place making

more in keeping with the principles behind the old idea of a town. Not so much old fashioned, Paul is quick to point out, as classical: “a real place where people can live and go and do things in.”

“The newtown was an experiment in the second half of the 20th century and it wasn’t a very

connectivity seems to be the common thread in all Paul’s work.

“Ultimately,” he explains, “design is about what the building can contribute to a better level of social interaction. This way, in time, a building can help the sustainability of a community.”

Paul was born and brought up in

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“Get on your bike" was the advice Norman Tebbit gave to millions of unemployed people in the 80s.

He believed they should move from areas experiencing severe economic decline to places where work could be found.

Not easy for an architect in 1994, when recession reared its head again and construction found itself roughly in the same place it is now.

Newly qualified Paul Rodgers had to think on a grander scale.

So instead of his bike, he hopped on a plane, to try his luck in the Far East.

Within months he found himself leading teams designing the stations and soaring skyscrapers that came to embody the booming economies of China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Not bad for a young man whose prior professional experience was designing house extensions in the central belt of Scotland.

“I moved to where the work was,” he explains simply in his measured Scottish accent.

“Coming from a culture which was downbeat and static, and inward looking and soul searching, and going to a culture where it was ‘can do’ and ‘how quickly can you do it’ – was hugely exhilarating.

“I just didn’t have time to be nervous about the fact I’d never done it before. Now, there’s not much that fazes me.”

Something which no doubt helped when, as Principal at RMJM, the UK’s largest architect

having to have his creative wings clipped at the altar of cost?

“The environment’s changing but dispiriting is not in my vocabulary,” he says. “I’m a cup half full person.

“The reality of the world is that you have to reconcile architectural ambition with cost. It’s always been that way for creative people.

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Paul Rodgers, RMJM Architects Rising Star He’s always been interested in period property and he himself lives in a Georgian flat – he’s a fan of its airy proportions – and his ideal project, he says, would be a commission for a bespoke house.

Edifices like the Liver Building inspire him.

“I dislike buildings which are lazy, which probably cost a lot but didn’t embrace opportunity to realise their potential, especially which haven’t tried to hard enough to contribute to connectivity.

“I’m an admirer of Frank Gehry’s work, who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao – and I was lucky enough to collaborate with his firm recently in California. What he achieves fulfils the client’s brief, but at the same time it is personal and sculptural and pushes on design technologies.

“I like buildings with character,” he concludes, adding: “that’s harder and harder to create when cost gets tighter and tighter.”

Paul is keenly aware of the unique responsibility putting his own stamp on the landscape creates.

“I feel really privileged to contribute to place making,” he says.

“I have quite a humble attitude to it.

Buildings are the product of many minds, and I enjoy collaborating.

That’s why I work in a practice.”

What’s the best compliment he could get about Skelmersdale college, when it opens its doors this summer?

“I’d like to come back and see a queue outside the box office of the theatre, the college full and people wanting to buy the franchise to the café. That would feel great.”

Rodgers File Current HQ: RMJM, 10 Bells Brae, Edinburgh.

Education: BSc (Hons) Architecure and Barch Architecture at University of Strathclyde.

Achievements: Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences at Napier University in Scotland.

Ecospace Sustainable Development Centre at Carnegie College, which won the Scottish Design Award 2008 for Best Sustainable Design.

Director for RMJM Global Transportation Studio in Europe.

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By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

The £3.7m restoration of Liverpool’s International Garden Festival site is finally coming to an end almost 26 years after the event first opened to the public.

Liverpool's festival gardens are back

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“We haven’t just recreated what was there in the 80s,” he said.

“Visitors will get a feel for what was there and it will be quite a unique experience. I knew the raw materials we were working with in terms of the Chinese and Japanese gardens but it surprised me how

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It will attract people to the garden, not as a sole destination but as a wider Liverpool attraction - it will form part of the Liverpool toolkit to attract visitors to the city.

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The festival was the first one of many held in the UK and while it was meant to spur on regeneration of the site in Otterspool at a time of great unemployment in Liverpool, as it did with all subsequent cities, the site soon fell into disrepair. Almost three decades on, and the current developer – property investment and development company Langtree – is ready to hand the keys over to The Land Trust.

Meeting with Langtree managing director John Downes we discussed the massive project of restoring the site. “The gardens have been sat there derelict, which is tragic it was the first garden festival and they had huge investment going in from the government. The idea was that you had this garden festival and it provided a springboard to redevelop the site, but it never happened. The creation of the park and the new residential community will finally deliver a long term sustainable scheme for this strategic site on a major gateway in to the city.”

Phase One of the project, which began last year, includes renovation of 90-acres of parkland, opening up the view of the river, restoring the lake and keeping the features of the festival site put in place in 1984.

Two pagodas in the oriental gardens are part of the festival features restored, as well as the Moon Wall.

well it came together and how intact it all was. The site was so overgrown and hidden that it preserved some of the key features, so it is a modern design but maintaining the best elements of what was there in the 80s. It will attract people to the garden, not as

a sole destination but as a wider Liverpool attraction - it will form part of the Liverpool toolkit to attract visitors to the city.”

John Downes joined Langtree 15 years ago as a development manager working his way up to run the firm, he is credited as steering the company to diversify from property investment towards development. He has taken the business in a regeneration direction, before regeneration became an important business for property companies, establishing an enviable reputation in the field.

During his time at Langtree the company has grown impressively, managing the portfolio of the North-East’s Regional Development Agency and the West Midland’s Regional Development Agency’s land and assets, as well as becoming an expert in developing brownfield sites. Langtree now owns and manages approaching 4m sq ft of commercial property.

Part of the plans for the restoration of the gardens is the inclusion of residential units overlooking the parkland. However, due to the state of the market Phase 2 of the redevelopment of the Otterspool site is now the residential phase.

“We never planned it that way; the redevelopment of the grounds and building of residential was meant to be all one continuous phase - however it has worked out

better this way from a city point of view. The plan was we were going to part regenerate the site and that would generate the cash that would fund part of the works. This way we have the gardens up and running so residential developments that now come along, if you’re a prospective purchaser, you know exactly what you’re next door to - and you’re next door to something fantastic, you’ve effectively got a 90-acre park on your doorstep. The planning permission we got is now two/three years old. It had a lot of apartments as part of the plans which we will have to rethink because the apartment market has changed, but I would like to think within the next 12-18 months we will start working on the residential phase.”

Langtree will now be bringing in a number of residential developers. If they go with just one residential developer they will sell the site, but more likely if it’s a number of developers it will involve them putting some infrastructure in so they will be subdividing the residential area into smaller developer areas. As the city council didn’t want to create any kind of district centre because of traffic issues around the site, the plans include a local centre and local facilities.

Langtree’s vested interest in the site is apparent - “Although we have a number of strategic developments, we have a

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John Downes

Mover & Shaker

substantial amount of money invested in the site so it’s an important strategic development for Langtree.” The other developments the company is currently working on include a scheme on Duke Street, Liverpool.

John emphasises that for now, as part of its short-term sagacious strategy, the company will be doing proprietary work rather than building. They are also partnered with the North West Development Agency, and whomever their assets are passed on to, for the redevelopment of the site on the corner of St James Street rail station, on The Strand. They have a planning application going in shortly for an office scheme of 100,000 sq ft there.

John Downes may have had to slow down his full steam ahead of the company but that does not mean he is still not celebrating and what a celebration he is going to have this year. First with the big event planned for when they hand over the responsibility for management of gardens to The Land Trust in May and then the big Party in the Park planned for July.

Downes File HQ: Centrix House, Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 9UY. Property Portfolio (highlights): St Helens Rugby League Football Club; Liverpool’s International Garden Festival site; Alba portfolio of properties, totalling 430,000 sq ft across the North West and Yorkshire; Daresbury Science & Innovation in Halton.

Three joint venture partnerships: Network Space (with the Homes and Communities Agency), PxP West Midlands (with Advantage West Midlands) and Onsite North East (with One North East), where Langtree manages 1.5 million sq ft of property and 75 development sites.

Company Turnover: £15m Company Pre-tax profit: £1.5m

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Relocation without complication Area orientation Homefinding School search Lease/ purchase negotiation Settling-in services

Contact us for an initial discussion on +44(0)1829 270160 lisa.green@county-homesearch.com • www.county-homesearch.com

58 Hope Street, Liverpool L1 9BZ

SELF-CONTAINED OFFICES TO LET

2,120 SQFT (197 SQM) Hope Street is acknowledged for its commercial, educational and cultural diversity whilst nearby Rodney Street is home to many of the city’s professionals.

Excellent restaurants and cafe bars are just a couple of minutes’ walk away.

ANDREW OWEN

0151 242 3120

andrew.owen@masonowen.com PAUL THORNE

0151 242 3152

paul.thorne@masonowen.com 32 MOVE COMMERCIAL

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Knowsley Chamber of Commerce Key events

Property and Construction in Knowsley Knowsley Chamber of Commerce held its inaugural Property & Construction event on 24 February 2011. Lesley Martin-Wright, Chief Executive, welcomed delegates from the sector, and introduced guest speakers Dale Milburn (Director of Economy & Skills, Knowsley MBC), Paul Munro (Project Director Balfour Beatty) and Mark Eaton (Supply Chain Manager Balfour Beatty). Delegates learned more about the current and future projects that Knowsley will be implementing, including the regeneration of the Knowsley Industrial Park; developments in Prescot and Halewood, and Stockbridge Village.

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1. Dale Milburn (Director Economy & Skills, KMBC) delivers a talk to the group. 2. Mark Eaton (Supply Chain Manager, Balfour Beatty), Lesley Martin-Wright (Chief Executive, Knowsley Chamber), Dale Milburn (Director Economy & Skills, KMBC), Sheila Toft (Business Support Officer, Knowsley Chamber) and Paul Munro (Project Director, Balfour Beatty). 3. Angela Penn (Weightmans) and Karen English (Weightmans). 4. Dale Milburn (Director Economy & Skills, KMBC). 5. Mark Eaton (Supply Chain Manager, Balfour Beatty) and Paul Munro (Project Director, Balfour Beatty). 6. Guests networking. 7. Mark Eaton (Balfour Beatty), Michael Carr (NSG UK Ltd) and Jim Williams (Tender Management Ltd). 8. Mark Hardie (Hardie Brack), Cristina Chandler (David Roberts & Partners Ltd) and Freddy Peacock (Ensign Contractors).

9. Paul Blennerhassett (Sterling Services) and Joe Taylor (Sterling Services). 10. The guests listen to guest speakers.

MOVE COMMERCIAL 33

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Council cuts Lunch debate

By Emma Pinch emma@movepublishing.co.uk

Stuart Keppie, director of leading city surveyors Keppie Massie, senior economist Professor Peter Stoney, Labour Liverpool City Councillor Nick Small and Design Foundry director David Al-Hadithi sat down over lunch to discuss swingeing council budget cuts and how the private sector can help.

David Al-Hadithi The Design Foundry

Stuart Keppie Keppie Massie

Professor Peter Stoney Senior economist

Nick Small Labour Liverpool City

As Liverpool City Council tackles a £91million budget cut, can the private sector kick start economic growth?

Council cuts – economic necessity or tool for political restructuring?

Cllr Nick Small: I think there’s a combination of factors at play, most of which are political. You’ve got the downturn and the deficit and you have to address that, but the cuts are being done too fast and extra deep. There’s a new Government that for ideological reasons wants to radically scale back the state. The level of savings we have to make over two years will very radically change the services we offer to the residents of Liverpool.

Professor Peter Stoney: I think the emphasis since the new Government came in has been on pace of change. They are front loading it to get 40 per cent of the job done in the first year. There’s

got to be a question mark over the need for that. Is it economic necessity? The short answer is no.

In macro-economic terms there was no chance the UK was going to default. The UK and US have never defaulted. The need for this pace has been slightly bogus to put it mildly. It is economic illiteracy to compare it, as George Osborne did, to maxing out on credit cards. This is debt which on average has to be paid back over 11-13 years. We don’t have to pay this back over four years – it’s simply untrue. My reading would be the coalition regards it as a political necessity to get all the badness as it were, over in the short term.

Stuart Keppie: The rate at which these cuts have been implemented has been too radical. Certainly from

the point of view of the property side in terms of the regeneration projects and the damaging effect on potential infrastructure. There are a number of projects, which had been going on and had they been kept ticking over, economically it would have made much more sense. Liverpool was just getting up to what I’d call a ‘normal level’ when compared with other cities. The temptation is to think that an awful lot of the good work done over the past five years is just going to get completely washed away.

Cllr Nick Small: Liverpool has been particularly unfairly hit. If you look at the pots of money Liverpool has received we’ve lost money that was linked to deprivation. We’ve lost Housing Market Renewal

funding, Area Based Grant, we’ve lost Supporting People. All of these are dependent on the levels of deprivation you’ve got in your local authority area and they’ve been completely decimated. If we only had the budget cut affecting most local authorities we would have a reduction of £26 million, which is much easier to manage.

SK: I would ask the question, is it necessarily right that Liverpool has taken the stand against the cuts in the way that they have in being confrontational with the Government. Outside Liverpool there is a perception about the city that goes back to the 1980s. While we should encourage companies to come here with ambitious projects like Peel have, it isn’t going to happen if there’s this adverse

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perception of Liverpool. I know full well we’re a million miles from the Hatton days - but I fear there is that perception.

Can Council cuts bring any benefits?

SK: There was a need for some streamlining to take place. We needed to look at the number of quangos and public bodies. The problem is now that an awful lot of the expertise contained in the Council is going to be lost. It’s how, and who, is now going to drive things through.

NS: We accept we have to have private sector-led growth in Liverpool, we accept we need more businesses in Liverpool and private sector jobs. Some of the work we’ve done with The Mersey Partnership and Liverpool Vision is simply not going to be able to be done any more. We’ve got funding of £1.75m for Liverpool Business Programme works and I’m really proud we’ve been able to do that – it shows our commitment to target private led growth.

PS: In purely academic macroeconomic terms, which can sound rather brutal, you’ve got to say that if the public sector cuts back and the private sector comes in, productivity’s going to go up.

Where are the new opportunities, if any, for private sector growth in Liverpool?

SK: I think we are already being creative. The take up of office space last year was pretty much halved in terms of the amount of square footage, but the number of transactions by comparison to the previous year actually increased.

36 MOVE COMMERCIAL

That tells you there was a lot more activity on the smaller side. It endorses the fact that we really have got to encourage the SME market. In Liverpool it’s always been the case that you start small, grow a firm and hopefully keep the firm in Liverpool.

“ ”

The Albert Dock would not have happened if there were no pump priming vehicle

David Al-Hadithi: A lot of our public sector clients have come back and said ‘because we didn’t spend any money we’ve got to get rid of this now’. That’s been our experience since time immemorial. As far as extra work coming across we’ve seen very little so far but we’ve had good noises in that direction.

NS: Where I think there’s more opportunity for business, and what the council needs to do more about, is around procurement. The public sector will continue to spend huge amounts of money around procurement. We need to have a procurement service which allows Liverpool businesses to have a fairer crack of the whip to get some of that work keep that prosperity and growth in Liverpool. It’s not just about what services the council currently do that can be outsourced it’s more about how Liverpool companies can get more work through the public procurement

process.

If you take a scheme like Edge Lane, significant amounts of public money are pretty much going to private sector through a main contractor and through their supply chain; it’s how do we get Liverpool firms to access that supply chain in a much better way.

SK: There is an issue about this and it’s horses for courses - it’s either best value or linked to expertise, irrespective of whether a company is based in Liverpool or not. And I think you don’t want to compromise that.

DA: We’re talking to another council at the moment about outsourcing part of a function and if they protected their work in that way we wouldn’t have that opportunity.

Is there any historical precedent to indicate what will happen next?

SK: There was a growth in private sector in business in Liverpool following cuts that took place in the public sector in the 80s, but part of that was fuelled by the fact there were grant guarantees on buildings which enabled rentals to be subsidised; there was pump and prime. Liverpool has relied heavily on that because it meant the city was a cheaper and more economical place to come to, and I thought it was very successful.

PS: Buildings relied heavily on that.

In a situation that is potentially stagnant pump priming enables a company to locate in Liverpool. The Albert Dock would not have happened if there were no pump priming vehicle.

How do we attract business to locate Liverpool?

SK: Since I’ve been working in Liverpool - 30 years now - it has not been good at attracting inward investment from companies outside. If you look at the companies that have come in, which haven’t necessarily grown up in Liverpool, it doesn’t compare well. The question is whether we play to our strengths. And of course the port is a big strength

and I think nobody could not applaud Peel for what they’re doing. It almost seems like they’re doing the job of the council, in terms of regeneration.

NS: We should be looking at having an enterprise zone (recently relaunched by David Cameron) in north Liverpool so you’ve got tax incentives, reduced red tape and bureaucracy to encourage companies to locate in North Liverpool. That’s a priority of this administration.

PS: Unfortunately the last experience of enterprise zones was not very favourable. What happened at Speke was quite a number of businesses moved in which were already in existence, so the net impact was actually not very great.

NS: It can’t just be about existing business relocating, it’s got to be about new business coming to Liverpool first time, the question is how you set that up.

PS: You could also argue you are creating iniquity if you are going to create special exemptions from costs on new businesses in respect of existing businesses trying to grow outside the so called zone.

SK: At the other end of the scale if the Government was going to make a real difference then some of the back office services that are in London should be shipped out into the regions. Liverpool has traditionally been very good on providing public sector back up. You could almost cut London off and float it off and it would still survive on the private sector side.

Now there are fewer grants to go

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Council cuts Lunch debate round, how can new businesses be supported?

NS: It can’t just be about grants any more. Over the next few years it’s going to be about identifying some of those companies with high growth potential and ambition to succeed and grow and they’re the companies that need to be supported. I believe quite strongly in this. I don’t think you can teach entrepreneurship. Some of this might be around saying; this might not be for you.

If you are going to plough money into a business forever, put £5 in to get £4 out – that isn’t going to work! It’s experience, about someone putting their arm round you and saying, ‘don’t make all these mistakes’.

DA: My experience is, it’s becoming more and more difficult to employ people. I heard Vince Cable describe the economy as a patient who had had a heart attack and someone asked the question, how are you going to make it easier to employ people? His only commitment was ‘we are going to do something’. I haven’t seen anything yet and as a small business it is more and more difficult to employ someone. I like to employ people. I like to think we’re creating jobs.

What needs to happen in the long term?

PS: I think we need to give the Coalition credit for having identified infrastructure for being relevant to supporting private sector industry and that’s why it’s good that they are going to build the Mersey Gateway. But I think by the same token there should be focus on improving road access to the docks, which has been on the cards for a

few decades. There was a proposal to improve the access which got turned down fairly recently by the planning commission.

NS: And that has to be done. If you look at the Port of Liverpool we know that that’s going to expand, because of the Panama Canal (being widened to allow larger container ships to use the trade

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because the council is now being streamlined the need to have a proper, almost private sector working regime is more important now than it’s ever been

”

route to the Far East) and for that to happen we need to build the infrastructure to deal with the additional freight that’s going to come there, part of it road and part of it rail. We need to be pressing Government for funds and also need to be looking to working with Liverpool Waters.

SK: My concern is Liverpool Waters is being used to promote Liverpool from a business and economic point of view and Peel are doing a very good job.

They have done a superb wooing job on China and in getting the Chinese over here, and doing something different that the rest of the country isn’t necessarily doing. My huge concern is one of credibility about the scheme. It’s aspirational but it’s something that is going to be 30 years going forward.

The only way of

actually justifying it is to have a really concerted marketing campaign on an international basis.

But that’s got to be sustained over a long period of time.

What’s the biggest single factor, which determines Liverpool’s economic future?

NS: Everything we do has to be about keeping population in Liverpool. Graduate retention is going to be a massive issue. We have about 25,000 students coming in from outside Liverpool – retaining them is the easiest way of growing population in the city.

DA: As someone who has come in from somewhere else, Liverpool is a place where people give you a chance. I don’t know many cities like that. It’s got that going for it.

NS: The universities in the past have focused on ‘come to Liverpool have a great student experience, it’s quite cheap’. What the universities haven’t done enough of is working with the city council and other partners to encourage more students to stay. They have a responsibility to the city of Liverpool and they need to take that seriously. They are beginning to do that now with the civic engagement strategy. This is the biggest single thing the universities can do.

SK: The offer that the city has now, for graduates and young people, should be absolutely jumped on to try and encourage them to stay here, and that’s in a way why you need the financial services and a bigger mix of companies, large as well as small.

What needs to change about council culture?

SK: I think also there’s an expectation by the private sector where it wants to see a strong council and a well-organised council. And because the council is now being streamlined the need to have a proper, almost private sector working regime is more important now than it’s ever been. And also to have quality of individuals who have leadership skills. I think that certain high-ranking individuals in the past have hidden – and basically haven’t engaged properly with the private sector.

Liverpool is constantly compared to Manchester in terms of its regime. Howard Bernstein (chief executive of Manchester City Council) is often flagged up as someone who opens his doors and will engage on a personal basis.

NS: This is one of the things we’ve tried to do as a Cabinet – be more

accessible, go out to meet the community, and be enablers to the private sector. Jobs are going to be created by companies and not by the council. Ultimately all we can do is provide the infrastructure and talk up Liverpool.

BLAKES RESTAURANT Hard Days Night Hotel, Central Buildings, North John Street, Liverpool, L2 6RR Our panel enjoyed lunch from the a la carte menu at Blake’s restaurant at the Beatles themed Hard Days Night Hotel – where a certain Justin Beiber had just booked in.

Named top city restaurant in the 2010 Good Food guide, the restaurant is renowned for quality ingredients and fine dining.

Starters include hand made sweet potato blini, fresh organic salmon gradvilax and pickled beetroot (£6.95).

Mains included citrus braised pork belly, sage-infused confit shoulder roast fillet and pancetta, sautéed potato and thyme jus (£21.95).

Vegetarian options include balsamic roasted shallot tatin with celeriac puree and yellison goat’s cheese fritter (£15.95) To reserve a table telephone 0151 243 2121.

MOVE COMMERCIAL 37

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By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

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The Property Networking Games Key events

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The property elites network Property professionals were put through their paces when they came together for an Olympics-themed party at the Move Publishing offices on Henry Street.

Attendees showed off their sporting prowess on Wii athletics games, had a go on a practice putting green and tried out cutting edge gym equipment supplied

by John Lewis.

Those seeking something less strenuous were offered hand massages by Kiehl’s, plus the chance to try out muscle-toning FitFlops and state of the art running clothes by Ronhill.

Liverpool Harriers coach Michael Dooling gave tips on how his running squad stay at the top of their game and guests got the chance to stretch their minds with a sporting quiz.

Best of British canapes were served by catering experts, Pickled Walnut, and Kiehl’s skincare provided guests with a goodie bag to take home.

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1. Fitness equipment by John Lewis. 2. Kim O’Brien, Fiona Barnet (Move Publishing) and Darleen Lee. 3. Julia Casimo (John Kerr Chartered Accoutants) limbers up.

4. Ian Murray (C & D Properties), David Dunne (Acorn Property Services), Andrew Owen (Mason Owen), Alan Bevan (City Residential). 5. Ian Murray (C & D Properties), Paul Lea (Venmore), Wesley Preston (Acorn Property Services), Alan Bevan (City Residential), Andrew Owen (Mason Owen), Rob Farnham (Venmore) appear to have backed a winner. 6. Paul Lea (Venmore), Alan Bevan (City Residential) and Rob Farnham (Venmore). 7. Wesley Preston (Acorn Property Group) and Andrew Owen (Mason Owen).

8. Liverpool Harriers coach Mike Dooling. 9. Sue and Ian Taylor (Keppie Massie) admire Stuart Keppie’s putting skills.

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For Sale / To Let

For Sale

For Sale

11 Seymour Terrace, Liverpool L3

68 Bidston Road, Prenton,Wirral CH43

• • • •

Self contained office building 3 secure parking spaces 143 sq m (1,540 sq ft) approx.

Freehold

Ref: PP

Substantial Former Nursing Home 617 sq m (6,645 sq ft) approx.

Freehold Suitable for alternative use to include single dwelling or for commercial purposes

Ref: RK

On the Instructions of William Hill

To Let (Due to Relocation)

To Let / May Sell

Upper Ground Floor, City Buildings, 21/ 23 Old Street, Liverpool City Centre

Lower Ground Floor, Albany Building, Old Hall Street, Liverpool City Centre

97 sq m (1,046 sq ft) approx A2 planning permission Unit suitable for use as retail/offices

From 1,000 sq ft to 17,000 sq ft available Excellent opportunity for bar/restaurant/gym/office Flexible terms

Ref: MF

For further information please contact our Agency Team: Robert Diggle, Paul Parker, Mike Fitzpatrick or Richard Kirk

Ref: RGD or Joint Agent Tushingham Moore, 0161 833 1197

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By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

Following the incredibly successful Liverpool pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, North West business and city council leaders came back optimistic of this new relationship and the future ahead. However maintaining the interest generated at the Expo is the new challenge faced. Move Commercial identifies the key players involved in keeping this link alive and planned projects.

NAOMI PECK

CHRIS HEYES

CLLR. NICK SMALL

DR KERRY BROWN

PR and Marketing Project Manager at Peel Land and Development

Head of Liverpool Vision’s Liverpool in London embassy

Cabinet member for Employment and Skills at Liverpool City Council

former Liverpool Shanghai Partnership director, currently head of Asia Programme at Chatham House

“Our reason for becoming lead sponsors of the Liverpool pavilion at the Shanghai Expo last year was to help the Merseyside region raise their profile on the international stage.”

“As the city’s Economic Development Company, Liverpool Vision is tasked to focus on where growth is likely to come from in the future and we believe it will increasingly come from overseas.”

“We were the only UK city to have a presence and we invested a lot of money in it, so it is vital we keep up the momentum. It is not just about making links with China, but also making sure we are equipped with the skills to do business with them.”

“China is becoming an increasingly important outward investor, with over 1 billion pounds invested in the UK now. This is only likely to increase as Chinese companies go abroad, looking for opportunities to extend their sales network, buy brand and technology and internationalise.”

• Cllr Small is involved in increasing the number of pupils who are learning Mandarin in Merseyside schools, so they are able to take advantage of employment opportunities.

In the Liverpool Shanghai strategy document he wrote before leaving as director, he suggested the following: • Liverpool must become more competitive in attracting Chinese to come to look at the knowledge assets of the city, its creative economy, and its logistic and commercial advantages.

• Wirral Waters and Liverpool Waters are 30-year schemes. To date only WW has full permission from the Secretary of State, whilst LW is likely to go to local committee this summer. Investors will be secured once permission is approved.

• The Peel International Trade Center proposes to construct on land within its ownership - either at West Float in Wirral Waters or Ellesmere Port. This would be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and the largest and most sustainable Trade Centre in Europe.

The facility will sell an unlimited variety of types of goods to the wholesale market. It would serve as a trading ‘Gateway’ into the UK and the whole of Europe.

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• The Liverpool in London embassy, Liverpool Street in London, actively promotes Liverpool as an investment location showing key assets of the city and areas were we as a city are world class.

• The embassy is also working closely with colleagues from Shanghai who have forged links with through the Liverpool Shanghai Partnership.

• Liverpool Vision is currently promoting Liverpool’s links with the USA, Finland, Indonesia to name but a few.

• Promoting the Liverpool city region and working with the UK trade and investments.

• The council is also looking for businesses to sponsor people in China and facilitating special permits in China especially in the Creative Industry sector.

• Companies like the Bank of China and telecoms providers like Huawei should be made more aware of the real assets that Liverpool and the city region have.

• It is realistic that in 5-10 years time China might become one of the major sources of investment from abroad into Liverpool.

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Liverpool-Shanghai Focus

Beyond Shanghai Expo DR LEE KA HUNG

CLIVE DRINKWATER

Chairs the North West Chinese Council and LCC appointed Chinese Business Champion

UKTI Regional Director for the North West

“I think the revival of Liverpool China Town would be an enormous boost to Liverpool’s tourism offer as well as providing a focus for the cultural and commercial life of a growing Chinese community.”

UK Trade & Investment supports companies in the North West that want to trade and invest overseas.

Clive has particular experience in Asia.

• Dr Lee is working closely with Liverpool Vision and Liverpool City to put together a group of private sector sponsors to enable Liverpool to have a dedicated presence at all of UKTI’s trade missions in major Chinese cities.

• He is also involved in a number of specific development projects including plans for a potential Chinese retail scheme in South Liverpool and is also working with a number of prospective partners to progress plans for the regeneration of Liverpool China Town.

• Passport to Export Programme, UKTI’s flagship scheme for new and inexperienced exporters, provides advice, training and support towards market visits to help companies achieve their export potential.

• UKTI also provides a free service to help more experienced exporters to increase overseas sales, Gateway to Global Growth (G3), which is a 12 month programme of strategic support tailored to individual needs.

• Its Overseas Market Introduction Service can also put businesses directly in touch with UKTI staff based at its 100 Embassies and Consulates worldwide.

PROFESSOR SIR HOWARD NEWBY Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool

“We aim to give both Liverpool and XJTLU students the opportunity to become global citizens, benefiting from an international curriculum and experience, as well as enhanced employability.”

• The University of Liverpool is partnered with Xi'an Jiaotong University, one of China’s top 10 institutions, establishing the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), an independent Chinese university.

• XJTLU, which is located in the prestigious Suzhou Industrial Park, which is home to 76 Fortune 500 companies.

• It has 4,000 students studying 19 programmes with more than 650 XJTLU students studying for ‘dual affinity’ awards, completing up to half of their programme in Liverpool, and will receive both a Chinese and UK degree.

• Liverpool postgraduate students can study part of their course in China.

JESSICA ZHANG NW China Britain Business Council

“Doing business in China requires long term commitment, persistence, strategic planning and solid implementation.”

• CBBC team is supporting its corporate member Peel Holding and Liverpool Vision to attract investment from China.

• It also works hand in hand with other regional partners e.g. Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, Professional Liverpool and Mersey Partnership.

• CBBC is hosting and organizing a Business Dinner in honour of Mr Yu Zhengsheng, Secretary of the Shanghai Party Committee in April.

• Corporate members also benefit from reciprocal membership of the Beijing based British Chamber of Commerce in China (Britcham), including access to more than 100 events per year in Beijing and a stronger membership network.

MOVE COMMERCIAL 41

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By Dina Karim dina@movepublishing.co.uk

It’s hard to image Liverpool without the Albert Dock but it so easily could have been erased from recent memory and replaced with a gigantic aquarium, Europe’s tallest building or even a landfill.

Founding Father of modern Liverpool

42 MOVE COMMERCIAL

the stark contrast between the decrepit look of the cityscape then and the shining skyline of today is testament to this company’s influence on Liverpool’s fortunes.

“In 1982-3 the dock gates had fallen into disrepair and all the silt came in from the river and that left us with five acres of silt 16 feet deep.

We replaced the dock gates to stop any more silt coming in and we then pumped water in from the river and pumped out the silt. The buildings had bomb damage as it had been neglected since WWII, which we also repaired. We started work

Dock, the area was still not desirable to national retail names due to it being on the wrong side of town.

The company instead invited in mom-and-pop businesses, and over the years as the project became more recognised they attracted a new type of sophisticated restaurateur and bar operator.

“It’s a bit like the Forth Bridge, you finish painting one end and start work again at the beginning - we have developed and redeveloped some of those buildings many times over to reflect the demand at the time. The Albert Dock is a leisure

“

The Albert Dock is a leisure centre for Liverpool, in connecting the Echo Arena with the restaurants back to the Liverpool One shopping area it forms an entertainment hub.

“

As the largest cluster of Grade I listed buildings in the UK, the Albert Dock was the biggest project of its kind when it was built even if its fortune waned after WWII - demolishing this architecturally impressive site would have been a crime. Finally, Arrowcroft stepped in to regenerate the site, waving the flag of common sense regeneration and changing the fortunes of the city forever.

Following the Toxteth Riots in 1981 the plight of Liverpool’s failing economy was in the spotlight, what had been the UK’s second city when the Albert Dock was built in 1846 was now the poster child of post-war unemployment. In an effort to regenerate the area, Environment Minister Michael Heseltine was appointed Minister for Merseyside and the question of what to do with the derelict Albert Dock site had to be settled. However, all the ambitious plans put forward required government grants and no one could justify knocking down the buildings and warehouses.

At this point in stepped Arrowcroft with a regeneration and restoration proposal that struck a chord. The man behind the 30-years of investment, development and managing of the Albert Dock is Chief Executive of Arrowcroft, Nicholas Hai. Arrowcroft is one of the largest privately owned property companies in the UK and a market leader in the restoration and refurbishment of buildings of an architectural, historic and national importance.

Guiding me through his office adorned with framed photographs of Liverpool from three decades ago,

quickly on the infrastructure and the first thing we opened there was a food court, just something to bring a bit of life and activity to it.”

Collaborating with the government meant they secured major tenants such as Tate Liverpool (the first one outside of London at the time) and the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Although interest was piqued in the continuing restoration of the Albert

centre for Liverpool, in connecting the Echo Arena with the restaurants back to the Liverpool One shopping area it forms an entertainment hub.”

The success of Arrowcroft’s project implementation on the Albert Dock has absolutely reconfigured the Liverpool City Centre. Having established itself, everything came afterwards; the bringing in of Liverpool One effectively connected

the docks with the heart of the city.

“We were involved in helping to master plan the Liverpool One area and had conversations with Grosvenor, who were concerned with having the Albert Dock included as part of the design and not shut off by the scheme. We were asked to help master plan a strategy for the area where the Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre is now, which had to always work in harmony with the Albert Dock and not fight it.”

It is interesting to note that all of this development is in the very recent history of Liverpool and although now a serious rival to surrounding city centres it is only through continuous work that it can continue being a top tourist attraction. With Liverpool being selected to host the National Boat Show, the first time it had travelled outside of London, it was a huge blow when it was cancelled just a few short months before its planned date.

“There’s always been a lot of boating activities and events around cruise ships and the tall ships and the Boat Show was a natural for Liverpool - it got an awful lot of support. I think it was just a bad year to do it but having said that, I think in the next year or two they will reinstate the Boat Show.

They’ve built the infrastructure, the pontoons are there, so a lot of the upfront costs has gone into it and it will be just that much easier next time round.”

Although the Albert Dock is arguably Arrowcroft’s biggest account to date, the company is involved with countless projects

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Nicholas Hai, Chief Executive of Arrowcroft Founding Father throughout the country. Until recently they had a 12-year joint venture with United Utilities, where they managed their surplus land between Liverpool and Manchester, which had development potential.

“If you drive out on the A580 you see a Home Bargains store which we developed and an enormous car showroom bigger than anything else that had been done in the UK. We also built a private pet hospital outside of Manchester, with 200 dog and 120 cat apartments, for Mars Corporation who own Mars Bar and Pedigree Chum.”

In today’s poor economic climate, Arrowcroft’s development projects have had to take a back seat as they look to keep the company’s balance sheet healthy. Always entrepreneurial in spirit their new property contract is taking advantage of the marketplace.

“We’ve become very active in partnering with banks with some of their problem portfolios they have acquired by default and helping them to recapture the value. They needed people who are used to being hands on. We’ve always been active throughout the country and this new contract will lead us back into development.”

Liverpool is a city of monumental highs and gloomy lows, from one of the most important cities in the world to one of the most deprived in the country - it is a badge of honour for Arrowcroft to call itself a founding father of Liverpool and mean it in every sense of the word.

Hai File HQ: 110 Park Street, London Education: Christ’s College Finchley.

Qualified as a Chartered Surveyor at College of Estate Management. Elected a Fellow of the RICS in 1984.

Property Projects (highlights): Albert Dock (Liverpool), Lower Precinct (Coventry), Matalan (Stockport), The Clarendon Centre & Westgate (Oxford), Joint venture with United Utilities’ surplus land (Northwest), Esporta Leisure (Denton, East Manchester), joint venture with Amey plc and CB Richard Ellis.

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Appointments Leading woman chairs KHT

Maggie O Carroll

A leading figure in women’s enterprise has been appointed chair of KHT Services, the trading subsidiary and social enterprise of Knowsley Housing Trust, which is now part of the First Ark group of companies.

Maggie O’Carroll will help to take the business forward and also hopes to foster entrepreneurship within social housing and KHT’s social enterprise activities through her new role. She is a leader in women’s enterprise and is the founder and Chief Executive of the award-winning, Liverpool-based social enterprise The Women’s Organisation, which is now the largest women’s economic development agency in the UK.

Savills promotes four Savills' Manchester office has promoted four people. Hazel Butler was promoted to director level within the UK investment department, while Caroline Sullivan was made associate director within the property management team.

Megan Brady and Robert Hall were also promoted to associate level within the property management team. Savills has over 150 staff in the Manchester office working in its residential and commercial property departments

McGurren & Hanlon Join Maghull Group Two of Liverpool’s best known 44 MOVE COMMERCIAL

professional heavy-weights have joined Maghull Group’s senior management team. Sean McGurren, formerly the Liverpool branch manager of corporate and private bank Handelsbanken for six years, assumes the role of managing director of Maghull Developments. Paula Hanlon, former equity partner at Hill Dickinson, joins as director to oversee the group’s hotel and leisure operations which include Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa. Maghull Group is a north west commercial and residential property development and investment company.

Four senior directors elected at DTZ Global real estate services firm DTZ has elected four members of its Manchester team to the position of Senior Director. Mike Mitchell, Regional Managing Director, Ken Bishop, Office Agency Director, John Downes, Director of Portfolio Asset Management and Bruce Poizer, Director of the Investment team, all

The Hub is a new business support facility based at the University of Liverpool. The Hub at Foresight delivers a new concept in meeting and networking space complementing the existing award winning facilities.

Mike Mitchell

based in DTZ’s Manchester office, have been promoted to Senior Director. The newly created grade recognises significant contribution and consistently high performance relating to either revenue generation and/or management.

Appointments to this position are determined according to rigorous criteria and endorsed by DTZ’s Group Executive Committee.

Key to the success of the Hub is the technology that allows it to be used as a multi-purpose space for informal meetings, networking and virtual meetings.

Full business support facilities provide an 'office-from-office' environment and a gateway to the expertise of the University of Liverpool.

For details of membership, contact the Foresight Centre on 0151 794 8060 or foresight@liv.ac.uk

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sq ft (111.5 sq m) • Self contained suite with disabled access • Character building with exposed beams and brickwork • Short term and all inclusive terms available

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MOVE COMMERCIAL 45

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Expert views Ask the panel

How do we attract high-fliers to the region?

As the economy starts to show green shoots how do we attract and retain key talent to create a pipeline of high worth jobs in the high tech sectors. Is it grade A space? technology infrastructure? funding and finance? Five well known faces share their thoughts on how the region now needs to position itself to attract the best entrepreneurs and innovators.

“For me it’s a combination of factors; we’ve worked with developers to provide a range of suitable attractive buildings allowing for flexibility of use, and to enable growth to ensure we retain those companies. A positive attitude to commerce and the availability of business support, along with useful networks and contacts is a must. The ease of access to the workplace complemented by a strong residential, leisure and cultural offer also provides Merseyside with its competitive advantage.”

"Liverpool’s future economic success is dependent upon drawing high-flying businesses and individuals into the City. These individuals are attracted to areas that demonstrate a commitment to investment in supportive infrastructure.

Proactive landlords and developers who invest in Liverpool’s commercial knowledge economy, like Liverpool Innovation Park, have a critical role in creating the businessfriendly environment needed. Liverpool has several such property offers for knowledge industry occupiers including Liverpool Innovation Park, Liverpool Science Park, and MerseyBio, where high-fliers can easily access resources such as talent, ideas, business support and finance needed to grow a business."

Wayne Locke, director of Ashtenne Space Northwest developing Liverpool Innovation Park,

46 MOVE COMMERCIAL

Mark Dickens, Head of Regeneration, St Helens Council “A clear and consistent articulation of the city region’s key knowledge assets, research capabilities and leading associated companies is an essential prerequisite.

We should encourage individuals from outside the region to test drive what we have to offer. A physical base is important, but supportive professional and sector networks are essential.

Once established, companies need access to finance to grow, professional advice on their terms when required and a flexible office environment where like minded companies can collide together and innovate constantly.

First class IT infrastructure, transport links and quality of life are a given.”

Chris Musson, CEO, of Liverpool Science Park “Attracting high flying companies is something that most regions of the world are now doing. The bar has been raised and now nice premises and a low cost and available work force won’t cut it. You need competitive Broadband plumbing, real support networks and active links to relevant markets.

If that wasn’t demanding enough you also need proximity of active investment sources from Seed Funds to Venture Capital firms to Business Angel networks. The investment money is crucial as most companies active in the “fast growth” space, namely Bio Med and Med Tech, Digital and Creative and Cleantech sectors require the full cycle of services that would supply and fuel entrepreneurial based companies through their entire process of startup to exit. There are no exceptions anymore – skills, investment, market opportunity combine and to create the “holy grail” of economic growth.”

Steve Smith, Digital Industry Director, Liverpool Vision

“In Knowsley we try our hardest to ensure that there is absolutely no resistance to encouraging businesses and business people to flourish in our borough. If you want to retain and attract key people it’s about creating and developing a powerful business community and a ready supply chain of talent.”

Lesley Martin-Wright, Chief Executive, Knowsley Chamber of Commerce

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