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315째 THE RDA MAGAZINE JUNE 2008 ISSUE 15
Haven for enterprise New drive for business growth Bluecoat reborn Rejuvenated arts centre debut Adventure unlimited Cumbria chases thrill seekers
CREATIVE ECONOMY Global profile for creative industries
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THE RDA MAGAZINE JUNE 2008 ISSUE 15
HIGHLIGHTS
CONTENTS THE THIRD DEGREE 4
12
HAVEN FOR ENTERPRISE
24
BLUECOAT REBORN
Sir Philip Craven
BUSINESS 6
Growth plan for digital & creative sector
8
Region joins race for London 2012 business
A package of new proposals to unlock the Northwest's full enterprise potential has been unveiled by the NWDA.
10 Resource efficiency drive 11 Pilotless plane market taking off 12 Feeding the green shoots of enterprise 13 Star role for women entrepreneurs
SKILLS AND EDUCATION 14 University builds healthy economy
The re-opening weekend of the Bluecoat centre for contemporary art, an inheritance of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture 2008 title, attracted over 10,000 people.
PEOPLE AND JOBS 16 Blackburn poised for a brighter future
Photo: Deana Clarke
18 Agency unveils ERDF programme
27
19 Drive to improve workplace health 20 More resources to grow rural economy
INFRASTRUCTURE
ADVENTURE UNLIMITED Promoted as “the biggest adventure playground in the country”, Cumbria has ambitious plans to become the adventure capital of the UK by 2012.
22 Rail schemes help economy to grow
QUALITY OF LIFE 24 Visitor success for cultural showcase 26 Museum boost for heritage tourism
OUR VISION:
315° CONTACTS
27 Thrill seekers head for Cumbria
REGULARS 28 People in the region 30 Event highlights 31 Getting in touch
‘A dynamic, sustainable international economy which competes on the basis of knowledge, advanced technology and an excellent quality of life for all.’
Editor Trevor Bates t.bates948@btinternet.com NWDA Rachel Ormandy email: rachel.ormandy@nwda.co.uk tel: 01925 400 237 visit www.nwda.co.uk & www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com
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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
LEADING THE REGION 2008 marks another significant and successful year for both the NWDA and the region as we make important progress in driving forward our strong ambition for England’s Northwest – to continue the transformation of our economy. The progress of the region over the past 5 years has been remarkable. Our major cities have experienced unprecedented growth and we have created over 180,000 new jobs and secured £2.4 billion of private sector investment. We have been able to achieve this because as a region we have agreed our priorities and have been determined to deliver on these. The Agency’s strong focus on providing strategic leadership has played a vital role in ensuring we create new economic opportunities and tangible results for the regional economy. As outlined in the Regional Economic Strategy (RES), it is clear that the focus on investing in significant transformational projects is already paying dividends and impacting positively on our economy. April 1st marked the start of an important period for the Agency in terms of strengthening our strategic leadership role as we took responsibility as Chair of Chairs for the 9 Regional Development Agencies. This requires the Agency to act as the direct link into central Government on behalf of the whole RDA network until October 2008. The Chair of Chairs period will be challenging, however it will also give the Agency greater impact at a national level, a higher profile and added responsibility for agreeing new goals and targets that will determine activity in the Northwest and throughout the country, particularly as the Government’s Sub-National Review (SNR) takes shape.
The SNR calls for a stronger, more strategic role for RDAs, and is designed to strengthen the importance of economic priorities at a regional, sub-regional and local level. In many ways it reflects the strengths of our existing approach in the Northwest and our strong relationships with business, Government Office for the North West, the North West Regional Assembly and Local Authorities. Here in the Northwest we have already begun to take the first steps in developing and implementing an integrated regional strategy for economic development, planning, housing and transport. Working with partners, we are currently agreeing clear priorities for the region and identifying how we can strengthen capacity where needed to deliver economic development. It is clear that the secret to the region’s success thus far has been down to determination, setting clear priorities and strong partnership working. I’m pleased that many of our partners in the region continue to share this ambition and vision for the Northwest. I would like to thank you for your ongoing support in helping to make this vision a reality.
Bryan Gray, Chairman, May 2008
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THE THIRD DEGREE
Sir Philip Craven is an inspirational figure in the world of sport. Born, educated and still living in the Northwest, he triumphed over a disabling accident as a teenager to become a five time paralympian in wheelchair basketball (1972-88) and a distinguished contributor and administrator in the field of paralympic sport. He is a Board Member on the London 2012 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) with responsibility for the Northwest and President of the International Paralympic Committee.
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SIR PHILIP CRAVEN The region seems to be developing a talent for staging major international sports events. What’s the recipe for success? People in the Northwest are passionate about sport, whether it’s football, rugby, cycling or swimming. Thanks to the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games we also have the infrastructure. How did you get into sport? I always loved sport when I was at Bolton School. They wanted me on the school team at swimming, tennis and cricket but not at football! Then I had my accident and the first day in bed at the Northwest Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport I saw wheelchair basketball being played outdoors. It caused me to think that my plight was no big deal and I could still play sport. Wheelchair basketball suited me perfectly. I was no good at football but pretty good with my hands. Things just snowballed from there nationally and internationally. Tell us about the accident - how did you become disabled? I fell rock climbing in Wilton Quarries, a recognised millstone grit climbing area North of Bolton, when I was 16. I stood up after the fall then sat down and that must have caused a break in my spine. But it has not stopped me enjoying life to the full. I travel the world three or four times a year and I’m away from my home near Crewe 200 to 210 days on olympic and paralympic duties. So disability is no barrier to achieving great things? Absolutely. A lot of the barriers that people perceive have been knocked down by persons with a perceived disability because we are just not standing for being treated differently. We are people of the world like anyone else. I don’t like the word disabled – it’s a negativity and shouldn’t be used. The great thing about paralympic athletes is that they get on with using what works and don’t worry about what doesn’t.
What are your aspirations for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games? This is a fantastic opportunity for this country and I’m confident LOCOG is going to put on a really great Games. But it’s the wider effect the Games can have on the population that excites me. We hear a lot about the obesity problem and the need for more people to engage in physical activity. Sport is an ideal and enjoyable route to a healthier lifestyle. It’s also a way of educating young people in life skills so let’s get them involved, even if it’s only playing football once a week in the park, and let’s get parents not being fearful of letting kids play out. Where do the regions fit in the scheme of things? Make no mistake these are the nation’s Games. It’s great that the nine regions of England and the three home nations are mobilising themselves to play a full part in this incredible celebration of sport and culture. It will put fresh energy into the regions in terms of new business, tourism and cultural opportunities. Apart from the pure supply contracts there’s the added value of making companies better prepared for international competition, to go out and sell. Are there any parallels to be drawn with the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games? Yes. In my opinion I don’t think we had any chance of winning the 2012 Games because Britain did not have a good reputation for staging international events until Manchester staged the highly successful Commonwealth Games. The legacy is that the Commonwealth Games helped us turn the corner and laid some of the foundations for what we hope will be a very successful and rewarding Games in 2012. It also left behind a valuable sporting infrastructure, which contributes to our improving performance in a number of sports.
“THE GREAT THING ABOUT PARALYMPIC ATHLETES IS THAT THEY GET ON WITH USING WHAT WORKS AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHAT DOESN’T.” SIR PHILIP CRAVEN PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE
So you can see a correlation between having the Manchester Velodrome and Britain winning seven gold medals at the recent World Cycling Championships? For sure! It shows that British cycling has maximised the use of the facilities. If you look around the world that doesn’t always happen. Some wonderful facilities turn out to be white elephants because they are underused. The other outstanding legacy example is the main stadium at Sportcity, which is now the home of Manchester City FC. Great forward thinking! You can’t get better than that. Can we expect more investment in sports facilities in this region? Yes, if you look at the ‘Northwest Legacy Framework for the 2012 Games’ one of the regional objectives is to deliver 2,012 high quality sports clubs by the time the London Olympic and Paralympic Games open. Facilities are a key part of ensuring that we have a sporting infrastructure in the region that is ready to capitalise on the increased demand for sport and physical activity that the 2012 Games will generate. This is an area that Sport England is currently exploring. You’re now 57 – are you still physically active? Yes, when time allows. I still enjoy playing wheelchair basketball but it’s now at third division level. I also do five kilometres of roadwork once or twice a week to keep fit. My other interests are gardening and wine! For further information: www.london2012.com
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BUSINESS NEWS EA Technology is to construct an Energy Innovation Centre at Capenhurst in Cheshire with support funding of £1.5 million from the NWDA. Its aim is to turn bright ideas into successful products and services for the energy industry. University spin out StructureVision has been awarded a £350,000 R&D grant by the NWDA to develop a digital modelling tool for use in the nuclear industry. The company’s target market for the product over the next ten years is around £100 million. Financial and professional services have experienced the biggest employment growth in the Northwest over the past decade, ahead of education and life sciences, according to a new study by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The research predicts that almost a third of people will be working in related professions by 2020. Researchers at the University of Manchester will soon have access to more finance to commercialise their world-beating ideas after the university teamed up with the UK’s leading technology investment manager, MIT, and leading institutions to establish a new investment fund of up to £50 million. Regeneration specialist St. Modwen is to start work this summer on a new £25 million phase of investment at Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus following a development agreement with Daresbury SIC and owners the NWDA. The first scheme is a 35,000 sq ft ‘grow on’ building called Vanguard House. Zen Internet, an award-winning UK ISP, has embarked on an expansion programme at Rochdale with the help of a £1.95 million SFI grant from the NWDA. The investment, which has helped facilitate the company’s move from three sites to a new headquarters in Sandbrook Park, will lead to the creation of 250 jobs over the next five years.
GROWTH PLAN FOR Leaders of the region’s £16 billion Digital and Creative Industries are intensifying their efforts to establish the Northwest as one of the world’s most innovative production centres for digital entertainment and new media. One aim of a bold, newly launched action plan for the sector is to draw in talent, skills and investment from overseas to grow regional output by £1 billion a year by 2015 with the US, Japan and China among the main targets. Produced by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) in consultation with industry and public sector partners, the
Monkey business – Magenta Software, Liverpool, provides software for computer games
NorthernNet high-speed communications network, a National Centre of Excellence in Computer Games and the creation of a ‘Beacon Business Links’ process to promote best practice. The Digital and Creative Industries sector is seen as pivotal to the region’s knowledge economy. It generates 16% of the Northwest’s Gross Value Added (GVA), employs 10.6% of its workforce and forms the second largest creative cluster in Europe. MediaCityUK, where the BBC will relocate five key departments by 2011, is seen as the cornerstone of the new strategy. The world-class development is a public private sector partnership led by developers Peel who are investing £350 million in the first phase of the project with an ambition to invest up to £1.5 billion over 15 years.
GLOBAL FLAGSHIP
new framework envisages a range of public sector initiatives to exploit the potential for growth, particularly through media and technological convergence. A number of Media Enterprise Centres (MECs) will be established where production companies, broadcasters, small digital companies and universities can creatively collaborate. Phase one, located at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, and Liverpool Innovation Park, are expected to open later this year. Other targets include the creation of 1,000 apprenticeships by 2010, an investment in a
The development presents the region with “a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a transformational change,” says the NWDA’s Iain Bennett, Sector Leader, Digital and Creative industries. He describes MediaCityUK as “the global flagship of what we are trying to achieve in the Northwest – nowhere else in the world have we got a major private sector company investing its own money in a development of this kind. If you look at the investment going into media cities like Seoul it’s more or less Government money.” Bennett stresses that only by getting businesses to invest in developments such as MediaCityUK can the region hope to meet the stiff targets contained in the action plan. “It’s imperative that we get that message out overseas. Organic growth by UK companies is very important and is
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Creative waterscape – more and more producers are using Lake District locations for filmmaking
DIGITAL & CREATIVE SECTOR complemented by overseas investment to realise the sector’s true growth potential.” One of the action plan’s aspirations is to attract at least one significant global technology business alongside the BBC in Phase 1 of MediaCityUK by 2010. The NWDA, UKTI and developers Peel are engaged in a twin global push to promote the Salford Quays project. Bennett recently travelled to Shanghai and Beijing to brief potential Chinese investors on the opportunities for collaboration. The NWDA's Project Director - MediaCityUK, Jason Legget, also visited the US recently with partners to meet with a number of major players in the sector to promote opportunities for relocating to MediaCityUK.
HOTBED OF TALENT Creative Industries covers a broad range of activities from advertising and design to television and electronic publishing. Taken together some 18 sub-sectors employ 320,000 people in 31,000 businesses in the Northwest. The region has developed a critical mass in computer games – GVA is over £300 million a year - and is now seeing acquisitive investments by giants such as Sony (Evolution Studios, Runcorn) and Warner Bros (Travellers Tales, Knutsford). It is also a hot bed of talent and innovation in
television and film production as demonstrated by the recent success of ITV’s new ground breaking satirical comedy, ‘Headcases’ which was created in association with the Manchesterbased animation company Red Vision. The show which attracted over 4 million viewers on its first screening uses the latest computer generated image (CGI) wizardry and is the first foray into character animation by the BAFTA award-winning company who are best known for content graphics for documentaries. “We would like it to become a long running series on the lines of Spitting Image,” explains Red Vision’s Chris Lunt. The company is now working on a feature film and a drama for the BBC. There is also a rich vein of filmmaking in the region. The latest feature films to go into production are being funded under the £750,000 cutting-edge Digital Departures initiative as part of the Liverpool 08 Capital of Culture programme. Over 150 teams submitted ideas with a judging panel whittling down the entries to just six finalists. Three of these have since each been awarded £250,000 to bring their dreams to reality. The winners, whose films will be shown on the BBC later this year, were: Of Time And the City, a documentary directed by Terence Davies
Familiar landmark – Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, was used as a set for the football film Offside
that was recently selected for a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival; Salvage, a horror film which will use the set of Brookside as its central location; and Starstruck, a drama written by Liverpool writer Leigh Campbell. The scheme was devised by Northwest Vision and Media who will expand to become the cluster organisation for the Digital and Creative Industries under the new action plan. It will move to the MediaCityUK MEC later this year sharing space with a number of specialist brokers from Business Link Northwest and focusing on a number of projects including an audio visual training programme. For further information: www. nwda.co.uk
“ORGANIC GROWTH BY UK COMPANIES IS VERY IMPORTANT AND IS COMPLEMENTED BY OVERSEAS INVESTMENT TO REALISE THE SECTOR’S TRUE GROWTH POTENTIAL.” IAIN BENNETT SECTOR LEADER, DIGITAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES NWDA
Celebrity newsreader – one of the animated characters from the ITV satirical comedy ‘Headcases’
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BUSINESS
REGION JOINS RACE FOR Companies across the region are limbering up to compete for a share of the £6 billion of supply chain contract work that’s expected to be awarded by organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and its top tier suppliers. Over 800 Northwest firms have registered interest in the procurement opportunities and at least 20 companies based in the region have already won contracts to supply goods and services to the Olympic Delivery Authority and other London 2012 contractors. The huge commercial rewards on offer were outlined at the national launch of the London 2012 Business Network held at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium – one of the venues for the Olympic Football Tournament – attended by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell. The London 2012 Business Network has three component parts: essential information on upcoming opportunities and how to supply London 2012; business events; and a ‘CompeteFor’ service – an online business ‘dating agency’ that will match companies with the thousands of opportunities supplying London 2012 contractors or subcontractors. CompeteFor is the official portal through which London 2012 will publish Games related opportunities. CompeteFor has been developed on behalf of the English Regional Development Agencies and UK Devolved Administrations by the London Development Agency, working closely with London 2012 and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). The Northwest Regional Development Agency’s (NWDA) aim is to inspire Northwest businesses to compete for London 2012 related contracts to create stronger and fitter companies equipped to supply major events and public sector projects. A Northwest Business Network has been established to help companies in the region to access information and support on the business opportunities being created from
London 2012. The Agency is providing £2 million of funding towards CompeteFor and the operation of the Northwest Business Network. Working with Business Link Northwest and other partners, the Agency hopes to encourage up to 3,000 local companies to use the CompeteFor system, with at least 100 of them winning contracts. Up to a fifth of supply chain opportunities are expected to go through this route.
ECONOMIC STIMULANT NWDA Chief Executive Steven Broomhead said there were opportunities in every business sector including construction, professional services, tourism, hospitality, sport, food and creative sectors. “Our experience of the Commonwealth Games, which helped to grow and develop so many Northwest companies, demonstrates the powerful impact the 2012 Games can make in the region,” he said. Manchester based law firm Brabners Chaffe Street is a good indicator of what can be achieved on the business front when it comes to winning contracts for major events. Partner Jason Smith revealed that Brabners had advised on sponsorship deals worth £1.25 billion in the past seven years. It has given client advice on a number of major world sporting events including the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championships, the IRB Rugby World Cup and the 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships in Manchester. “It proves that you don’t need to shop for specialist legal services in London when there is world-class expertise in this region”, said partner Jason Smith.
GOLDEN DECADE Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games (LOCOG) who attended the Manchester event with Tessa Jowell and John Armitt, Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), talked of a “Golden Decade” for major events in the UK as
a result of London winning the race to host the 2012 Games. He said: “Businesses the length and breadth of the country will win contracts and we hope gain a huge amount of experience of what it takes to stage and host big sporting events.” The Games are expected to generate 75,000 business opportunities. Contracts worth over £1 billion have so far been let, most to small and medium sized companies with around half based outside London. One of the early winners was Watson Steel in Bolton, which has won a contract to supply steel for the main Olympic stadium. Other successful companies include the TAS Partnership Ltd, based in Preston, which won a contract to undertake a procurement study for the provision of coach and bus transport for the Olympic family within the Olympic sites. The study examines various options for making 1,500 vehicles available, and looked at related aspects including manning, servicing and subsequently, the scheduling of services between the various locations. A programme of business events and workshops covering topics such as CompeteFor, marketing and sustainability is being rolled out across the region to help companies based in the region to be prepared to compete for win contracts from London 2012. The first of these, the UK Trade & Investment ‘Winning beyond 2012’ conference in Manchester was aimed at preparing companies for opportunities stemming from global sporting events that will be staged between 2014-2020. The region is also gearing itself for the launch of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad in October. Debbi Lander who is based at Culture Northwest has been appointed as the region’s Creative Programmer. For further information: www.london2012.com/business www.businesseventsfor2012.co.uk
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LONDON 2012 BUSINESS TRAINING CAMPS GUIDE The Northwest will have an important part to play in preparing the world’s top athletes for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games after 72 of the region’s top sporting venues were selected to appear in the official pre-Games Training Camp Guide. Those featured include facilities used in the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, such as Manchester Aquatics Centre, the Manchester Velodrome and the Regional Athletics Arena at Sportcity. Major football grounds and training grounds, equestrian centres, martial arts centres and gymnasiums appear in the directory to be published at the Beijing Games. Facilities included range from Aintree Racecourse (equestrian) and Bolton Lads and Girls Club (boxing) to Platt Fields (BMX) and Kendal Judo Club. Civic leaders in Leigh are hoping to exploit their historic links with the Ukraine to get their national team to train at the new £60 million Leigh Sports village. “There is an opportunity to bring teams to the region to train and that creates a legacy in itself around the business supply chain and also inspiring young people to take parts in sports,” says Rob Young, Northwest Coordinator for the 2012 Games.
Sporting spectacular – an impression of the main London 2012 Olympic Games stadium
Olympic hopefuls – Leigh sports village is included in the 2012 pre-Games Training Camp Guide
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BUSINESS
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY DRIVE The Northwest is continuing to lead the battle against climate change with a multi-million pound boost for companies looking to ‘green’ the way they do business. ENWORKS Environmental Business Support (EBS) is a new £6 million programme funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) that could save the region’s businesses up to £50 million a year. Specialist consultants will be working with companies to help them manage risks such as climate change more efficiently, but unlike many similar national initiatives, it will be specifically aimed at small and medium size businesses (SMEs). At the same time the region’s unique Environment Connect service has become the ‘green arm’ of Business Link Northwest, ensuring a more efficient, joined-up service for businesses. Todd Holden, Programme Director at ENWORKS, believes that businesses are now more aware of the true cost of energy than ever before. Those companies willing to tackle the environmental impact of their operations are also those that stand to gain most. “There used to be a perception that if you wanted to save energy you had to spend a lot of money,” says Holden. “But 70% of the energy savings we achieve require no capital investment.
Green energy – a wind turbine at Liverpool’s Wavertree Technology Park
Agency’s previous investment in resource efficiency and the results ENWORKS have achieved. As a result, Holden believes that each year the new service can save 200,000 tonnes of C02, reduce raw material use by 800,000 tonnes and save 1.3 million tonnes of water. All that will lead to cost savings of £50 million to Northwest businesses. “So for every £1 the NWDA puts into a programme like this, we can put £10 on to the bottom line of a business,” he says.
BUSINESS LINK
According to an NWDA survey, another major barrier to greening businesses has been confusion about where to go for information, with 41% of companies reporting they never asked for environmental help because they didn’t know who to contact. Environment Connect was set up to help firms clear this hurdle, by acting as an environmental brokerage service. After a successful first year it has now become part of Business Link Northwest. Holden is confident this will allow a much stronger engagement between the region’s businesses and environmental service suppliers. “Almost without exception, companies are WASTE REDUCTION quite data-poor,” he continues. “They don’t “It’s the willingness to change that creates know how much they are spending on gas, the outcome. Part of our programme is to get electricity, water, raw materials, waste businesses to understand the value of this disposal – so what we have to do is work with activity so they become passionate about it.” them, identify the numbers and then help Mark Atherton, the NWDA’s Head of analyse them.” Environment and Sustainable Development, One of the reasons why businesses don’t agrees. “We believe that companies that are take up this sort of advice, says Atherton, is going to succeed in the future are those which that they don’t know who to go to. “What have good environmental credentials and we’ve done is simplify the process.” have taken actions to reduce the costs of their For further information: energy and waste.” The NWDA’s funding is based on a series of www.enworks.com Business Link Northwest: tel 0845 0066 888 ‘smart targets’, which take into account the
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Manufacturing powerhouse – limited production of the glider-like HERTI is under way at the Warton plant
Intelligent pilotless aircraft that can stay airborne for up to 24 hours and fulfil a range of civil tasks from monitoring the region’s coastline to traffic management could be rolling off production lines in Northwest aerospace factories within the next few years.
PILOTLESS PLANE MARKET TAKING OFF BAE Systems is currently collaborating with a number of public and leading private sector partners to overcome a number of technology, safety, and regulatory hurdles before the Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UAS) are allowed to fly in commercial airspace. Senior figures in the industry predict that there may be some limited use of the ‘eye-inthe sky’ craft as early as 2012 by coastguard and police forces. Applications could include supporting search and rescue missions in the Lake District and monitoring large events such as the Grand National. Engineers, scientists, and academics are working closely on solutions that will lead to agreeing approaches and standards for certification as part of the £32 million threeyear national ASTRAEA research and development programme, which is being supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The UAS market represents a huge business opportunity for the region, according to Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, BAE Systems’ Science & Technology Director and Project Director. Studies suggest it could be over £5 billion by 2015 with more than 20,000 units being produced, which is potentially twice the size of
the current civil aircraft market. “We believe these unmanned vehicles should become quite a common sight in UK skies by the middle of the next decade and BAE Systems has every intention of being a big player in this market. “The barriers to entry are different from manned aircraft and there is no reason why a lot of small companies in this region cannot get into the lower end of the market.”
CIVILIAN USES The company has been using a small, unmanned craft, known as HERTI (High Endurance Rapid Technology Insertion), as a demonstrator for the RAF for some time and limited production focused on the military is now under way at BAE Systems’ Lancashire factories. The glider-like plane, which is equipped with cameras, sensors and advanced avionics that allow it to think for itself, was unveiled at Farnborough last year. Civilian uses could include border patrol, oil and gas pipeline observation and monitoring hazardous situations. Now in its second year, the ASTRAEA programme is a partnership between industry, government and academia covering 16 parallel projects ranging from collision
avoidance to the development of affordable design and manufacturing processes. “If unmanned systems are to operate in civil airspace they will need to have the equivalent level of safety of a piloted aircraft, communicate with Air Traffic Control and be able to make intelligent decisions on their own. That is some challenge,” declared Lambert. The NWDA is channelling £3.7 million through BAE Systems to support four of the projects. One of the first civil trials could involve monitoring shipping in the English Channel. Andrew Davis, NWDA Aviation and Aerospace Development Manager, believes the region stands to benefit in a number of ways once the technology is fully refined and the Civil Aviation Authority is convinced unmanned autonomous vehicles can be operated safely in civil air space. “We hope it will lead to future manufacturing jobs and opportunities for small companies who have never before been involved with the aerospace industry to help develop a new sector”, he said. For further information: www.sbac.co.uk www.scitech.ac.uk
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BUSINESS
FEEDING THE GREEN SHOOTS OF ENTERPRISE
A package of new proposals to unlock the Northwest’s full enterprise potential to make it a region of people who “can and do” has been unveiled by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). Specialist measures are being developed to provide support for start-ups and high growth companies, nurture female and social entrepreneurs, embed enterprise in school curricula and promote greater interaction between universities and business. They will complement a number of national flagship initiatives including the creation of a National Enterprise Academy (NEA) hub in the region, a community enterprise haven at Manchester City FC, the development of a university enterprise network and a pilot project to establish a women’s business centre. The Agency and its partners have undertaken a review of enterprise activities within the region and produced a wide-ranging strategy and action plan to assist individuals and organisations realise their enterprise aspirations. “We are not talking solely about people starting a business,” explains Mark Hughes, NWDA Executive Director for Enterprise & Skills. “It’s more about getting individuals to respond to change, to take risks, be innovative and creative, and develop new ways of doing things.” Although survival rates for new businesses in the region now match the national average, the Northwest falls short on other measures of
enterprise. The region’s stock of VAT-registered businesses per 10,000 adults, for example, is 18% below the England average. The strategy’s aim is to achieve a step change in performance by 2026 based on a 20% improvement in recent rates of increase in the number of start-ups with significant contributions from women, people with disabilities, black and ethnic minority groups, the over 50s, single parents and ex-offenders.
COHERENT FRAMEWORK Hughes is urging the region to think more about realising its own competitive potential rather than worrying about bridging the £14 billion productivity gap with the rest of England which he regards as falsely inflated by the presence of a global city (London) in the equation. He describes the strategy, which will be launched in June 2008, as “a coherent framework for decisive, collective action designed to unlock the potential of the region’s main assets – its people.” The new plan is complementary to the recently published Government White Paper on Enterprise ‘Unlocking the UK’s talent’ and is built around the visionary concept of the Northwest as a region of ‘People who CAN and DO.’ It has three main themes – enterprising people, business and places – and eleven action priorities ranging from inspiring
enterprise in young people to developing long-term relationships with strategically important businesses. The strategy is one of a number of interlocking action blueprints being published over the next few months by the Agency in its pursuit of accelerated, sustainable economic growth. They include new regional frameworks for ramping up innovation activity, improving manufacturing performance, expanding and simplifying the provision of finance for business, boosting leadership and managements skills and growing the digital and creative sector. Enterprise was identified as a catalyst for increased prosperity in the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy and over the next three years the NWDA will commit major resources to developing an enterprise culture across the Northwest.
ENTERPRISE CULTURE The NWDA’s Corporate Plan has allocated £180 million to enterprise support, £172 million to key business sectors, another £89 million for innovation, and £40 million to realise its international and leadership and management objectives. A number of projects are underway or in the pipeline to further the aims of the new enterprise strategy including expanding the graduate entrepreneurship programme to
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Enterprise in broadcasting – Tameside Community Radio went on air in 2007 with the help of public investment
“WE ARE NOT TALKING SOLELY ABOUT PEOPLE STARTING A BUSINESS. IT’S MORE ABOUT GETTING INDIVIDUALS TO RESPOND TO CHANGE, TO TAKE RISKS, BE INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE…” MARK HUGHES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR ENTERPRISE AND SKILLS NWDA
STAR ROLE FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Women will have an increasingly important role to play in the new enterprise order. They are one of the groups, along with black and ethnic minority communities, people with disabilities, single parents and the over 50s being targeted for special action. Women are half as likely to be thinking of starting a business compared to men (4.3% compared to 8.9%). In the Northwest they are significantly less likely to think they have the skills to start a business than the UK average (38% compared to 56%). “Women are much less visible in the enterprise landscape in this region than men and we intend to change that,” says NWDA Executive Director, Mark Hughes. One way is to inspire women to see business ownership as a career choice by celebrating the achievements of the region’s outstanding female entrepreneurs through a Northwest Women in Business Awards event, sponsored by the NWDA. The first of these annual presentations took place at Haydock Racecourse in March.
include up to six Northwest universities and a three-year project to provide specialist business support for high growth, high value companies. The Further Education (FE) Hub project will support up to 13 FE colleges who will work with clusters of secondary and primary schools to deliver enterprise training for teachers and tutors to help young people as they embark on their ‘enterprise journey’. Pilot projects are getting underway to encourage businesses in three key sectors – digital and creative, finance and professional and food and drink to collaborate with universities. Mark Hughes describes it as “empowering the buyer not the seller.” The NWDA is also working closely with the Government to bring a hub of the National Enterprise Academy, which is supported by the entrepreneur Peter Jones, to the Northwest. It will have a role in encouraging 16-19 year olds to develop the innovation skills needed to translate good ideas into reality. Government and the RDAs will also join forces with football administrators in developing an enterprise promotion programme for 13-14 year olds that will involve all Premier League clubs. It is already being tried out in Blackburn and will roll out initially with two more clubs, including Manchester City FC. For further information: www.nwda.co.uk
Star performer – Start Up of the Year winner Candice Fonseca
The winners were; Candice Fonseca, who runs Delifonseca, a traditional delicatessen and restaurant based in Liverpool city centre (Business Start Up of the Year) Anna Heyes of Active Profile, a Liverpool based marketing and PR consultancy (Young Entrepreneur of the Year) Sharon O’Kane, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Manchester pharmaceutical company Renovo (Entrepreneur of the Year).
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SKILLS AND EDUCATION NEWS
Investing in knowledge – the newly opened Business Centre on the Warrington campus
Andrew Heydeman has been appointed to the new post of Employment and Skills Co-ordinator with Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance. He was previously Skills and Employment Manager with the NWDA. Bolton Community College and Bolton Sixth Form College have secured ‘approval in principle’ status for their new side-byside ‘Knowledge Hub’ developments opposite the University of Bolton in the £300 million Bolton Innovation Zone. The Learning and Skills Council will provide the majority of the funding. Leaders of the region’s knowledge economy have welcomed news that the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute is to establish a new £25 million Centre for Nuclear Energy Technology (C-Net) to develop professionals to work in the global nuclear industry. The first phase of the five-year investment will start this year. Warrington Collegiate launched itself into a new era when the Duke of Kent visited the campus to open a £27 million new building on Winwick Road. Funders include the Collegiate, the Learning and Skills Council and the NWDA. Work has started on a state-of-the-art Automotive Training Centre at Great Sankey School, Warrington, to help ease skill shortages in the region’s £9 billion automotive sector. Project partners include the RAC and the NWDA, which has confirmed £250,000 of funding support. Vauxhall Motors is to receive an £8.7 million training award from the NWDA for its plant at Ellesmere Port following a decision by the European Commission that the proposal does not breach state aid rules. The award will help to position plant staff at the forefront of worldclass capability.
UNIVERSITY BUILDS HEALTHY ECONOMY Regional universities are having a telling influence on the prosperity and wellbeing of local communities, none more so than the University of Chester whose approach to teaching and research is rooted in the principle of “doing well by doing good”. Health is a prime example. At any one time the university, one of Britain’s newest, will have 3,200 students – 22% of the total complement - on courses in nursing, midwifery, dietetics and allied health professions. The scale of its influence in the health sector can be seen at the Countess of Chester Hospital where survey findings have revealed that one in two of the nursing staff had studied for academic qualifications in the Faculty of Health and Social Care. Apart from the main campuses in Chester and Warrington, the university has small satellite operations at major hospitals in Cheshire and is successfully engaged in the sort of applied research that can benefit patients. Employer engagement, whether with the NHS or city-based private sector companies, is a key motivator for Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Wheeler and his staff in their drive to equip students and professionals with the cutting edge skills needed in a 21st century economy. “We are seeking to bring people into higher education that have not previously had the opportunity but need to acquire new skills to further their professional development,” explained Professor Wheeler, who currently chairs the North West Universities Association (NWUA).
This work, often delivered on-line or at company locations, covers a very broad spectrum of occupations from civil servants in the Cabinet Office and servicemen about to leave the RAF to keepers at Chester Zoo. Chester has bought into the key objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy in relation to upskilling the region’s workforce and technology transfer. It is investing in projects to further these ends including a newly opened £3 million Business Centre on the Warrington campus (the Tucker Building) which received support funding of £2.4 million from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). Professor Wheeler likes to stress the
Rich history – Senate House and Chapel on the Chester campus
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“WE ARE SEEKING TO BRING PEOPLE INTO HIGHER EDUCATION WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY BUT NEED TO ACQUIRE NEW SKILLS TO FURTHER THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.” PROFESSOR TIM WHEELER VICE-CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER
university is “doing well by doing good” approach to Higher Education as evidenced by the twin-campus Business School’s commitment to courses that are geared to the needs of the Cheshire sub-region. There are bespoke programmes in financial services, for example, to support the activities of local employers MBNA, Marks & Spencer and Bank of Scotland, and in tourism, another of the city’s important economic generators.
NEW FACILITIES The Vice-Chancellor talks about keeping a triangle of interests – students, employers and the university – “in harmony”. Many students, he says, simply want the excitement of knowledge and learning but many are also asking how they can improve their career prospects. “Our primary loyalty is to students but that is in no sense incompatible with providing graduates and post-graduates who can make a difference when they go to work whether it be in manufacturing, service or the not-forprofit sector.” Founded under the aegis of the Church of England in 1839 as Britain’s first teacher training college by six wealthy local individuals, including Gladstone and the 14th Earl of Derby, the university received its elevated status in 2005. Professor Wheeler describes Chester’s rich
heritage as “a great recruiting sergeant.” Applications outnumber places by six or seven to one. Last year the institution celebrated an important milestone when it was given powers to award its own research degrees. Areas of applied activity include business management, biotechnology, computing and software engineering. The university’s growth aspirations and pursuit of academic excellence is reflected in a £25 million investment programme that has delivered impressive new facilities in Chester and Warrington over the past five years. Chester has acquired a teaching and learning block (the Binks Building), a new £5 million home for The Faculty of Health and Social Care (the Westminster Building) and a dedicated facility at the former Kingsway School in Newton for the Faculty of Arts and Media. The Warrington campus, which was acquired from Warrington Collegiate Institute in 2002, has gained a new learning resources centre, the £2.35 million Broomhead Library (named after Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, a former Collegiate Principal), as well as the business and IT building. Enterprise is an important element in the Chester undergraduate experience and the
Risk assessment – PhD student Deborah Anne Roe is engaged in tsunami research
university works with 1,500 local businesses to ensure that all second year students undertake a short industry-based placement. Students receive commonsense advice that getting a degree, as Professor Wheeler points out, “is only an entrance ticket to the race.” The university tries to convince students that they need to demonstrate qualities and attitudes to employers that make them stand out from other job applicants. Chester’s graduates appear to be getting the message only 5% remain unemployed after six months, which is better than the national average. For further information: www.chester.ac.uk
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PEOPLE AND JOBS NEWS Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has announced accelerated development plans for Sportcity, East Manchester, including a £10 million investment by English Partnerships to unlock a key site for leisure, commercial and sporting activity. Civic, education and health leaders have joined forces with economic development specialists to launch the Manchester City South Partnership, a new development agency whose aim will be to drive forward the knowledge economy creating 34,000 jobs. English Partnerships has approved an £8.5 million funding package that will kickstart work on the £600 million Exchange Greengate development. The scheme, which will create a new urban quarter linking Salford and Manchester, is expected to generate 4,000 jobs.
BLACKBURN POISED FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE Blackburn is a town of bold ambitions. It sees itself as an economic engine of Pennine Lancashire and has grand designs on becoming a quality retail hub, a centre of higher education excellence and a model of community harmony.
Wigan could become home to a large number of Chinese companies under plans to create a £125 million clothing and textile manufacturing centre in the town. The project is expected to generate 1,000 jobs and a further 3,000 in spin off industries. Pendle Vision, an employer-led local strategic partnership chaired by industrialist Dennis Mendoros, a former chairman of the Northwest Aerospace Alliance, has been launched with funding support from the NWDA to promote the economic well being of Pendle and surrounding area. Manchester is to get a pioneering new Biomedical Research Centre that will create up to 150 jobs. The £35 million project, which has attracted £4.9 million of NWDA funding, will be run by a hospital and university partnership supported by the city council and leading healthcare organisations.
Beacon of progress – the Braid lights up the town centre at night
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These are no idle dreams. Schemes already completed or in the regeneration pipeline are providing civic leaders and their public and private sector partners with the assets and resources to bring these ideas to fruition. Buoyed by the success of business and industry parks in the M65 corridor which have attracted many new companies to the area, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is putting renewed energy into a design-led renewal of its town centres. Key pieces in the estimated £1 billion investment jigsaw include the impressive Blackburn Cathedral Quarter development, an extension of the main shopping mall, a new link road to complete the town’s Orbital Route, and high quality public realm projects. Education is another important catalyst in the drive to create a strong knowledge economy and broaden the area’s skills base. Blackburn College is investing over £21 million in developing a world-class campus that could one day form part of a new university in Pennine Lancashire. Decades of manufacturing decline have left Pennine Lancashire with a legacy of low employment rates, low wages and low house prices.
INVESTOR CONFIDENCE “The long term challenge is to regain our economic prosperity and we are making great strides in that direction,” claims Adam Scott, Blackburn with Darwen’s Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment. “We are well placed to lead the resurgence of Pennine Lancashire. Our links with Greater Manchester are very good and we have had a massive amount of employment land developed along the M65 corridor over the past 15 years, but we need to identify more.” The latest project to come off the drawing board is the Whitebirk industrial site between Blackburn and Rishton services on the M65. Situated in Hyndburn, it’s one of the region’s designated strategic sites. The council is currently engaged in modernising its town centres to provide a higher quality offering that can more effectively complement that of neighbouring Preston and Manchester. Blackburn has over 20 projects in the planning stage or at various stages of delivery. One of the catalysts for area’s biggest transformation in 40 years is the Blackburn Town Centre Renaissance Programme, which is receiving over £13 million of funding support over six years – it started in 2005 from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) for a range of activities from site acquisitions to conservation work. More recently the Agency has approved additional funding of £3.7 million to open up an area around Freckleton Street on the
Southwest side of the town centre for offices, retail and residential developments. An attractive new £9 million four-lane bridge, which was moved into place over the railway in February, will remove a traffic bottleneck and allow completion of the missing link in the town’s Orbital Route. After decades of town centre underinvestment the private sector is showing renewed confidence and commitment in Blackburn’s future. Among the developments on site or in the pipeline are: Blackburn Cathedral Quarter – a £90 million scheme by Maple Grove backed by English Partnerships and the Blackburn Diocese. The Mall – a £66 million three-storey expansion of the Mall Shopping Centre on Lord Square to provide space for another 20 shops and a new continental style market. Blackburn Market – demolition of the dilapidated 1960s market will create a large new town centre development site for retail, offices and leisure for which the council will be seeking a private sector partner. “The present town centre was a step change development when it was laid down in the 1960s and we are making a step-change of equivalent scale in the first decades of the 21st century,“ explained Scott. “There’s no shortage of private sector
Traffic free zone – Church Street is the modern face of Blackburn town centre
interest in the town. “Schemes under way are generating a real momentum and we are fielding inquiries on a daily basis.” Blackburn’s large Asian heritage community is also playing its part in improving the town centre’s retail and visitor appeal by turning the heart of the Whalley Range area into a vibrant quarter of specialist shops. The council considers good community relationships a critical factor in building a thriving economy. For further information: www.blackburn.gov.uk
TOWN CENTRE SCHEMES HELP LIFT MORALE
State-of-the-art education – the new Darwen Academy
New town centre developments are reinvigorating Darwen helping it to polish its image as a traditional market town for Pennine Lancashire with a strong community identity. A £12 million sport and leisure complex, new £5 million health centre and a Heritage Lottery initiative to restore some of the town’s Victorian architecture are helping to lift the gloom caused by the loss of jobs in the wall coverings industry.
Post-16 educational opportunity in the town will be dramatically transformed when the state-of-the-art Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is opened in September. The sponsor of the £34 million project is entrepreneur Rod Aldridge. With easy access to spectacular landscapes and former mill sites being developed for affordable housing, Darwen is becoming an attractive commuter town for young professionals.
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PEOPLE AND JOBS Businesses, working with public partners, are being urged to play a much greater role in using the new £521 million Northwest European Regional Development Fund (NWERDF) programme to improve the region’s competitive edge.
AGENCY UNVEILS ERDF PROGRAMME
Stakeholder partners and potential beneficiaries were given a detailed briefing on the aims of the seven-year programme and the funding application process during its official launch in the concert room of St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, which has been refurbished with European money. The fund will be managed for the first time by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) with the support of Government Office for the North West (GONW). Appealing for greater public and private sector engagement, Steven Broomhead, the NWDA’s Chief Executive, promised that there would be “a sense of urgency” in the way the Agency dealt with funding applications. These would go through a single appraisal process making the task quicker and simpler.
MAJOR PUSH “We have 18 months to spend the first tranche but it must be spent wisely and prudently. There’s a commitment around climate change, equality and diversity and there will be a major push to embed those ideas and principles in mainstream programmes,” he said. The launch event marked the start of a process that, with match funding, should see over £1 billion invested in the region to accelerate economic growth. Investment frameworks have been developed for the programme’s eleven actions areas and have been approved by the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC). They are also closely aligned with the objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). Targets include 26,700 net additional jobs, an annual £1.17 billion improvement in the region’s Gross Value Added (GVA) and a 25% reduction in additional CO2 emissions generated by programme investments. The programme is geared to raising the region’s competitiveness and will focus on projects that stimulate enterprise and innovation in line with the EU’s ‘jobs and growth’ agenda. Some of the new European money will be used to establish a multi million pound venture capital fund. It will have four elements,
Classical setting – the new programme was launched at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool
seed capital, a larger loan and growth capital fund and a small loan fund. Tenders are currently being invited to manage the fund.
SPECIALIST TEAM Merseyside, which has a transitional ‘phasing in’ status, has been given a ringfenced allocation of £212 million with the other £308 million being made available to support projects across the region. The funding will be managed within the NWDA by a specialist team led by Director of European Programme David Malpass. At the launch he invited partners to come forward with good quality project ideas.
“We need to be more ambitious in what we do. The pressure of globalisation means we are living in a much tougher competitive environment and we need to be cutting edge in all those areas of business where the region specialises. It’s the only way to create sustainable employment.” More information on the programme can be gained through the programme executives, NWDA directorates or subregional partnerships. A dedicated website has also been launched to help potential applicants. For further information: www.erdfnw.co.uk
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DRIVE TO IMPROVE WORKPLACE HEALTH Health and wellbeing programmes for the region’s workforce are a key aim of a new partnership between the NHS and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). Research shows that sickness absence costs the region’s businesses £500 a year per employee, but that workplace health initiatives can deliver a six to one return on investment through lower absence rates and improved productivity. A workplace health strategy has already been developed by the Department of Health and the NWDA, to be managed by a partnership, which also includes the Health and Safety Executive, the North West TUC and a regional Workplace Health Practitioners’ Group. “There is a lot of evidence which shows that a healthy workforce is a more productive one,” says Malcolm Kennedy, Equality and Diversity Policy Manager at the NWDA. “If people are encouraged and helped to remain healthy, it obviously reduces sickness rates and the number of people requiring incapacity benefit, who may not return to work.” Workplace health is just one example of the links between the NWDA and the wider NHS Northwest (NHS NW), which have recently been strengthened by the formation of a new Partnership Board.
Keeping fit – workplace health initiatives can deliver a six-to-one return on investment
BIGGEST BUSINESS It aims to ensure that collaborative working can help to reduce economic and health inequalities, increase wellbeing and reduce social exclusion in the region. The new working relationship has been made easier by the merger of three former Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) in the region into one. The NHS NW is now the largest SHA in England after London, serving a population of seven million and employing 220,000 people.
“THERE IS A LOT OF EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT A HEALTHY WORKFORCE IS A MORE PRODUCTIVE WORKFORCE.” MALCOLM KENNEDY EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY POLICY MANAGER NWDA
Sue Henry, Associate Director for Engagement and Partnerships at NHS NW, where she has been seconded for two years until April 2009 from the NWDA, says: “The NHS is the biggest business in the region – an £11.5 billion enterprise – and the new structure has given us a fresh opportunity to work together on a regional agenda, building on a programme of work which has been going on for the last five years.” She says joint working with the NWDA can help in many areas including climate change, sustainability, health inequalities as well as workplace health. Major capital investment projects – including plans for a new £400-500 million Royal Liverpool University Hospital at a key gateway into the city - will also benefit from co-operation between the NHS and the Agency. One successful project, which has been supported by the NWDA, included the establishment of a 'good corporate citizenship' programme by Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which was judged runner-up in the Good Corporate
Citizenship category at a recent national awards ceremony. Eric Hodgson, Policy Officer at the NWDA, says the Agency gave £80,000 of funding for the two-year appointment of a project director. “The aim is to assist the Trust in meeting some of the Sustainable Development Commission’s targets to help long-term unemployed back into work, to employ local people where possible and to buy more locally to stimulate the economy,” he said. Among its successes, the Trust has set uplinks with the local Mossley branch of the national charity Emmaus, which supports homeless people, who now collect its unwanted ‘white goods’, including fridges. They then train homeless people to refurbish them before they are sold to lowincome families at a reasonable price. There are plans to expand the scheme to include unwanted office furniture. For further information: www.nwda.co.uk; www.northwest.nhs.uk
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PEOPLE AND JOBS
MORE RESOURCES TO GROW RURAL ECONOMY Businesses in Cumbria supported by a six-year rural initiative have shown a rise in turnover of between 500-600%, according to a recent evaluation.
“WE WANT TO EMBED AND GROW KNOWLEDGE-DRIVEN BUSINESSES EFFECTIVELY IN THE RURAL ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THEIR ACCESS TO MARKETS.” DAVID HUNTER HEAD OF RURAL AFFAIRS NWDA
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The rural businesses, mainly in the food and drink sectors, but also including those producing wool and wood, were assisted by a LEADER+ programme, part of a wider rural initiative. Now more resources to help stimulate economic growth in the country are becoming available in the region following the launch of the new £3.9 billion national Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). Jointly funded by the EU and the UK Government, the programme will run from 2007-2013. Most of the budget will be allocated to Natural England to help farmers manage the land more sustainably. Around £600 million of the budget will be delivered by England’s Regional Development Agencies, with the NWDA delivering £73 million of this. Action will be focused on making farming and forestry more competitive and sustainable, enhancing the environment and countryside, improving opportunities in rural areas and building capacity in the delivery of skills and knowledge transfer. At least 25% of the NWDA’s total programme will be delivered through the LEADER approach. The Agency invited local groups to submit detailed action plans on the delivery of improvements in their own areas and has now reached agreement with the first three.
SOCIAL WELLBEING They are Cumbria Fells and Dales, Solway Border and Eden and The Northern Marches – England Development Partnership in Cheshire. Project bids from other groups are under consideration. Funding is available for a wide range of activities including vocational training and skills development, farming and forestry diversification, environmental stewardship, food processing and marketing as well as business start-ups and tourism initiatives. David Hunter, Head of Rural Affairs for the NWDA, says: “The LEADER approach is already recognised across Europe as a good way of delivering such programmes. “But this will not just be a continuation of earlier schemes, which were often small-scale interventions, but balanced programmes aimed at improving competitiveness in agriculture and the economic and social wellbeing of rural communities”. “Many of the existing businesses need support to grow and become more productive. We also want to embed and grow knowledge-driven businesses effectively in the rural areas and improve their access to markets.” The three main areas of importance are to
ensure on-going sustainable growth in the rural economy, to diversify the economic base and create a skilled workforce within communities to help to sustain that base. Geoff Brown, Cumbria Fells and Dales Programme Co-ordinator of the LEADER+ Programme which ran from 2002 to 2008, says: “We are keen to build on the work we have already done which we believe has made a difference, particularly in Cumbria’s local produce sector.”
FARMING APPRENTICES In the last six years, the group has supported a mix of strategic and small-scale interventions, including work with farmer groups to enhance their marketing approach. Among the results was a contract for a group of between ten and 20 Herdwick lamb producers to supply Booths supermarkets in the Northwest. The farmers have worked to extend the lambing season to enable their produce to be sold over a longer period. Now the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association is working towards gaining a European Quality Standard label for the protection of geographical origin – so that only Herwicks bred on the Lakeland fells can be so called. Almost 200 small projects with producers of goods from local soups to ice cream, wild flower collections to meat cutting rooms were also supported. The project looked at training and enabled six fell farming apprentices to complete 18months of training before being helped into self-employment. Hill farmers joined a trans-national project with an area of the Massif Central in France, with particular strengths in local produce marketing. Growing Well, another local produce initiative run as a social enterprise, provided training for people with learning and mental health disabilities. For further information: www.nwda.co.uk
Frodsham – part of the MTI Programme
MTI EVALUATION The Market Towns Initiative (MTI) in the Northwest “has reached deep into the community in each town”, according to an evaluation published this year (08) before the current Programme ended in March. “There has been a range of successes through the MTI Programme that has supported and helped to develop and regenerate each of the market towns involved,” says the report. The MTI, a national joint venture between the Countryside Agency and the Regional Developments Agencies, involved 17 market towns in the Northwest - nine in Cumbria, five in Lancashire and three in Cheshire. Its aim was to “rejuvenate (the towns) through a thriving local economy.” The MTI has played a key part in the NWDA’s £100 million rural regeneration programme. Each town had the opportunity to utilise around £1 million from the Agency and there have been areas of notable achievement in job creation and employment measured against the set targets. The evaluation highlighted the diversity of the towns and the variation necessary to sustain activity. The report suggests the towns must push for inclusion in Sustainable Community Strategies and local authority Local Area Agreements. For further information: www.nwda.co.uk
Green fingers – potting tomatoes in the Growing Well project
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INFRASTRUCTURE NEWS Salford Central rail station has undergone a £5 million facelift to make it more customer-friendly. Funded by GMPTA and Manchester Enterprises, the scheme has delivered a striking new entrance hall, new ticket office, information screens and upgraded taxi and bus facilities. Gateway connections from the M55 into Blackpool are to be further improved following an award of £2.6 million by the NWDA to ReBlackpool and Blackpool Council to kickstart the second phase of the Central Corridor scheme. The improvements will include improved car parking and a pedestrian piazza. Chester is investing in new public realm works that will make it easier for people to move around the city. Supported by nearly £1 million of NWDA funding, the improvements will include rejoining the Roman Walls over Castle Drive and upgrading of the riverside promenade. Planning approval has been given for the £105 million Heysham M6 link road following a lengthy public inquiry. The 4.8 km long dual carriageway road will run from the A589 Morecambe Road near Torrisholme to a remodelled junction 35 on the M6 at Halton. Work is expected to start in 2010 and be completed by late 2012. Winkley Square, Preston, is to get a new 64-jet water fountain complete with granite walkways and fibre optic lights as part of a partnership project to breathe new life into the Victorian square. The NWDA funded a design competition for the centrepiece attraction, which was won by Bristolbased Cooper Partnership. Bickershaw Colliery in Leigh has been named as one of two sites in the North of England to pioneer zero carbon homes as part of the government’s response to climate change. Owned by the NWDA, the former colliery site will see 650 homes built to the most exacting environmental standards.
RAIL SCHEMES HELP ECONOMY TO GROW
Faster journey times to London, fewer delays, increased capacity between the North’s City Regions, new routes, modernised stations, simple and efficient ticketing and better connections to the region’s ports and airports.
That’s the enticing prospect in view for rail and tram users over the next few years as government, rail operators, and support agencies gear up for a 21st century upgrade of the Northwest’s transport networks. Some of the schemes that will bring about this communications revolution, such as the £8.6 billion modernisation of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and the major expansion of Metrolink, are virtually complete, at the construction starting gate or in the pipeline. A new road-over-rail bridge was recently jacked into place over Outwood Lane, Wythenshawe, paving the way for construction of a 3rd rail platform at Manchester Airport to be completed by the end of the year. The Airport station currently handles 300 trains a day and the new platform will relieve operational pressures, which can ripple through the network causing delays and cancellations. The services to the airport are operated by First Trans Pennine Express and Northern Rail.
to 13 trains a day to London (one an hour), five of which will carry on to Holyhead. Business groups and economic planners believe the latest package of improvements scheduled by train operators and Network Rail along with far reaching proposals announced by ministers will have a significant booster effect on the region’s competitiveness. Building an effective transport infrastructure is identified as a clear priority in the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy. Peter White, Executive Director of Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) says fast and reliable rail services for passenger and freight are “an essential components of the modern transport system, which is vital to the continuing prosperity of the Northwest”.
EXTRA TRAINS The £15 million 3rd platform project, jointly funded by Network Rail, the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) and the Northern Way will increase punctuality and reliability, and provide scope for extra trains. Engineering work on the WCML is in its final stages, although weekend delays will still be experienced until the end of 2008, and could allow Virgin Trains to introduce its very high frequency timetable in December. This will see three trains an hour, instead of two, running between Manchester and London and additional peak hour services on the Liverpool-London route. The new timetable will clip 15-20 minutes off journey times between Manchester and London (down to 2 hours) and 25 minutes off the Liverpool-London service (down to 2 hours 5 minutes). Chester will also benefit from the expanded capacity with the London service being boosted
Flagship modernisation – investment has transformed Manchester Picadilly Station
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Much attention will be focused on the outcome of a detailed feasibility study being carried out with the Northern Way by Network Rail on behalf of the Department for Transport. It will consider the best long-term investment options to overcome capacity constraints on the ‘Manchester Hub’- the rail network in and around central Manchester. The Hub acts as a strategic crossroads for the entire Northwest rail network and has been described as the most damaging rail bottleneck in the North affecting both passenger and freight services.
IMPORTANT GUIDE
A second study, commissioned by the NWDA, will look at the wider economic benefits of projected Network Rail schemes that could be undertaken until 2017. It will provide an important guide on the best schemes in terms of productivity with a view to including them in future investment programmes and strategies. Future development of the national rail network, as outlined in the DfT White Paper ‘Delivering a Sustainable Railway’, should see the Northwest benefiting from the proposed £9 billion investment in efficiency projects over the next seven years.
There is a commitment to reduce journey times between Liverpool and Manchester to 40 minutes, between Manchester and Leeds to 43 minutes and to selective train lengthening for services in Northern City Regions. Bolton and Chester stations are likely to be among the list of 150 stations nationwide that will be refurbished to become more accessible and attractive to passengers. The Government is also committed to providing an additional £200 million to enable work to start on a strategic freight network to provide an attractive choice for shippers. For further information: www.nwda.co.uk
The Northern Way, a joint initiative by the three North of England RDAs to boost Northern productivity, regards resolution of the problem as a top transport priority. Increasing the Hub’s capacity would enable more and faster trains to operate across the north, particularly on key services from Liverpool and Manchester across the Pennines to Sheffield, Leeds and the North East. It would also potentially allow more direct services to Manchester Airport and more freight services linking ports with their key markets across the North of England. The study will look into how and when the new capacity would be provided, the infrastructure required and the total cost. David Begg, Chair of the Northern Way’s Transport Compact, says that Manchester “stands out as the most important capacity constraint across the North’s rail network.
“MANCHESTER STANDS OUT AS THE MOST IMPORTANT CAPACITY CONSTRAIN ACROSS THE NORTH’S RAIL NETWORK.” DAVID BEGG CHAIR NORTHERN WAY TRANSPORT COMPACT
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QUALITY OF LIFE NEWS Liverpool's Capital of Culture year continues to break all records, with nearly 3 million people visiting the city's cultural attractions in the first four months of 2008. The latest statistics show that more than 2.75 million people attended a cultural event or venue across the city – 25% up on 2007 – with some recording more than 50% growth. Lancaster’s Duke’s Theatre is aiming to secure its future by embarking on a development programme that will provide a new performance space. The project, which is to receive £237,000 from NWDA and £99,000 from the Arts Council, will provide as platform for all art forms. Funding of £4.6 million is being invested in Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, by the NWDA to enable it to develop as a world-class visitor attraction linked to Manchester Cathedral, creating a new medieval quarter for the city. New content and infrastructure improvements are to be introduced into the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park following an NWDA commitment to invest £750,000 in the horticultural event over the next three years. The show celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
Coach tourism in the Northwest is a £336 million industry, according to a report commissioned by the NWDA. Its publication coincided with news that Bury has joined Chester, Southport and the Eden Valley in being named a ‘Coach Friendly’ destination at the British Travel Fair.
One certain inheritance of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture will be The Bluecoat centre for contemporary art, whose ‘people’s re-opening’ after a £12.5 million refit attracted over 10,000 people.
Chief Executive Alastair Upton says: “This refurbished centre will undoubtedly be a material legacy of 2008 – it’s brick and concrete, very physical. “ “During the three years we were closed, there was a hole in the cultural fabric of the city – people said they were missing Bluecoat. Then we had an amazing response to the reopening weekend in March with people coming from as far away as the US.” Among them was Culture Secretary Andy Burnham who says: “The reopening is a defining moment in Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year and I am very pleased that one of the material legacies of 2008 will be an organisation that recognises the importance of creativity in everyone’s lives.” Originally a charity school for poor children, the Queen Anne H-shaped Grade 1 listed building dates back to 1717. At the heart of its refurbishment is a new wing, comprising four galleries, a 200-seat performance space, studios, retail shops and a restaurant bar, that was once destroyed by fire in World War II.
“But The Bluecoat was a happy project and somehow this shows in the result.” The architect chose to use bricks for the extension to continue the historic development of the building, which has seen the use of “generations of bricks” over the years. One challenge was to remedy the 32 different floor levels discovered in the original building to give easy access around the building. Peter Mearns, Executive Director of Marketing at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), which invested £2.5 million towards the work, says: “The Bluecoat is one of the city’s architectural gems as well as a fantastic resource for contemporary Yoko Ono Installation, 2008. The Bluecoat, Liverpool. Photos by: Alex Wolkowicz
Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman are to receive NWDA investment totalling £1.7 million to help the two venues take forward ambitious development plans. New facilities will be added to serve both theatres creating more employment, cultural and training opportunities.
VISITOR SUCCESS FOR CULTURAL SHOWCASE
HAPPY PROJECT The Bluecoat chose the Dutch architecture practice biq, whose director Hans van der Heijden admits: “They took quite a risk with biq, because although we had built many housing projects in the Netherlands, we had no experience with public buildings.
Nostalgic return – Yoko Ono revisits the Bluecoat with her Wish Tree
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“THIS REFURBISHED CENTRE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BE A MATERIAL LEGACY OF 2008 – IT’S BRICK AND CONCRETE, VERY PHYSICAL.” ALASTAIR UPTON CHIEF EXECUTIVE
artists, helping to support creative and cultural industries on Merseyside.” The Bluecoat's opening programme of events included an exclusive performance by Yoko Ono who also unveiled her Wish Tree, part of her work being shown at the Bluecoat as part of its 'Now Then' exhibition. Art is a major element of Liverpool 08 whose cultural events attracted 1.15 million people in the first two months of the year. The NWDA is a major partner in Capital of Culture, investing £2 million to assist the Culture Company with its cultural programme. One special commission, on display at the Walker Art Gallery from May 24 is Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape, a vast 16ft by 8ft painting of Liverpool commissioned by National Museums Liverpool.
FANTASTIC SUCCESS During February and March over 36,000 people visited the Walker to watch the international artist at work in a specially created studio on the largest and most complex painting he has ever undertaken. The painting, which takes in Liverpool’s famous skyline from a vantage point high above the Mersey, will be displayed with his work on other world cities including panoramas of Zurich, Jerusalem and Hong Kong. Christoph Grunenberg, Director of Tate
Liverpool, venue for the 2007 Turner Prize on its first staging outside London, says: “The fantastic success of the Turner Prize confirmed the city was ready for 2008 and we are preparing to present more high-profile international exhibitions.” Among them is Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900, the first comprehensive exhibition of Klimt’s work ever staged in the UK, which opened at Tate Liverpool on May 30. A major highlight of the three-month exhibition is a full-scale reconstruction of The Beethoven Frieze, created by Klimt for an exhibition in 1902 and now permanently installed in the Secession building in Vienna where it was originally presented. The exhibition not only features major paintings, drawings and graphics but furniture, jewellery, fashion, graphic design and documentary material assembled from across the world. Tate Liverpool is devoting three of its ‘Late at Tate’ evenings to events related to the exhibition. Opening in July at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight is a new permanent exhibition featuring the collection of successful industrialist William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme. Lever the Collector, an exhibition in five sections, will give an insight into the world of Viscount Leverhulme who amassed around 20,000 artworks, including paintings, ceramics, sculpture and furniture, inspired by American business tycoons who put together great art collections. But 2008 is not confined to art. For one week in September, the University of Liverpool will host the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) Festival of Science, bringing together over 350 of the UK’s top scientists to discuss the latest developments with the public. Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, says: “England’s Northwest has a strong tradition of scientific excellence and this Festival will help to position the city, and the
region, as a driver for innovation and celebrate our past achievements.” Other highlights later in the year in Liverpool include: September 26-28: Artichoke, the creative company which brought the Sultan's Elephant to London in 2006, will stage Will You Find it?, a high profile street theatre show November 6: 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards at the Echo Arena Liverpool December 14: BBC Sports Personality of the Year event at the Echo Arena Liverpool For further information: www.liverpool08.com www.thebluecoat.org.uk
Tate coup – part of the Gustav Klimt exhibition
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QUALITY OF LIFE
MUSEUM BOOST FOR HERITAGE TOURISM
Pump House building – listed home of the People’s History Museum
March of progress – the museum houses the world’s largest collection of trade union and political banners
A museum charting the rise of democracy in Britain, which sits proudly on the banks of the River Irwell in the world’s first industrial city, is undergoing a multi-million redevelopment. Manchester’s People’s History Museum has received over £7 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with a further grant of £2 million coming from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The funding will see the museum double in size, with a new extension built alongside the listed Pump House building that has been the museum’s home since 1994. Ten years in the planning, the development will allow curators to consolidate the collection on one site, while larger exhibition spaces mean that many more artefacts telling the story of ordinary people over the last 200 years will be displayed. There will also be a greater emphasis on interactive exhibits, many highlighting the unique role Manchester has played in the history of popular protest and workers rights, from the bloody Peterloo Massacre, to the Co-operative Movement and the Suffragettes. Due to re-open at the end of 2009, the museum also includes the largest collection of historic trade union and political banners in the world. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) brought the original exhibits from London to Manchester
in 1990, using them as the centrepiece of the National Museum of Labour History on Princess Street, in the same building where the TUC first met in 1868. James Berresford, the NWDA’s Director of Tourism, explains: “Cultural heritage in the Northwest is an intrinsic part of the visitor offer. Facilities like this are hugely important in creating a sense of place and making our destination distinctive.
HERITAGE TOURISTS “But this is by no means a one off and we are working across the region to help cultural heritage initiatives that fit in with our overall strategy for economic growth.” This strategy is largely implemented by the Agency-funded organisation Culture Northwest, while further funding is being levered in through the Northwest Museum Hub and its role in the national heritage programme, Renaissance in the Regions. According to the Museum and Libraries Association North West, in 2006 there were 8.5 million visits to the region’s museums. With heritage tourists staying longer and spending more money than those who visit simply for leisure, the NWDA estimates that cultural heritage is now worth £3 billion a year. Research also shows that heritage sites are often the hooks that attract international
visitors to the region in the first place. For instance, over 20% of the 30,000 annual visitors to the People’s History Museum were from overseas. As well as attracting tourists to the region, the new museum will also be engaging with local people. There will be an improved education programme, covering everyone from pre-school children to adult learners, and the original Pump House Engine Hall will be turned into a dedicated community gallery for local groups to display their work. “Free museums are hugely important to local populations because they can help develop civic pride and local identity,” says Berresford.
FASCINATING STORY The museum’s director, Dr Nick Mansfield, agrees: “Citizenship is so important to the future health of the nation and we feel that we have an important and unique role to play. “People don’t know very much about how democracy came about. They assume that it’s always been here but in fact it’s an extremely recent development and at times achieving it has been a rough ride. But we’re now in a much better position to tell this fascinating story.” For further information: www.phm.org.uk
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THRILL SEEKERS HEAD FOR CUMBRIA Promoted as “the biggest adventure playground in the country”, Cumbria has ambitious plans to become the Adventure Capital of the UK by 2012. Its obvious credentials include the tallest mountain (Scafell Pike) the deepest lake (Wastwater) and the steepest road (Hardknott Pass) in England. The perfect trial for its ambition is the county’s 2008 Year of Adventure, backed by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), with a programme of events including rallies, cycle challenges, a marathon and triathlon. They have been added to a series of yearround ‘extreme’ sports and activities already on offer which include aquasailing (abseiling down waterfalls), open Canadian canoeing (a cross between sailing and canoeing), gorge scrambling and the more extreme canyoning and kite surfing, one of the UK’s fastest growing ‘extreme’ sports. Cumbria now also boasts the country’s first Via Ferrata - Italian for ‘iron road’ where daredevils follow a Victorian miners’ route along craggy cliffs to its 2,126 ft summit in Borrowdale. Opened in May 2007, it has already attracted an average of 300 thrill seekers every month. Now Cumbria Tourism, conscious of market research which reveals a growing appetite for activity and adventure holidays, is busy spreading the word about what it can offer.
ROADSIDE POSTERS Tourism staff promoted the county at the Daily Telegraph Adventure Travel Show and the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show earlier this year and have launched Cumbria’s first major outdoors advertising campaign, with support from the NWDA. Huge posters highlighting Cumbria are in place on roadsides and on digital screens in rail stations in Liverpool, Manchester and
High life – Cumbria is a growing centre for adventure holidays
Leeds, aimed at the 1.7 million extra visitors expected on Merseyside for events linked to the European Capital of Culture.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITY Sheona Southern, Marketing Director of Cumbria Tourism, says: “So many people know and love the Lake District – they come here for the great outdoors. Now we want to develop some new projects around walking, biking and water sports – and the technology to make them all easily accessible and bookable in advance on-line.” New businesses are being encouraged to make Cumbria their home and existing ones offered support to develop and expand. Greg
Duckworth, who moved to Cumbria after 28 years in the Southwest, started Spinnoff, offering professional guided mountain biking to families, groups and individuals, three years ago. “The Lake District is regarded as the place for proper adventurous riding,” says Greg, whose customers have included a party of American business executives. “Although we offer trips in other areas of the UK, as well as abroad, Cumbria is our focus.” Nick Brooks-Sykes, Head of Tourism Marketing at the NWDA, says: “This year each of our regions has adopted a theme which plays to its strengths and the outdoors is exactly right for Cumbria. It makes sense for the initiatives to live on beyond 2008. “Cumbria is now busy positioning itself as a contemporary location for outdoor activity, attracting new and younger markets, in its bid to become the UK’s Adventure Capital.” The Agency and its partners in Cumbria have combined to develop the very first Great North Swim on Lake Windermere on September 13. It’s anticipated that the televised event, delivered by Brendan Foster’s Nova International, organisers of the Great North Run, will attract 1,000 swimmers and contribute significantly to Cumbria’s visitor economy. For further information: www.golakes.co.uk
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NOTEBOOK
PEOPLE IN THE REGION
Rock icon becomes LMJU Chancellor Musician-songwriter turned astronomer Dr Brian May has been installed as the fourth Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University at a colourful ceremony at St. George’s Hall attended by Emeritus Chancellors Cherie Booth, QC, and John Moores and Honorary Fellows Sir Patrick Moore and Pete Postlethwaite. He studied Astrophysics at Imperial College, London, gaining a BSc before putting his academic career on hold to concentrate on his musical ambitions, founding the world-famous rock group Queen. In October 2007 he completed his
Barton joins ENCAMS Phil Barton has switched from being Director of RENEW Northwest – the regional centre for excellence for sustainable communities - to being Chief Executive of ENCAMS, the organisation dedicated to driving up environmental quality. His new responsibilities include overseeing the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, the Blue Flag beach awards and the Eco-Schools programme. He will work with councils, land managers and the government as part of the Cleaner Safer Greener Network. As well as working for Defra, Barton has held posts at Groundwork, the Mersey Basin Campaign and the Co-operative Bank.
PhD thesis – 30 years after starting it - and was awarded his doctorate. Dr May’s involvement with LMJU began in 2007 when he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, but more significantly for encouraging public understanding of science. He has already established links with scientists in the university’s Astrophysics Research Institute, whose world-class research, work with schoolchildren and development of robotic telescopes earned them a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2005.
Gill takes on bigger challenge Jim Gill, one of the region’s best-known regeneration experts, has taken over as Chief Executive of the newly expanded company Liverpool Vision, the organisation that will drive forward the next stage of Liverpool’s economic development. The new company is a merger of the old Liverpool Vision, the UK’s first urban regeneration company (URC), which was led by Gill from its inception in 2001, BusinessLiverpool and Liverpool Land Development Company. Gill has held senior positions with English Partnerships, including those of Commercial Director, and North West Regional Director, following several years working in senior roles for the government and AMEC. The new Liverpool Vision will have a city-wide remit.
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New role for Morton Peter Morton, formerly Chief Executive of Business Link Greater Merseyside, has been appointed as the new Director of Mersey Waterfront, the far reaching programme set up to regenerate Liverpool City Region’s 90-mile coastline. His initial focus will be co-ordinating the £91 million second phase of the Mersey Waterfront Programme and preparing the new Business Plan to secure future funding
support. Over the past 30 years he has worked across Merseyside in a variety of roles relating to investment and economic and business development. The programme is funded through the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) alongside additional public and private sector sources.
Hello from Meek, farewell from Barnes Liz Meek, a senior civil servant with extensive experience of regeneration and urban development and a strong advocate of partnership working, has succeeded Keith Barnes as Regional Director of Government Office for the North West (GONW). She takes up the post after serving as Regional Director of the Government Office for London since 2001, where she was responsible for the delivery of a wide range of policies and programmes for the city for 11 government departments. In recent years she has been heavily involved in preparations for the successful London 2012 Olympic bid.
Climate change ambassador Jessica Smith, 13, from Southport is the Northwest’s new young Climate Change Champion after successfully demonstrating how she would encourage behavioural change and tackle climate change. One of her first ambassadorial jobs was a fact-finding expedition to see how climate change was affecting a low-lying country like the Netherlands and see first hand the
adaptation techniques being adopted. To win the award, Jessica, a pupil at Range High School in Formby, Sefton, acted out the role of a budding TV presenter in a video about climate change that involved onlocation shooting at local wind turbines. During her year in office she will organise her own climate change event.
Liverpool Biennial post for Ridley Paula Ridley, formerly Chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a Director of the Gulbenkian Foundation, has agreed to become Chairman of the Liverpool Biennial 2008 festival of contemporary visual art, which starts in September. She has strong links with the city having been the first Chairman of Tate Liverpool, a post she held for ten years
whilst also serving as a Tate Trustee and as a Trustee of the National Gallery. During her 12 years as Chairman of the Liverpool Action Trust she introduced an extensive programme of public art. She is also a graduate and Honorary Graduate of the University of Liverpool, and until recently a member of its Council. She was awarded the CBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours.
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EVENTS
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS For further information www.nwda.co.uk/events JULY
SEPTEMBER
15
06-11
NORTH WEST REGIONAL ASSEMBLY JUL ANNUAL CONFERENCE Regional stakeholders review economic and social progress BT Convention Centre, Liverpool
SEPT
Scientific excellence under the microscope University of Liverpool
14 17-20
BRITISH OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The world’s top golf tournament returns to Northwest Royal Birkdale, Southport
JUL Flower power – the RHS Show at Tatton Park is a top visitor attraction
BA FESTIVAL OF SCIENCE
SEPT
TOUR OF BRITAIN FINALE
Hosting the final stage of Britain’s premier cycle race Blackpool and Liverpool
18
18-21
MAY
JUL
03MAY28SEPT
TATTON PARK BIENNIAL 2008 Giving heritage a contemporary edge Tatton Park, Cheshire
30MAY31AUG
GUSTAV KLIMT EXHIBITION
Painting, Design & Modern Life in Vienna 1900 Liverpool Tate
START OF TALL SHIPS RACE
Voyage of maritime nostalgia Liverpool
23-27 JUL
RHS FLOWER SHOW
Heady mix of floral displays, show gardens and trade stands Tatton Park, Cheshire
JUNE
AUGUST
12
23-25
GREEN-CAR-GUIDE-LIVE! 2008 JUN Showcasing energy efficient vehicles ACC Liverpool
16JUN25AUG
GO SUPERLAMBANANAS
A series of specially designed Superlambananas take to the streets of Liverpool Various locations, Liverpool
19
FOOD NORTHWEST AWARDS JUN Toasting the region’s most dynamic businesses BT Convention Centre, Liverpool
AUG
IOD NORTHWEST DIRECTOR OF THE SEPT YEAR AWARDS Main speaker – sport presenter Gabby Logan City of Manchester Stadium
20SEPT30NOV
LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL 2008
More impressive in scale and ambition than its predecessors Various venues
26
NWDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE SEPT & AGM Taking stock of the region’s achievements BT Convention Centre, Liverpool
MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL
Music festival held at venues across Liverpool city centre Various locations, Liverpool
29-31 AUG
MINTFEST
International Street performers visit Kendal for an eclectic mix of performances. Various locations, Kendal Tour of Britain – revisits the Northwest
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GETTING IN TOUCH At the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), we value your views and feedback. Visit www.nwda.co.uk & www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com
The NWDA’s Executive Team are based at its Headquarters in Warrington.
STEVEN BROOMHEAD Chief Executive Tel: 01925 400 133 Email: Steven.Broomhead@nwda.co.uk
PATRICK WHITE Executive Director, Policy Tel: 01925 400 274 Email: Patrick.White@nwda.co.uk
BERNICE LAW Chief Operating Officer,
PETER WHITE Executive Director, Development Tel: 01925 400 299 Email: Peter.White@nwda.co.uk
(currently on secondment at the Liverpool Culture Company)
Tel: 01925 400 532 Email: Bernice.Law@nwda.co.uk IAN HAYTHORNTHWAITE Executive Director, Resources Tel: 01925 400 116 Email: Ian.Haythornthwaite@nwda.co.uk
JAMES BERRESFORD Director of Tourism Tel: 01925 400 472 Email: James.Berresford@nwda.co.uk
MARK HUGHES Executive Director, Enterprise and Skills Tel: 01925 400 531 Email: Mark.Hughes@nwda.co.uk
FIONA MILLS Director of Human Performance Tel: 01925 644 422 Email: Fiona.Mills@nwda.co.uk
PETER MEARNS Executive Director, Marketing Tel: 01925 400 212 Email: Peter.Mearns@nwda.co.uk
HEAD OFFICE The NWDA manages all operations from its Headquarters at:
HEAD OFFICE PO Box 37, Renaissance House, Centre Park, Warrington WA1 1XB Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0)1925 400 400 e-mail: information@nwda.co.uk
PRINT STOCK: Cover: Challenger Laser Matt is totally chlorine free and acquired only from suppliers operating sustainable forest reserves. Text: Cyclus offset is manufactured using only 100% recycled post consumer waste.
Designed and produced by Kaleidoscope ADM, Liverpool. www.kadm.co.uk NWDA KADM 05/08 20950
KEY CONTACTS
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Tel: 01224 636200 Email: team@theliverpoolsummit.com www.theliverpoolsummit.com/nwda
Transforming the Future A TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SUMMIT BT CONVENTION CENTRE, LIVERPOOL
MICHAEL PORTER
TERRY LEAHY
CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN
RENEE MAUBORGNE
WILL HUTTON
Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd October 2008
CHRIS PATTEN
KOFI ANNAN