http://www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/315ISSUE0304

315째 Fast forward Screen industries on cue for growth Energy revolution Know-how puts Northwest in the driving seat Fight the flab Eliminating waste from manufacturing Public art Putting the wow-factor into regeneration Location, location More flagship business sites on the horizon

THE RDA MAGAZINE MAR 2004 ISSUE 02

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Contents

Front cover image Jude Law on the set of ‘Alfie’, shot on location in Manchester

John Roberts, Chief Executive of United Utilities interviewed

Bryan Gray

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Fast forward for screen industries 8 Region poised to lead energy revolution 10 Reaping the rewards of lean manufacture

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16 Fun on the farm 17 Flying start for regeneration company 18 Landscape artistry

The Northwest region has been leading the way with innovative projects, forging a reputation for developing groundbreaking partnerships. The newly established Northwest Energy Council, the first council of its kind in the UK, brings together some of the most influential figures from the industry. The council’s 10-year action plan aims to create thousands of new jobs, attract an additional £5 billion of investment into the region, and reduce the Northwest’s carbon dioxide emissions by five million tonnes a year. The Council demonstrates how the NWDA is driving the region towards becoming a world leader in renewable energy.

Manufacturing remains a key economic driver in the Northwest, employing 430,000 people and accounting for 25% of GDP. However, it is not always recognised for its continued importance and significance. The NWDA has allocated £18 million for a three-year action programme that will further boost manufacturing productivity by an estimated £50 million. The ‘Agenda for Change’, to be delivered by the Manufacturing Institute, will help to accelerate a transformation within manufacturing in the Northwest.

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20 More investment in strategic sites 22 St Helens pilots US style regeneration 23 Historic mills legacy preserved

315° Contacts

28 Whitehall despatches 29 Event highlights 30 A distinctive experience

31 All the contact details you need for our area offices

We have much to be proud of but cannot afford to be complacent. We will continue to build on the region’s successes by working alongside our key partners thus ensuring a shared vision for the Northwest. Through continued investment the NWDA will guarantee the region’s increasing affluence, vibrancy and competitiveness.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you a flavour of the remarkable strengths on offer in the region.

As always we are keen to hear from you and to have your feedback on any aspect of our work.

Bryan Gray February 2004

Editor

NWDA

Trevor Bates email@trevorbates.fsnet.co.uk

Emma Degg 01925 400 100 emma.degg@nwda.co.uk

Chairman’s message

Welcome to the second issue of 315°, our quarterly magazine that gives you the latest news about England’s Northwest and how we are progressing with delivery of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). This issue celebrates both the successes of the region and reports on new and exciting initiatives that demonstrate how well our strategy is working.

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24 Oiling the wheels of industry 26 Winter launch for faster WCML rail services 27 New team players

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Chairman

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12 EU expansion trade boost 13 Climate of co-operation 14 University enters new era of growth

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The Third Degree

John

Roberts

John Roberts packs a lot of energy and commitment into his working week. Apart from being Chief Executive of United Utilities, the FTSE100 company with global interests ranging from water/wastewater services to electricity distribution, telecoms, call centres and renewable energy generation, he’s just taken over as Chair of the influential North West Business Leadership Team, a ‘think tank’ of the region’s most senior businessmen. He also occupies a similar role with the newly established Northwest Energy Council (NWEC).

You have just taken the helm at the North West Business Leadership. Will its role change under your chairmanship?

Not dramatically. I want to see the BLT make its voice heard on significant issues of the day like encouraging more companies into our region.

The Northwest has lots of cost advantages over regions like the South East. Graduate retention is a big issue. We are net importers of 18 year-olds and net exporters of 21-year-olds. There is a role here for the BLT to work with the universities to ensure that more of these bright young people stay here.

How can business help the region deliver strong economic growth - by increasing profits?

Profits are important but it’s what you do with them that matters. Companies should think about reinvesting some of those profits in R&D facilities and education and training within the region. That way they strengthen their own business and the Northwest’s economic base. We can create economic value by being smarter, by taking advantage of our technological base and by focusing on the higher-value end of the supply chain. This is where we will have a genuine competitive edge.

Corporate social responsibility is a now boardroom mantra.

Where do you stand on the issue?

I’m a great advocate and supporter of CSR. On average, United Utilities spends £3 million a year in cash and kind - roughly 1 per cent of profits - on returning some benefit to the community. We focus on three areas - the environment, education and social inclusion. We do have an impact on society and, whether we like it or not, we need to manage that process.

Are you happy with the general level of commitment to CSR by the business community?

There is still some cynicism about it, which I hope can ultimately be dispelled. We have had some very publicised failures of social responsibility on both sides of the Atlantic. That generates a public mistrust of business, which is a great shame because business is what drives this country forward. By being socially responsible companies can demonstrate to the world at large the benefits of having a healthy private sector.

How does big business view the prospect of a regional parliament?

If we have a body with the right powers and the right structure it can be a force for good. What we don’t want is another layer of bureaucracy, another layer of cost imposed on the region. The Government should set out as clearly as possible how an elected regional assembly would work. Under those circumstances I would encourage businesses to enter the debate. If they stand back and don’t make their views known, and what is put in place is not to their liking, they will have only themselves to blame.

Is it getting harder for PLCs to deliver public services? Is there too much regulation?

The important thing with regulation is getting the balance right. On the water/wastewater side of our business we are under a lot of pressure from Europe to achieve higher and higher environmental standards.

This year alone we shall be investing £1 billion on environmental improvements within the region and between 2005-2010 we plan to spend £3 billion. We have to raise that money efficiently in a way allows us to meet our investment obligations yet minimises the price impact on our customers. The regulatory process helps that.

This is a huge investment programme. How will it affect prices?

All of our customers are going to have to pay through prices for the investment we have to make. However prices were cut quite sharply in 2000 and even now our prices are lower in real terms than they were in 1999. Prices for water have fallen yet prices for other basic essentials have risen. We still represent good value for money and we shall do our utmost to ensure that whatever price rises there are kept to a minimum.

What can the public and private sectors learn from each other?

The public sector should study how business manages risk. We make money by taking risk but we manage it carefully within a sound business strategy. The public sector approach is to eliminate risk and that can lead to slow decision-making. On the other hand the public sector has a better awareness of the impact of economic activity on the community.

That’s important if business wants to earn the community’s trust.

“Energy is going to become more and more an issue for the future around climate change” What are your hopes for the Northwest Energy Council?

This is a terrific initiative by the Northwest Development Agency, the first forum of its kind in the country. We will be engaging with all the interested parties, looking at how energy is produced in the region and making recommendations to the NWDA on how we can develop a more effective and efficient industry and, hopefully, create more jobs.

Energy is going to become more and more an issue for the future around climate change. There’s a lot of research to be done in that area and I’d like to see it done in the Northwest.

How is your own company approaching the problem of climate change?

We are looking at different eco-friendly forms of transport. We’re experimenting with liquid petroleum gas vehicles and encouraging staff to use buses and bicycles where possible. It doesn’t end there.

In our water/wastewater business which is a large energy user we have set ourselves a target of becoming carbon neutral by generating electricity from gas produced in our water cleaning processes and adopting energy efficient practices. If we achieve that we can set an example to others.

Do you feel strongly about anything?

Yes, I’m passionate about the Northwest. It’s a great place to live and work but I still don’t feel it punches its weight. There’s a lot more we need to do before we take our rightful place as the UK’s premier region.

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Fast forward for screen industries A strong package of initiatives is being assembled to capitalise on the creative talents and growth potential of the region’s television and film industry, the biggest outside London. The aim is to make the region a high-value, international centre of excellence for moving image production.

Core components include a new state-of-the art multi-purpose TV Drama Studio, for which there is a ready demand, a Screen Industries Incubator and a £6 million Regional Investment Fund to attract ‘footloose’ independent producers and nurture expansion of homegrown companies.

Support for the regional television and film industry is being steered by the Northwest Development Agency through its delivery partners North West Vision and Media Training North West. Of the 14,000 employed in the audiovisual industries half work in the television and film sector.

Programme making is an important money-spinner for the region.

Studies suggest that over 11 per cent of all new network drama was produced in the Northwest last year providing 14.2 per cent of total viewing hours. This represents an estimated spend of £160 million.

The region has also become a magnet for international filmmakers because of its distinctive landscapes and large pool of production skills. Manchester and Liverpool recently doubled up for period New York in the remake of the 60’s classic ‘Alfie’, starring Jude Law, contributing an estimated £1.5 million to local economies.

Granada’s merger with Carlton, continued rationalisation by the BBC and the Communications Act, which will invest new powers in the Office of Communications (OFCOM), have major implications for the region. The new legislation is putting added pressure on broadcasters to commission more from the regions.

Andy Lovatt, the NWDA’s Head of Creative Industries, is optimistic about growing the sector, arguing that the current “regulatory turbulence” can place the Northwest - and Manchester in particular - in a favourable position for economic growth over the next few years.

“We will continue to invest in filmmaking but we are at a special moment in time when we have to act strategically in the TV sector and our priority for the next two years will be to ensure the growth and diversification of the independent TV sector which is both fragmented and vulnerable.”

Public sector funding support is critical in getting projects off the ground but the end result, says Alice Morrison, Chief Executive of North West Vision, should be “a more sustainable, broader-based industry delivering a high spend and packing real cultural punch”.

On Merseyside a £6 million package of aid has been secured after a successful bid for Objective One money. It will be used to develop the local film, television and media industry by investing in films, SME business support, training and infrastructure, creating over 200 new jobs and £10 million of additional turnover.

Action will be also prioritised around a similarly resourced, dualapproach investment programme covering Manchester and other parts of the region. One strand is a Regional Attraction Fund to encourage established, commission-rich independent production companies to base themselves in the Northwest.

The second is a Sector Development Programme that will invest in new and existing local companies to help them realise their business growth potential, break into new markets and exploit their intellectual property.

North West Vision is now working with Lovatt and his team to develop a strategic framework for the sector. The aim, says Morrison, is to develop the Northwest television and film industry “as the counterpoint to London”.

With 3,000 industry personnel on her books, she says the region has a big pool of creative talent, particularly writers, but is relying on just four companies - Granada, BBC and independents Mersey Television (Hollyoaks, Grange Hill) and Manchester-based Red Production Company (Queer As Folk, Clocking Off, Second Coming) - to deliver the bulk of 1,310 hours of network TV produced in the region.

“We want to take more of the smaller independent companies to the next level of growth,” explains Morrison. “Our aim to have another three Reds.”

One of the promising contenders is Turn on TV, run by Angela Smith who returned to Manchester in 1999 after working as a freelance producer in London. Last year the company enjoyed one of its most successful years with 38 hours of commissioned work.

Credits include Turn on Terry, screened on ITV 1 in the latter half of 2003, The Real Coronation Street and Forensics School, all of which were filmed in the region. “There are a lot of people,” she says, “who would love to bring their companies back to Manchester...”

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Clocking Off One of Red Production Company’s many successes Talking with Angels Nominated for a BAFTA award Second Coming Breakthrough drama for ITV

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Cold Feet Shot on location in Manchester Alfie Spent time in the region on a remake of ‘Alfie’

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Star billing for NW filmmakers Young filmmakers have boosted the region’s reputation as a creative hotspot by earning a ‘Best Short Film’ nomination for Talking with Angels in this year’s BAFTA Awards. Made on location in Salford, the production has already been shown at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival in America.

Unlike full-length feature films, which can lead to box office success, independently-made short films offer little in the way of financial rewards but “are a great way of showcasing the region’s talent,” according to lead producer Janey de Nordwell of Silver Films.

She collaborated with producer Mike Knowles of Northern Films and writer-director Yousaf Ali Khan in the making of the £85,000 film, which confronts the prejudices about what constitutes a viable family.

The 70-production team was recruited from within the region and included a number of trainees.

Janey, 36, began her filmmaking career eight years ago producing commercials for the computer games industry before graduating into short films. She set herself a target of making three short films, and with the task complete, now has her sights set on a full-length feature film.

Two years ago she won a BAFTA award for ‘About a Girl’. She raised funding for the film by selling equity in her company to a Business Angel through the Northwest Development Agency’s TEChINVEST Investors Club. More recently she secured £20,000 of funding support from North West Vision and NWDA for Talking with Angels.

Janey regards herself as an ambassador for the region’s creative skills. She went to London to “learn how the industry works” but her aim has always been to move back to Manchester “to help develop the Northwest as a major centre of excellence in filmmaking...”

For further information: www.northwestvision.co.uk

The NWDA has appointed an international team of consultants, led by Wigan-born Mick Aitken from mjaMatchpoint, to develop a strategic approach to major events in the region. The consortium includes Craig McLatchey, one of the key organisers of the Sydney Olympic Games...

Filmmakers from India, Canada, South Africa and Nigeria will showcase their art at the 3rd Commonwealth Film Festival to be held in Manchester from April 30 to May 9.

Organisers plan twice as many screenings than ever before as well as workshops, networking events and parties...

Cumbria had a bigger increase in visitors than any other part of England in the first half of 2003.

The number of people staying at hotels and B&Bs hit record highs during the year with occupancy rates 24 per cent above 2001 when the foot and mouth outbreak hit Cumbria...

Felicity Goodey, a former NWDA Board member, has been appointed Chair of the Northwest Tourism Forum, which acts as a strategic monitoring body for the recently-launched regional Tourism Strategy...

Manchester Chamber of Commerce has consolidated its position as the largest in the UK by merging with Stockport Chamber of Commerce to create an organisation with 4,560 member companies. It will be led by Angie Robinson, Chief Executive of the Manchester Chamber...

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Region poised to lead energy revolution Climate change is giving birth to a new energy revolution and, like the industrial revolution before it, the region with the drive and know-how to lead the nation into this brave new world is the Northwest.

That was the bold message delivered to over 200 industry representatives at the inaugural conference of the newly established Northwest Energy Council (NWEC) at Rheged at Penrith in Cumbria.

Delegates were told that the move to a low-carbon economy opens new business opportunities for the region’s energy industry, more jobs, the creation of sustainable energy technologies, lower fuel bills - and a cleaner environment.

Established by the Northwest Development Agency, the NWEC is a grouping of some of the most influential figures from industry and academia. Its main aim is to achieve greater diversity and security of supply with an emphasis on making the region a world-leader in renewable energy.

The Council intends to develop a 10-year action plan targeted at creating 7,600 new jobs, increasing the sales of regional energy suppliers by £800 million, attracting an additional £5 billion investment into the region and reducing the Northwest carbon dioxide emissions by five million tonnes a year.

Opening the conference, NWEC Chairman John Roberts, Chief Executive of United Utilities, forecast that in 20 years the region would be relying on energy systems very different from today.

“That provides opportunities for those prepared to lead the change, and be flexible in developing and accommodating new technologies.

This region can play that leading role. We led the coal and steam powered industrial revolution and we could be at the forefront of the next energy revolution.”

The Council and NWDA will promote, co-ordinate and provide funding support for a range of policies, flagship projects and schemes to help the region meet Government climate change targets of reducing CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.

A number of schemes are in the pipeline including major trials with domestic Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems. The Council is also exploring possible development of a Sustainable Energy Park.

There will be special emphasis on innovation and R&D with the Joule Centre - an alliance between Northwest universities and the NWDA - initiating and co-ordinating research into strategic energy issues from demand-side management to low carbon technologies.

Based on the successful Northwest Science Council model, the NWEC is the first regional body of its kind in the UK. It starts life with a large amount of analytical data about the size and structure of the region’s energy industry, the post-Kyoto challenges - and ideas on the way forward.

A strategic survey of the sector, compiled by Enviros and UMIST on behalf of NWDA, paints a picture of the Northwest as a region with a wealth of energy assets, industrial know-how and academic expertise in systems as diverse as wind power, nuclear energy and biomass generation.

Currently the industry employs 53,000 people in 600 regional companies producing goods and services annually worth £5 billion with exports accounting for £1.2 billion. Apart from having most of the UK’s nuclear capability, the Northwest has some of the best wind resource in Europe.

Energy efficiency appears to be the biggest area of growth for regional suppliers. It has been estimated that Northwest businesses could be losing up to £100 million a year in wasted energy. Government targets suggest that up to half of the projected long term savings on carbon emissions will have to come from energy efficiency.

Firms like Rochdale-based Dunphy, manufacturers of energy efficient boiler systems, expect to gain 10-15 per cent in extra sales from new directives on the purchase and installation of energy efficient equipment.

The 70-employee company exports 90 per cent of its products and recently won an important order to supply a new BMW factory in Austria with two 8.2 megawatt burners because of their ultra low emissions, low noise and high levels of energy efficiency.

The NWDA have moved quickly to support the Energy Council’s work by appointing Joe Flanagan as the Agency’s Head of Energy.

He was formerly part of the ‘Climate Change Division’ of Enviros and has experience of energy efficiency best practice in the UK manufacturing industry.

John Roberts says the region is well on the way to developing a clear and distinctive vision and action plan for energy. “What we need now is delivery - real projects, real energy savings, real and sustainable business growth...”

For further information: www.nwda/energy.co.uk

News

Koito Aerospace, a Japanese manufacturer of commercial airline seats, is establishing a new European production facility at Skypark International in Speke, Merseyside, with £246,000 of Regional Selective Assistance from the Northwest Development Agency. The investment will create 21 jobs...

Manchester-based Axiomlab Investment Management Ltd has been appointed by NWDA to manage the £4.5 million North West Seed Fund, which will help entrepreneurs transfer bright ideas to the market-place. The Fund will support innovative early-stage companies with investments up to a total of £350,000...

Brenda Smith, Managing Director of Granada and an NWDA Board Member, was named ‘Business Leader of the Year’ in the CBI’s North West Business Awards.

The ‘Board of the Year’ award, sponsored by NWDA, went to iSOFT, a Manchester-based healthcare company...

Carol Watts has been appointed as Chief Executive of the Northwest Chemical Initiative after a broad career in base specialty chemicals and paints. The region’s chemicals industry supports over 160,000 jobs and contributes £10 billion to the Northwest economy. NWCI plans to re-launch itself as Chemicals Northwest in Spring 2004...

NWDA has been awarded additional Government funding of £10 million for 2003-04 in recognition of its achievements in 2002-03 when it exceeded all targets...

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Reaping the rewards of lean manufacture New efforts to help the region’s 16,500 manufacturers boost their productivity and competitiveness are underway following the launch of an £18 million programme to help firms embrace ‘lean’ manufacturing techniques.

Funded by the Northwest Development Agency, the European Regional Development Fund and the private sector, this three-year initiative will provide companies with an integrated range of demand-driven services aimed at delivering £50 million of extra productivity.

The ‘Agenda for Change’ programme extends the scope of the North West Manufacturing Advisory Service, which is run on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry by the Trafford Park-based Manufacturing Institute.

Appointed as a Northwest Centre for Manufacturing Excellence by the NWDA, the Institute will expand its team of specialist industrial advisers from 12 to 35 and offer participating SMEs up to 30 days of subsidised support to streamline processes, eliminate waste and develop sharper production skills. Another aim is to promote a better public image of manufacturing.

Industry Minister Jacqui Smith launched

the initiative at the second Manufacturing Summit at Bolton. She hailed the action plan as “an ambitious programme, which will give key players in the region the impetus, support and framework to build a strong and sustainable manufacturing base.”

A vibrant manufacturing sector is a critical component in the region’s drive for accelerated economic growth. In June 2003 the NWDA launched a three-year, seven ‘pillars’ action plan aimed at transforming the sector into a high-tech, highly skilled and high added value industry.

Manufacturing contributes £19 billion to Northwest GDP with exports accounting for £13.7 billion. The sector employs over 440,000 and represents 22 per cent of the economy, but according to NWDA Chairman Bryan Gray, “its continued importance and significance is not always recognised”.

He told a 350-strong Summit audience that the rewards of increasing productivity within the sector were “potentially enormous.”

Since its launch in April 2002, this Centre of Manufacturing Excellence has helped local companies make productivity gains of £9.6 million.

Latest Government figures show the Centre has responded to over 2,500 enquiries from regional SMEs, carried out over 400 company site visits and engaged in over 50 in depth consultancies.

The additional funding will allow the Institute to target 2,000 more manufacturing firms with a range of practical help from leadership development and product innovation, to inventory control and improving factory layout. Manufacturers played a key part in shaping the programme.

“Cost pressures from big customers are not discretionary,” observes Dr. Julie Madigan, the Institute’s Chief Executive. “They are a fact of life and we have to have help regional manufacturers adopt the lean processes and techniques that will make them more productive.”

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Capital gains Eliminating waste helps the bottom line

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Experts save Oldham firm £1 million Oldham-based Innovative Technology is up against stiff competition from Japan, Taiwan and America when it sells its banknote validators into the global marketplace. Staying ahead of the game requires design ingenuity and a corporate culture of lean manufacturing.

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Board game Banknote validators make use of circuit board technology Small world An operator uses a magnifier for close-up work

Lead times have been cut from four days to 15 minutes!

Since it began working with the Manufacturing Institute the company has become a “much slicker operation,” according to Managing Director Kevin Ashurst. Within months of calling in the centre’s experts the company had saved over £1 million.

Lead times have been cut from four days to 15 minutes, factory lay-out reorganised and significant progress made in achieving ‘right first-time’ quality. Half the savings have come from reducing stores stock.

Innovative Technology sells its anti-forgery equipment into the soft gaming and entertainment market turning over £15 million a year and employing 150. Ashurst said production staff became ‘fired up’ to carry out improvements after the Manufacturing Institute’s experts pinpointed the problem areas.

“The pressure is always on to keep costs down so we have to be innovative in the way we design our products and responsive to customers’ needs. We have to be alive to new types of fraud and having bases in Europe helps us respond more quickly than our main competitors.”

Innovative Technology’s impressive performance won it the ‘Best Productivity Improvement Impact’ award at the recent ‘Accelerating the Transformation Awards’ dinner, hosted by the Manufacturing Institute.

The other successes were Wolstenholme International, a Darwenbased inks company, in the ‘Sustaining Continuous Improvement’ category, and electronics manufacturer C-TEC, of Wigan, who picked up the award in the ‘Developing People’ category.

Presenting the prizes, Bryan Gray, Chairman of the Northwest Development Agency, sponsors of the awards scheme, saluted the winners’ “entrepreneurial zest and downright hard work”, saying it was a “shining example to others.”

For further information: www.manu-online.com

News

Liverpool’s ‘Fourth Grace’ waterfront development is to receive capital funding of £43 million over the next five years from the NWDA, subject to appraisal by the Agency and UK Government approval. The £260 million scheme includes two residential towers, the futuristic ‘Cloud’ building and a new public space. Construction is planned to start in 2005...

Blackburn is to receive funding of £13 million from the NWDA to transform its town centre into a key regional retail and employment hub. Derelict land will be reclaimed for mixed-used development, public spaces improved and key historical buildings upgraded. The £53 million scheme is expected to create up to 1,200 new jobs...

A West Cumbria Taskforce has been set up by the NWDA to minimise the impact of nuclear decommissioning at Sellafield.

It will provide a long-term action plan to revitalise the economic, social, education and infrastructure fabric of the whole of West Cumbria...

Blackpool’s ‘Central Gateway’ project, has won funding support of £7.8 million from the NWDA and £4 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

The investment will assist site acquisitions, a new office development within Blackpool Football Club’s stadium complex and construction of a new road junction...

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EU expansion trade boost Regional companies are queuing up to test market opportunities in the ten countries joining the European Union on May 1. Enlargement is expected to generate £1.75 billion in additional exports annually for UK firms.

Apart from the Czech Republic, the new member states are; Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta.

Trade and business advisers across the Northwest are seeking to exploit the trade potential of EU expansion with a range of business club activities, exhibitions and trade missions. One trade visit to Warsaw in January 2004 attracted three times as much interest as places available.

The business club events are part of a 12-month campaign, co-funded by the Northwest Development Agency and the European Information Centre based in Liverpool, to raise awareness of business opportunities in the accession countries.

Local companies were able to explore partnerships with business groups in the Czech Republic during the ‘North West in Europe Conference’, a three-day event in Prague in October 2003 aimed at establishing a civic, political and trade rapport with new member states.

Thirteen Northwest firms across a range of sectors from food to high-tech made the trip with help from UK Trade & Investment the new single brand for Trade Partners UK and Invest UK - the NWDA and Business Link North Manchester.

Carol Smith, back in her native Merseyside after being seconded from the Foreign Office to manage the accession campaign, says many companies do not know which countries are joining the EU. “They are certainly not aware there will be an explosion of new business opportunities. A lot of companies we took to Prague had never been on a trade mission before but it has given them the impetus to look at new markets.”

Kenneth Mellor, Managing Director of System Devpak, who made the trip, is looking to Central Europe to accelerate company growth. His Warrington-based company is typical of the SMEs the region’s trade advisers are trying to help.

It supplies a range of consumables for wine producers and bottlers and employs 14. Exports account for 20-40 per cent of its £1.2 million business turnover. “We have a three year plan to expand our distributor network across Europe and the Czech Republic is strategically located to start that push.”

Mellor praises the UK Trade & Investment export support services which he has started using. “I’ve made more progress in 18 months by using those services than I made in four years of going into Latin America on my own.”

More events and trade missions are planned in the run-up to accession day. A major awareness event, held recently at Aintree Racecourse, attracted representatives from nine of the 10 enlargement countries, as well as 100 local companies.

Seven Polish companies visited the North West Manufacturing Exhibition at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton, and Business Link North Manchester reciprocated by organising a visit to Poland.

“There is an enormous amount of interest among local companies about EU enlargement. We had 70 expression of interest for the Poland visit but had to limit the mission to just 20 companies,” explains International Business Adviser Tony Brown.

For further information: www.euro-info.org.uk/enlargement

Climate of co-operation

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Shared vision Robert Runcie (left) and Steven Broomhead sign up to a sustainable future

Closer working ties are being established between the Northwest Development Agency and the Environment Agency to speed up the process of sustainable development in line with the aspirations of the Regional Economic Strategy.

A number of jointly funded projects and programmes, some backed

by European money, are already under way to improve water quality and encourage small companies to reduce waste.

The two organisations formalised their relationship in the New Year by signing a ground breaking ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ at a short ceremony at the NWDA Head Office in Warrington in recognition of their shared vision - and duty - to improve the quality of life for people across the region.

The two signatories to the agreement were NWDA Chief Executive Steven Broomhead and Robert Runcie, Regional Director of the Environment Agency, which has a regional budget of £70 million and a Northwest staff of 1,200 in four business units.

Built around a 24-point action plan, the MoU will ensure that sustainability is integrated in all future projects that shape the region.

It also establishes a framework for future joint working, consultation and co-operation.

Steven Broomhead described the signing as a “unique” occasion.

“We are the first RDA in England to have got as far as signing an MoU. We currently work well together and the Memorandum helps us identify those areas where can work closer together in the future.”

Despite progress on many fronts the region is still facing serious challenges. A quarter of England’s derelict land is situated in the Northwest and it has 33 per cent of the poorest quality rivers in England and Wales. It is also quickly running out of landfill space.

The Agencies are partners in schemes to address these problems.

The £2.5 million ENWORKS programme, for example, is providing waste minimisation advice and support to 10,000 local SMEs and has a remit to save them £10 million in resource costs.

Improving water quality is another priority. This is being tackled through the EU-funded Inland and Coastal Recreational Waters project, which will boost the image of the region by raising water quality, particularly at designated bathing beaches.

Robert Runcie, who arrived in the region as the Regional Economic Strategy was being revised, believes improving outsiders’ perception of the region is a critical issue for both Agencies.

“People still have a distorted Lowry-esque view of the Northwest which is out of keeping with the reality. Raising the standard of our bathing beaches is just one way we can project a better image.”

Bathing water quality has improved to such an extent that he is now waiting to see which local authority will be the first in the region to achieve a Blue Flag - the coveted award for clean bathing waters.

He says half of the region’s 36 designated bathing beaches have reached the standard where they could qualify.

The Environment Agency intends to keep the region well informed on positive changes in water quality through a new on-line service.

Other topics being phased in during 2004 include climate change, air quality, waste, flooding, land, wildlife and quality of life.

For further information: www.environment.agency.gov.uk/nwenvironment

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University enters new era of growth When Professor Paul Wellings arrived from Australia to take up the post as Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University one of his first tasks was to familiarise himself with the institution’s regional impact. He knew of its reputation for world-class research but little of its work with business and local communities.

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Professor Paul Wellings Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University Sir Chris Bonington CBE Chancellor of Lancaster University from 2005

What he found was a university generating £150 million of benefits into the regional economy and heavily engaged with public and private sector groups through a rich variety of linkages from management training and environmental consultancy to genomics and high-speed networking.

Several factors have tended to obscure Lancaster’s value to the region.

One is the drawing power of the metropolitan universities. Another is Lancaster’s relative isolation from major concentrations of industry.

This has left the University with a marketing challenge “We cannot assume that people will find us so we need communication strategies that find the people who need the sorts of services and ideas we can offer,” explains Prof. Wellings, who held a senior post in Canberra with the Australian national strategic research body before leaving in 2002 to steer Lancaster into a new era of growth and strategic alliances.

With 10,000 full-time students it is smaller than many other Northwest universities but in terms of the quality of its research it is the region’s top-rated institution. It was ranked 9th in the UK for its research and teaching excellence in the most recent assessment and has 73 per cent of its staff in 5 or 5* departments.

This is having a powerful effect on enrolments, particularly in postgraduate education. The 2003 intake of over 4,700 students was the highest ever. Many are students from developing countries such as China and India where the University is stepping up its recruiting activities.

Lancaster is running out of space and accommodating the growing student population is a key priority. This is being addressed through a transaction with Jarvis who will build and maintain 3,405 new and replacement rooms state-of-the-art study bedrooms.

Costing over £120 million, it is the biggest project of its kind in the UK. Cranes are a familiar sight on the campus skyline as the University moves through what Paul Wellings describes as “one of the most important periods of reinvention” since the collegiate institution was first established in 1964.

A notable event in its 40th anniversary year is the appointment of Sir Chris Bonington, CBE, as the new Chancellor, in succession to Princess Alexandra who has held has held the office since the University was founded.

Capital investment of £175 million over the next five years will deliver six major projects, four of them new Centres of Excellence.

They will provide Lancaster with the research and enterprise tools to make a greater impact on the region’s knowledge economy, and a more distinctive branding to compete in the global market-place.

Two of the projects - Infolab21, a new ICT facility with incubator space, and a Management School extension that will host the new Lancaster Leadership Centre - are receiving combined funding support of £14.5 million from the Northwest Development Agency in recognition of the likely beneficial impact on the region’s economy.

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Infolab21, which is also being built with European money, epitomises the University’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration as a route to innovation.

When it opens in Autumn 2004, the £15 million centre will bring together 250 academics and research students from two Departments - Computing and Communication Systems - in a single building along with the University’s Knowledge Business Centre.

A similar ‘mixer’ effect will be evident in the £9.5 million Leadership Centre, which aims to offer practical help to over 10,000 small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) over the next 10 years with special focus on the business needs of women and ethnic minorities, and the rural agenda.

The shift in emphasis to integrate great research with application is also apparent in the new £20 million Lancaster Environment Centre, a co-location of 300 environmental scientists from the University and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

“The concept of one small group of researchers having all the answers is nonsense,” argues Professor Ray Macdonald, Pro-ViceChancellor for Research “If you want to look at a problem like pollution you need a combination of expertise - hydrologists, engineers, chemists, biologists and atmospheric physicists.” He expects the integrated facility will produce spin-offs and is hopeful of attracting incubator funding.

Lancaster’s long love affair with the interdisciplinary approach finds further expression in the newly established Institute of Advanced Studies in Management and Social Sciences, a ‘think tank’ that will focus on particular issues of the day. “This is where megastars will want to come and work,” predicts Prof. Macdonald.

Despite its global reach - nearly 100 nations are represented on campus - the University has built a good track record helping local communities. Experts in high speed networking have connected 500 schools to the Internet through the Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (CLEO) project.

Lancaster is the only UK university to hold a Telco licence giving it more freedom to expand its networking interests. It’s also been awarded £1.7 million of NWDA money to provide a 10GB network linking Lancaster with Daresbury Laboratories thus furthering the cause of e-science.

The University also provides the design, implementation and support for CLEO (Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online), a project to network all the primary and secondary schools across the two counties, and is also instrumental in providing broadband availability to the region.

For further information: www.lancs.ac.uk

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Flying start for regeneration company Charles Woodhouse and Chris Torkington, the two men heading up Rural Regeneration Cumbria as Chairman and Chief Executive respectively, are both ‘off-comers’ who fell deeply in love with the county long before the organisation was established.

Fun on the farm A sculpture trail stretching 1.5 miles is to be created by internationally recognised artist Jonathan Stamper across a valley behind his Cumbrian dairy farm, thanks to financial backing from the North West Farm Tourism Initiative.

Jonathan, who runs the 164-acre High Head Farm near Ivegill will create 30 sculptures and interactive panels to mark the route, as well as opening a gallery, workshop and educational resource centre for local schools.

“It was critical for us to get the grant to help us with this big project,” he says. “We’re hoping to create a new high-class arts venue with changing exhibits every six to eight weeks.”

The grant is part of the £2.68 million with which the NWDA plans to benefit more than 2,000 farm tourism businesses over four years. The project, announced in 2003, will give help to farmers who already offer some aspect of tourism or those who seek to diversify into that area.

The NWDA hopes to create around 50 new businesses and create a 500-strong network of farm tourism businesses. One of the main aims is to provide farmers with added revenue streams that will make their core business more sustainable.

“We are not looking to expand the ‘bed and breakfast’ element of farm tourism but improve what we have,” explains David Hunter, the NWDA’s Senior Rural Policy Officer. He welcomes innovative ideas that will encourage people to stay longer in the rural Northwest.

At Rookin House Farm Alistair and Debbie Hogg encourage visitors to their ‘adventure venue’ as well as farming mainly sheep on the 135 acres nearTroutbeck in Cumbria, The farm, which lost its cattle in the foot and mouth disease outbreak, offers everything from mini quad bikes for kids, to riding holidays for families to leadership skills activities for corporate groups.

It has recently benefited from grants from the Farm Tourism Partnership of £12,500 to improve the centre’s reception area, providing a comfortable area for guests to congregate, and almost £4,000 for marketing its activities.

Debbie says that without the grant, they may not have been able to improve their reception area this summer, “enabling us to compete on a more professional scale.”

The grant aid is available to farmers across the Northwest approximately two thirds of the total in Cumbria and one third in Lancashire and Cheshire.

Farmers Richard and Ann Varden have provided traditional farmhouse bed and breakfast accommodation in three rooms at their 16th century Newton Hall Farm in Tattenhall, Cheshire for over ten years, alongside milk production from a pedigree dairy herd.

“We sold our dairy herd this summer as the workload became too great, compounded by poor milk prices, although we still have Hereford cross-heifers,” says Ann. “Only one of our rooms had an en-suite and as guests now expect that type of accommodation, we decided to upgrade our remaining two rooms.” A grant from the NWDA will enable them to complete the work in the New Year.

Ray Kessler, NWDA’s Head of Rural Policy, says: “This project will help to create a significant and positive impact on rural communities and ensure a prosperous future for generations to come.”

For further information: www.stayfarmnorth.co.uk

£9 million in RRC awards have been made to Cumbrian organisations

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Landscape gems Matching scenic splendour with economic vitality

For five years now, Torkington and his family have lived just south of Penrith, not far from Hackthorpe Business Centre, where RRC has its headquarters in a neat set of converted brown stone farm buildings nestled close to the M6.

He was previously a Barclays Bank executive but his education in rural matters dates back to his teens when his sister married a Welsh hill farmer.

Woodhouse was senior partner with London law firm Farrer & Co before he retired in 2001. It was on the recommendation of his daughter, a primary school teacher married to a Solway turf farmer, that he bought a small estate in North Cumbria.

Under their direction the regeneration company is involved in more than 150 different projects even though it only been in existence since April 2003. It’s the only agency of its kind in the UK, and has a £57 million budget, of which £42 million is new money from the Northwest Development Agency.

Awards totalling £9 million have already been made to 65 different organisations.

The impetus for its creation arose from the damaging foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, which cost Cumbria £200 million in tourism revenue and lopped four per cent off its GDP. The Cumbria Strategic Partnership drew up a plan to create 5,180 jobs by 2007 and increase rural Cumbria's gross value added by £151 million. RRC was set up as an arms length ‘delivery vehicle’ to co-ordinate action against an agreed set of goals.

“Foot and mouth highlighted an economy that was already in structural decline,” says Torkington.

“We are not here as a result of that crisis, we are here because the GDP per head in Cumbria has fallen from above the national average in 1993 to below it.”

RRC is currently developing Farm Connect Cumbria, a £10 million programme to strengthen agriculture.

The possibility of a major milk processing facility is being examined.

Other items on the RRC agenda are more effective packaging of activity holidays and short breaks; a nine-day Cumbria Food and Drink Festival in May 2004; enterprise help for disadvantaged groups, and a gateway project for South Lakeland that will involve relocation of Kendal Auction Mart to a site opposite Westmorland County Showground to create a showcase of land management skills and tourism information.

The presence on the board of Professor Paul Wellings, Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University, indicates that better Further and Higher Education provision is among the RRC’s eight key objectives.

The RRC has given Cumbria Tourist Board £4 million over four years to find ways of broadening the county’s tourism offer. Woodhouse is particularly keen on plans to create a Centre for British Romanticism, in collaboration with the Wordsworth Trust, and to restore the lost splendour of historic gardens at Rydal Hall and Lowther Castle.

“We’re trying to make a difference on the big issues,” he says. “I’m not complacent but I hope a great deal has already been achieved in a very short time.”

For further information: www.ruralcumbria.co.uk

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Ceramic birds Public art in Manchester’s Northern Quarter White bait Trendy bicycle stands in Whitehaven Luna cycle Traffic cones take root in the Lune Valley

Landscape artistry Putting the Eric back into Morecambe has worked wonders for the seaside town weary of being overshadowed by Blackpool when it comes to visitor numbers.

Graham Ibbeson’s sculpture of the much-loved comedian, unveiled by the Queen in July 1999, is credited with an increase in visitor enquiries - from 144,000 in 1998 to 268,000 in 2000 and causing some traffic chaos as cars and coaches slow down for a better view.

“Not many people visit Morecambe without having their photograph taken beside it,” says Principal Tourism Officer Jim Trotman.

Public art in the whole region, supported by the Northwest Development Agency, local authorities and regional arts bodies, is assuming a higher profile.

Peter Mearns, Director of Marketing at the NWDA, says “We try to ensure that we fund public art which contributes to the character and quality of an area and its regeneration.

We ask that the community is consulted and that the art resonates with the place in which it will be sited.”

The Agency is a member of the partnership responsible for the Panopticons project to

create six new architectdesigned, large-scale landmarks for East Lancashire.

The Pantopticons - landmarkviewing platforms - will be positioned on high-point sites to provide a striking addition to the landscape.

The first three prize-winning designs were announced in July 2003 and work is expected to begin on two of them early this year once planning permission has been granted.

They include ‘the Atom’ a medium-sized room structure with observation holes through which visitors ‘can connect to the landscape’, designed

by Peter Meacock Central Workshop in Bristol. It will be sited on high ground in Wycoller Country Park, near the East Lancashire town of Colne.

A second prize winner is London-based Jo Rippon Architecture with artist Sophie Smallhorn’s design for bright coloured paviours - terrazzo stripes - which will revitalise the base of The Cannon Battery site in Blackburn’s

Corporation Park. A site for Lancashire landscape artist John Kennedy’s ‘UFO’ winning design has yet to be chosen.

The design which received national publicity - for Accrington’s name to be spelled out in nine metre high letters on a hillside reminiscent of HOLLYWOOD’s world-famous sign - was not chosen because it was beyond the budget limit.

The biggest project currently underway in the region is B of the Bang, which at 56 metres high will be one of the tallest sculptures in the UK. The artwork by Thomas Heatherwick - a starburst design with tapered steel spikes connected at a central point 22 metres above the ground - will be sited adjacent to the City of Manchester Stadium and is expected to be completed in the spring (2004). Its name was inspired by athlete Linford Christie’s famous comment that he started his gold-medal winning 100-metres race “on the B of the Bang”.

Globally acclaimed artist Sir Peter Blake has created two new bronze sculptures as part of the Great Promenade Show on Blackpool’s South Shore Promenade. The 10-feet high two-piece sculptures, ‘Four Man Up’ and ‘Equestrian Act’, depicts a balancing act of circus performers - including strongmen, horses and a mermaid.

Ian Banks, Public Arts and Architecture Officer for Arts Council England (North West) says “Although a great deal of public art is associated with regeneration, and some with image and regional and local pride, there are pieces which are an expression of artistic genius and ingenuity.”

For further information: www.publicartnorthwest.org.uk

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More investment in strategic sites New milestones have been reached in the Northwest Development Agency’s rolling programme of investment in strategic regional sites, opening up accessible, new flagship locations for industry, commerce and knowledge-based businesses from Cumbria to Cheshire.

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Kingsway, Rochdale Aerial view of the site

The NWDA has secured an option to purchase the 38 hectare Whitebirk site in Hyndburn from The Dunkenhalgh Estate for use as a high-tech business park and it is also poised to kick-start development at Kingsway, Rochdale, following completion of the Compulsory Purchase Order inquiry.

Elsewhere, the Agency is using its funding resources to widen property options at Wirral International Business Park and Westlakes Science and Technology Park. It is also supporting a planning application for the first phases on the Omega site at Warrington.

The five locations are among the 25 strategic regional sites identified for priority funding and planning support by the Agency because of their importance to the effective implementation of the Regional Economic Strategy.

Some are ‘oven-ready’ for the property market whilst others need major remediation and infrastructure investment before they can be developed. There are also sites in fragmented ownership and require CPOs to facilitate land assembly.

They offer the region a bank of employment land for up to 30 years for a range of uses from inward investment to research. Three of the sites have been identified as inter-modal freight terminals. They include Ditton (Widnes), Carrington (Trafford), and Parkside (St. Helens).

Basford (Crewe) can accommodate rail-related distribution.

Here is a snapshot of progress on some of the region’s key sites.

Kingsway ready to roll Work is expected to start later this year on the £300 million Kingsway Business Park, Rochdale, following completion of the CPO inquiry. The huge site will provide new job opportunities for an area of Rochdale with the third highest unemployment figures in Greater Manchester.

Kingsway has planning permission for 335,577 sq m (3.6m sq ft) of industrial, business, retail and leisure space with some residential development and 30 hectares of parkland. The scheme, which will have its own direct access from J21 of the M62 at Milnrow and will eventually be linked into the Metrolink tram system, is a joint venture between the Agency, Wilson Bowden Developments, Rochdale Council and Rochdale Development Agency.

NWDA investment in the site is expected to total £31 million over the 20-year lifetime of the scheme. Most of the money will be spent in the early years on site assembly, infrastructure and environmental work. The project has also secured £8 million from the EU’s Objective 2 programme.

A decision on the CPO is expected early in 2004. “This should allow us to take possession in May and begin work in August,” reports Rob Green, the NWDA’s Kingsway Project Manager. A 23 hectare site within the overall development has been set aside for major inward investment.

Gateway scheme for Wirral Wirral International Business Park is to get a new £12 million landmark development at its southern entrance. The speculative scheme, known as the Gateway, could generate over 400 jobs.

The Northwest Development Agency is providing £2.2 million of gap funding, its second investment on the park within the past year. Funding support of £1.4 million in 2003 enabled the Langtree Group to progress the Lumina development.

The latest project has planning approval for 13,000 sq m (140,000 sq ft) of office and high-tech industrial space on a 2.9 hectare site. Developer Gateway Park expects to start work early in 2004 and have the main office block and adjacent high-units ready in 12 months. The funding package includes £2.2 million of EU Objective One money.

Good quality business units are in short supply on the Wirral and market research indicates the scheme should be successful in attracting tenants. Wirral International covers 334 hectares making it one of the region’s largest employment sites. Up to 64 hectares remain to be developed.

Omega plans submitted Planners at Warrington Borough Council have been asked to approve the long-awaited first phases of development on the 226 hectare Omega site to provide a new 21st century business environment for inward investment, indigenous companies and knowledge-based industries.

Omega Warrington Ltd (a joint venture between Miller Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and English Partnerships) have applied for permission to build 130,000 sq m (1.4 million sq ft) of office, research

and light industrial space on 50 hectares of Omega South and 148,500 sq m (1.6 million sq ft) of space on the whole 46 hectares of Omega North for general industry, storage and distribution.

The application, supported by the Northwest Development Agency, includes provision for a hotel, small-scale retail and transport interchange facilities. Phased over 10-15 years, the first developments are expected to create 7,250 jobs. The whole site is being phased over a 25-30 year period depending on market conditions.

Knowledge Park scheme Job prospects in East Lancashire have received a major boost with news that the Northwest Development Agency has secured an option to buy a 38 hectare site in Hyndburn from the land owners, The Dunkenhalgh Estate, for use as a high-tech business park.

The Agency is seeking outline planning permission to develop the Whitebirk site as a Knowledge Park and is working closely with Hyndburn Borough Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and the East Lancashire Partnership to deliver the project. When completed it’s expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate investment of £60 million.

Building on the success of the fully occupied Greenbank Technology Park, Whitebirk will focus on high value-added industries with strong growth potential in an effort to drive up average salary levels in the East Lancashire Economic Development Zone (EDZ). Work on the scheme is expected to start in 2005 subject to planning approval.

Westlakes expansion Further expansion is underway at Westlakes Science Park to accelerate economic growth in Cumbria. The latest £6 million phase of development has been made possible by £1.9 million of funding support from the Northwest Development Agency and could more than double park employment to 1,500 within five years.

The money will be spent on servicing and landscaping another 21 hectares of land and extending the park’s ring road. Due for completion in April, the scheme will open up seven additional building plots, one of which will have its own helipad.

Three buildings with a total floor space of nearly 8,000 sq m (86,000 sq ft) are also under construction on the first phase of the expansion programme. One - Galemire Court - has been funded by the NWDA, the West Cumbria Development Fund and European money. The other two buildings are being developed by Priority Sites, the largest for BNFL. The latest scheme coincides with Westlakes Properties’ launch of a new broadband service to provide tenants with a high-speed Internet connection. The project is supported by the NWDA’s North West Broadband Fund.

A favoured location for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Westlakes is currently home to 30 companies employing 700.

“We want to be in a position to offer the NDA appropriate accommodation when they need it,” says Dr. Doug Millington, General Manager of Westlakes Properties.

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St Helens pilots US style regeneration Business and civic leaders in St Helens are rallying around an American-style, private sector-led, regeneration initiative that is set to radically reshape the economic, cultural and physical character of the town over the next decade.

Action to deliver the borough’s new City Growth vision is being built around a number of key projects including better business support programmes, live-work ‘graduate greenhouses’ to foster enterprise, developing a ‘Kew Gardens of the North’ attraction, and placing iconic glass sculptures on the M62 and M6 approaches.

The partnership initiative is based on a US model developed by Boston-based business guru Professor Michael Porter. It relies heavily on the notion that inner city areas can be successfully regenerated by focussing on their competitive economic advantages rather than their social disadvantages.

Andrew Smith, the businessman recruited to chair City Growth Strategy St Helens (CGS), runs two-family owned local companies, ST Group and PVC fabrication specialists Qualpas.

He says he gets approached every week to support various projects.

“With most of them I can’t spare the time to get involved. This one was different. When I was approached to lead the initiative in April 2002 immediately accepted.

“There were three big differences about City Growth that attracted me. It’s worked successfully in the United States, it’s supported at the highest levels of Government so there’s a real sense of purpose and direction about it, and the whole project has financial teeth.”

Thirteen of the 18 Board Members were drawn from the private sector, which, he believes, endowed it with a commercial awareness and dynamism noticeably absent from previous regeneration initiatives.

CGS is one of seven pilot schemes nationwide and is supported by the Small Business Service and the Northwest Development Agency.

With £650,000 of funding support from the Department of Trade and Industry and the EU Objective One programme, it outlines a ten-year vision for an economic and social renewal of the town.

The Board spent 18 months developing the strategy and St Helens Borough Council has since adopted it as the local authority’s economic development plan for the next 10 years. The partnership effort was also supported by St Helens Chamber of Commerce.

Launched at Haydock Park in November, CGS aims to realign employment and training needs towards those sectors with the best long-term growth prospects, foster an entrepreneurial culture, improve the physical appearance of the town, raise its profile and improve its image.

Increasing the town’s visitor appeal is a high priority. Proposals including a major horticultural attraction similar to Kew Gardens, development of Sherdley Park as a major outdoor events venue and a multi-purpose sports/leisure complex with conference and exhibition facilities that would be unique to the region.

Andrew Smith praises the commitment of Board Members to the initiative. “Often these things run out of steam when people realise how much work is involved but there were the same number at our final board meeting as there was at our first.”

For further information: www.citygrowthsthelens.com

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Royal Mills Monument to Manchester’s cotton history Heritage reborn Artist impression of the new development

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Developers have unveiled a £65 million scheme to rejuvenate Manchester’s Royal Mills complex as a prelude to a future UNESCO bid to have Ancoats, the world’s first industrial suburb, designated as a World Heritage Site.

The sensitive renovation of the former cotton mills by Dutch investment giant ING Real Estate is the first major private sector development for the proposed Ancoats Urban Village and is expected to encourage other property investment in the conservation zone.

The scheme will transform a run-down area of the city into a safe, sustainable 21st century community comprising 276 stylish apartments, business units, shops and leisure facilities which will link Manchester’s vibrant city centre with the pioneering regeneration of East Manchester.

The renaissance of one of the city’s most important heritage locations has been a Northwest Development Agency priority for three years. A mix of refurbishment and contemporary design, the ING development has been made possible by the Agency’s use Compulsory Purchase Order powers to acquire 200 properties and interests spread over nine hectares.

The NWDA recently announced it was putting £8.8 million into the project but its total investment in the Ancoats CPO is expected to reach £16 million. Full development of the complex will take 5-10 years and require an estimated £30 million of public sector investment.

“We are trying to bring about a rebirth of the Ancoats area by building on its historic industrial legacy to create an urban village environment,” explains NWDA Project Champion Nik Puttnam. Other developers will be invited shortly to submit new proposals for some of the cleared sites.

Covering a tenth of the Urban Village site, the four Royal Mills make up a unique architectural timeline of the most important 100

years of the Industrial Revolution. The surviving mill buildings are the last remaining examples of their kind and, together, they show each significant stage of mill development from 1818 to 1913.

Manchester-based industrial archaeologist Steve Little, who is advising ING on heritage matters, thinks the significance of the complex’s place in industrial history has not been recognised in recent years until now. “New life will be breathed into the buildings creating a modern-day version of the vibrant and internationally recognised community which lived there a century ago.”

ING’s scheme, which will complement the nearby Urban Splashled New Islington Millennium Village development, will incorporate a 20 sq metres atrium, built in the original central courtyard, and an elegant curved-glass roof specially designed to overarch the surrounding buildings so as to reflect natural light throughout the central areas of the complex.

Supported by Manchester City Council and the urban regeneration company New East Manchester Ltd, the flagship project is a vital component in the campaign to have the restored 10-mile long canal corridor between Ancoats, Castlefield and Worsley recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

ING Real Estate has built a strong track record for imaginative regeneration schemes including Liverpool’s Albert Dock. The project has been designed by FSP Architects and Planners and is scheduled for launch in early 2004. It will be sold through the agents Knight Frank.

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Oiling the wheels of industry In a bold move to keep the regional economy on the move the Northwest Development Agency is investing £3.2 million to establish an effective education and training infrastructure for the logistics industry.

Logistics College North West (LCNW) aims to plug a serious skills gap, widen career opportunities and improve competitiveness in a sector employing 141,000 and accounting for eight per cent of the region’s output. Shortages are most acute in the LGV and PCV driver categories.

Collectively, the six Further Education colleges delivering the affordable, bespoke, training programmes form the UK’s largest Centre of Vocational Excellence. The CoVE alliance is demand-driven and includes employers, unions and Government agencies.

Catherine Round, LCNW project manager, says the logistics industry has traditionally not engaged with the FE sector and this has led to an absence of accredited training. “We are addressing this by developing a suite of qualifications not just for drivers, but for supervisory and management staff where there is an identified skills gap.”

The College is opening five operational and technical training centres to tackle current skills shortages and future needs.

Offering good geographical cover, they will be run in partnership with long-established, high quality, private training providers.

One centre at West Cheshire College, Chester, for example, is providing forklift truck training, whilst another at Knowsley Community College on Merseyside is offering LGV and PCV training. Other institutions involved include City College, Manchester, St. Helens College, Runshaw College and Wigan and Leigh College.

Local employers are being asked to provide 500 new Modern Apprenticeship opportunities. The initiative is aimed at the unemployed, those wanting to resume careers in logistics, and those already employed.

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CoVEs are a key element of the Government’s plans to develop a flexible and responsive FE sector that is sharply focused on meeting the needs of employers.

The programme is well underway in the Northwest with 33 CoVE institutions already established out of a planned regional network of 55 by 2006. The centres provide enhanced specialist training and development across a range of traditional and new occupations from construction to new media design.

Successful applicants for CoVE status qualify for £500,000 funding support over three years from a national budget of £300 million.

Although the initiative is driven and delivered by the region’s Learning & Skills Councils, accreditation relies on the NWDA being satisfied that proposals provide a good ‘fit’ with the region’s economic, employment and skills strategies and the Agency-led cluster programme covering 16 target sectors.

Costing £3.7 million in total, the LCNW project is the biggest intervention in the CoVE programme so far and “reflects the requirements of the industry”, says Neil Wilton, the NWDA Skills Strategy Development Manager.

“Over the next 20 years the Omega development site at Warrington is expected to generate 40,000 jobs and logistics training will be a vital component in the site’s success because of the large number of traffic movements taking place there.”

The Agency plans to engage employers and prospective CoVE institutions in a series of roadshows in 2004 to explain the value of CoVEs and share best practice.

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Back to basics LGV trainees spend time in the classroom Learning curve Preparing for life on the road Widening access Training women to get logistics industry jobs

CoVE status raises performance Colleges and private training organisations with CoVE status are reporting increased support from employers, more people applying for courses, better attendance records and higher achievement levels since acquiring the coveted accreditation.

One successful company, Training 2000 Ltd, has seen its annual intake of engineering-related Modern Apprentices rise by 15 per cent to 120. Workforce development activity has increased by 20 per cent with NVQ performance enjoying a similar rise.

Owned by its 130 member firms, the non-profit making Blackburn-based organisation trains 1,500 Modern Apprentices over a four-year cycle across a range of occupations.

Training 2000 uses its CoVE facilities to deliver three types of training: a new vocational GCSE in engineering for 14-16 year-olds; Modern Apprenticeships in engineering manufacture and maintenance; and workforce development.

“Apprentices undergo their training in a disciplined work environment, clocking on and off and taking normal factory meal breaks,” explains CoVE Development Manager Andrew Garside.

The company is a training exemplar for the aerospace industries and works closely with BAE Systems and Rolls Royce, as well as companies such as Castle Cement, Johnson Matthey and Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

The £500,000 CoVE award money has allowed Training 2000 to forge a valuable partnership with SMC UK, the world’s largest provider of automation solutions.

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The NWDA is investing £2 million in two ‘Skills for Life’ projects to improve literacy and numeracy levels in the region. ‘Reach Out Northwest’ will provide support for people in hard to reach communities to take-up basic skills learning activities whilst the ‘Capacity Building Project’ aims to recruit and assist teachers and tutors to basic skills provision...

Building on the success of the 2002 Skills City event, the NWDA has agreed funding of £700,000 for a series of sub-regional, hands-on learning events on the ‘Festival of Skills’ theme. The events will focus on the skills and training required for a range of occupations from bricklaying to catering...

Training workshops are to be held across the region to improve the quality and efficiency of the construction industry. Delivered by the Centre for Construction Innovation (CCI) on behalf of the NWDA, the ‘Constructing Excellence’ seminars are designed to raise awareness of the industry and its importance to the local economy...

Using £4.5 million from the European Commission’s Innovative Actions Programme and money from its own budget, the NWDA has launched ‘NW Brain’, a groundbreaking ICT initiative to ensure that small companies and deprived communities have the right skills to access digital services...

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Winter launch for fasterWCML rail services Travellers on the West Coast Main Line - the UK’s main rail artery are being promised safer, faster and more reliable services between the North West and London when Virgin Trains launches its 2004 winter timetable.

Completion of major engineering work to modernise the route’s infrastructure and the full introduction of Virgin’s 53-strong fleet of Pendolino trains will mean a cut of nearly 30 minutes off journey times between Manchester and the capital, says the rail operator.

The increase in efficiency and capacity on the upgraded line is expected to have important benefits for the region’s economy. When the £8 billion modernisation programme is finished in 2007-08 there will be scope for 80 per cent more long distance trains. There will also capacity for 60-70 per cent more freight traffic taking 5,000 lorries a day off the M1 and M6.

The tilting Pendolinos are already in service from Manchester and Liverpool and will be phased in progressively on routes to Preston and Carlisle as more of the trains are delivered. The operator expects to have taken delivery of 40 of new nine-car trains, each of them costing £11 million, by early 2004.

Travellers on the West Coast route have had to suffer years of sub-standard services but Virgin Trains is promising a bright new era in rail travel from the autumn with the fastest Pendolino services cutting journey times between Manchester and London to 2 hours 4 minutes.

Chris Green, Chief Executive ofVirgin Trains, told railway professionals recently that the Pendolino fleet, in which the operator has invested £1.2 billion, would restore the WCML to its “rightful place as the UK’s premier railway both in quality and product and in public perception.”

Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line is the most complex railway construction project in Europe. It involves renewing 780 miles of track (out of a total of 1,660) and 585 miles of overhead line, replacing 1,120 points and rebuilding 30 bridges.

Network Rail has moved from ‘possession’ orders, where engineering work is done at weekends, to ‘blockades’ where the line is completely closed for a number of weeks as in the case of the stretch between Crewe and Cheadle Hulme, which will remain closed from January to May. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) - the Government-appointed body responsible for overseeing the operations of the national rail network -

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Pendolino enjoys limelight Richard Branson at train naming ceremony

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has carried out a review of the modernisation programme and in June 2003 set out revised plans for the route in a document entitled ‘Refreshing A Prime National Asset’.

It hopes the main elements of the upgrade will be completed in time for the introduction of 125 mph running by September 2004 and wants the route to be restored to “a sustainable condition” by the end of March 2006.

There will be more major renewal work in 2005 and between 2006-08 bringing about further reductions in journey times to and from London Euston. “The challenge now,” says the SR, “is delivery”.

The SRA blueprint indicates a Manchester journey time of 1 hr 57 minutes on the fastest peak services when the route upgrade is complete with further improvements rippling out to Liverpool (2hr 08 min), Preston (2hr 06 min) and Carlisle (3 hr 07 min).

The importance of the WCML to the Northwest economy was highlighted in the Regional Economic Strategy, and the new investment will bring welcome relief to local business groups, civic leaders and economic planners who have campaigned vigorously for a 21st century rail infrastructure.

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the Northwest Development Agency, which has a strategic responsibility for transport, is encouraged by progress on line modernisation. “We are now in sight of what the region’s business travellers need - high quality accommodation, faster services and most important of all, high levels of reliability.”

The Agency will be urging the SRA and the Government to continue the upgrade into Liverpool Lime Street as well as Piccadilly. Other significant issues also remain to be resolved on the route North of Preston including increased capacity to run local services in Cumbria.

For further information: www.virgin.com/trains www.networkrail.co.uk

Depart Manchester >> Arrive in London Euston in 1hr 57mins Depart Liverpool >> Arrive in London Euston in 2hr 08mins Depart Preston >> Arrive in London Euston in 2hr 06mins Depart Carlisle >> Arrive in London Euston in 3hr 07mins

New team players

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The Northwest Development Agency has moved to strengthen its senior executive management team with a number of key appointments aimed at providing new momentum to the Agency’s economic regeneration activities.

Two of the appointments, those of Alan Turley as Executive Director of Enterprise and Innovation, and Bernice Law as Executive Director of Operations, will bring new faces to the organisation. The third, that of Helen France, the new Executive Director of Development, is an internal appointment.

The appointments follow a review of the Agency’s management structure and are in line with a shift towards what Chief Executive Stephen Broomhead describes as “a less bureaucratic structure that is able to speedily deliver real change on the ground across England’s Northwest.”

Alan Turley joins the Agency with wide private and public sector experience. During his period as Head of Economic Development with Warrington Borough Council he established Warrington’s International Business Centre and was influential in the creation of the Omega Business Park, the UK’s largest. He has also enjoyed a successful retail management career.

Bernice Law has 28 years experience in local government having been Deputy Chief Executive of Warrington Borough Council and Acting Chief Executive since April 2003. She is also a Director of the Warrington Chamber of Commerce and a Board member of Warrington Collegiate Institute, Helen France takes on her new role after three years as the Agency’s Greater Manchester Area Manager.

She was Single Regeneration Budget Director at the Government Office North West until 1999 and continued that role following the programme’s transfer to the NWDA where she also assumed responsibility for rural regeneration and social inclusion.

They join a team already strengthened by the appointment of Chris Rogan as Director of the Alliance and Skills Productivity (ASP). He was formerly Director of Education Partnerships for BAE Systems and has over 20 years experience within the education and industry sectors.

Changes in the management structure have led to two appointments in the newly-formed Development and Partnerships Group. Caroline Simpson, previously Head of Northern Areas and Economic Inclusion at Advantage West Midlands, joins the Agency as Head of Partnerships, and Sue Henry becomes Head of Health and Social Inclusion after being seconded to the NWDA as Head of Health Policy.

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Board changes Two prominent figures from different ends of the business spectrum have joined the Agency’s Board. Chairman Bryan Gray said the appointments of former North West CBI Chairman Joe Dwek and union leader Dave McCall would maintain the ‘high quality’ of the Board.

Joe Dwek, who was awarded a CBE in 1997 for services to industry and the CBI, replaces Clive Jeanes who had responsibility on the NWDA Board for Manufacturing and Business Excellence.

He is a former Chairman of the Mersey Basin Campaign and was Chairman and Managing Director of Bodycote International plc, a world leader in the metallurgical field, until 1998.

Dave McCall joins the NWDA following the retirement of Alan Manning, Regional Director of the TUC, at the end of December. He has been Regional Secretary of the Transport & General Workers Union since 1996 and Chair of the North West TUC since 2002. He also serves on the Northwest Constitutional Convention.

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Alan Turley Executive Director of Enterprise & Innovation

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Bernice Law Executive Director of Operations

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Helen France Executive Director of Development & Partnerships

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Chris Rogan Director of the ASP

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News

Five Northwest councils have been categorised as ‘excellent’ in their delivery of public services in the Audit Commission’s 2003 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) exercise.

Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire and Wigan maintain their 2002 rating and have been joined by Bolton and Tameside. Eight councils are classified as ‘good’, five ‘fair’ and four ‘weak’...

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has launched a ‘Your Say’ campaign to raise awareness and spark debate about an elected regional assembly for the Northwest.

The campaign is supported by a website and promotional material. A consultation exercise will focus on campaign spending limits, the registration of permitted campaign groups and postal ballots...

Macclesfield-based Astra Zeneca and Caldy Grammar School have won major prizes in the UK Trade and Investment-sponsored National Languages for Export Awards 2003. Astra Zeneca won the Large Company award for its language and cultural training in Japanese and Swedish and Caldy Grammar School was honoured for its development of a Chinese curriculum...

Three giant offshore wind farm sites have been announced by the Energy Minister Stephens Timms in shallow waters off the Northwest coast. The sites at Walney, Gwynt y Mor and West Duddon will have a combined capacity of 1.7 GW...

Whitehall despatches Funding boost for recycling scheme An ambitious 25-year scheme by the Lancashire Waste Partnership to recycle and compost more of the county’s municipal waste has won Government funding of £75 million, the largest approval yet for a recycling waste project under the Public Finance Initiative.

Working with a private sector partner, Lancashire authorities aim to recycle and compost 56 per cent of the waste created and reduce the amount going into landfill to 17 per cent of the current total, thus avoiding the need to build any new incineration facilities.

Local councils produced almost 840,000 tonnes of municipal waste in 2001 and 2002 from a population of 1.4 million. New facilities funded by the investment will include central waste treatment plants, transfer stations and green composting facilities.

Pathways to better housing Deprived communities in Manchester and Salford affected by collapsing housing demand can look forward to a better living environment after the Government allocated the two cities £125 million from the Housing Market Renewal Fund. Manchester-Salford is the first of nine pathfinder projects to secure investment from the programme.

Pathfinder areas are characterised by falling property values and an exodus of economically active households, trapping those unable to move in spiralling decline.

Over the period to 2006 the two cities will use the money to repair and refurbish 13,400 homes, build 1,000 modern family homes and clear 1,700 redundant properties. The region’s other three pathfinders - in East Lancashire, Merseyside and Oldham-Rochdale - are currently drawing up their spending proposals.

Your chance to make a difference REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD MEMBER APPOINTMENTS 2 DAYS PER MONTH - £7,775 PER ANNUM England’s Regional Development Agencies are committed to transforming England’s regions through sustainable economic development.

The context for the Northwest Development Agency’s work is the revised Regional Economic Strategy formally launched in the region in March 2003. The Strategy addresses the issues that need to be tackled to continue to secure the sustainable growth of the Northwest economy under the following headings: Business Development; Urban and Rural Regeneration; Skills and Employment; Infrastructure and Image of the Region.

The Board is business led and Members have a real understanding of the region and its people as well as a passion to improve it. The Board draws on Members from diverse backgrounds but with specific, substantial experience in several key areas. To replace those Members retiring this year, the Board has vacancies for one local authority and three business appointments (one with additional rural experience).

To find out more about the opportunities, please visit www.nrgplc.com/dti-rda If you are unable to access the website please call 0191 260 4450.

Applications must be returned to NRG no later than Friday 9th April 2004.

Applications are particularly welcome from women, minority ethnic and disabled candidates who are under represented at this level in public life.

Event highlights

Mar 11

Mar 11

Manchester Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner Guest speaker spin guru Alistair Campbell Old Trafford, Manchester

Formula for Success Relaunch of the Northwest Chemicals Initiative Halton Stadium, Widnes

Mar 12-14

Mar 18

Mar 18

Mar 19-21

Labour Party Spring Conference Debate on regional government hosted by NW Constitutional Convention International Conference Centre, Manchester

CBI North West Dinner Main speaker Clive Mather, Chairman of Shell UK Le Meridien Palace Hotel, Manchester

Merseyside Property Gala Dinner Property professionals celebrate with thoughtprovoking entertainment Crowne Plaza, Liverpool

Liberal Democrats Spring Conference Regional government Yes and No campaigners argue their case Southport Theatre and Floral Hall

Mar 24

Mar 29

Mar 30-31

Mar 31-Apr 01

Northwest Automotive Alliance Partnership for Learning, Speke, Liverpool

Impact 04 Conference Promoting corporate responsibility Radisson SAS Hotel, Manchester Airport

Festival of Skills, Cumbria Hands-on skills event for young people Learning Theme Park, Junction 40, M6, Penrith

Festival of Skills, Lancashire Skills showcase for tomorrow’s workforce Myerscough College, Nr Preston

Apr 01-02

Apr 01-03

Apr 23

Apr 29

Cumbria Summit Charting a new economic future Keswick Theatre by the Lake

Martell Cognac Grand National Festival A 3-day festival of quality national hunt racing Aintree Racecourse and Visitor Centre, Liverpool

NW Business Environment Awards Premier event to celebrate environmental good practice Reebok Stadium, Bolton

Young Professionals Awards Accolades for tomorrow’s high-fliers The Lowry Hotel, Manchester

Other key events March

April

May

09 Words by the Water Literary Festival Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

09-11 World track Cycling Cup National Cycling Centre, Manchester

01-09 The Cumbria Food and Drink Festival Rheged, Penrith, and othervenues

20 TUC NWAnnual Delegate Conference Wigan Waterside Centre

30-May 09 Third Commonwealth Film Festival Cornerhouse & AMC Great Northern, Manchester

For further information: www.nwda.co.uk

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Viewpoint

A distinctive experience

While museums and the wider culture of a city are a great magnet for tourists, they must also reach out to their own people.

Loyd Grossman has a lifelong interest in museums and the historic environment.

He is currently Chair of the Cultural Consortium for England’s Northwest and Chairman designate of National Museums Liverpool. He is a former commissioner of the Museums and Galleries Commission and of English Heritage. Born in Boston, and educated at the London School of Economics, he began a career in journalism in London before moving to television where he devised, presented, wrote or produced programmes including Through The Keyhole, Masterchef, Loyd on Location and The History of British Sculpture.

And what’s fascinating about the Northwest is that it has the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool, relatively close together but so different in character. Each is a great metropolis, each has a spectacular built environment and I defy anyone to take a look at them and not be impressed.

Both cities are dynamic, they have powerful cultures and great museums, which reflect their development. In Manchester you would expect there to be a fantastic museum of science and industry - and there is. After just half an hour in there you gain an understanding of why Manchester is the way it is - it explains the city.

Liverpool is a great maritime city and in The Transatlantic Slavery Gallery in the Maritime Museum I learned more about the history of slavery than in my entire education in America. And the depth and quality of the collections in Liverpool’s museums reflect the city’s mercantile pre-eminence and sophistication.

While museums and the wider culture of a city are a great magnet for tourists, they must also reach out to their own people.

There are still many who think museums are for the educated middle-classes and we have to address the false perceptions.

After all the whole essence of museums is that they are for everyone. You do not need to enrol, to have any qualifications, to make an appointment - you can just walk in there.

We have also got to address the misconceptions of people outside the region. We want to make sure that people in the south-east, who are more likely to take a short break across the Channel than in the Northwest, know just what is on offer there.”

The Northwest Development Agency manages all operations from its Headquarters at: 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

In addition, there are five area offices for the implementation of local activities as follows:

Designed by Creative Lynx Partnership www.creativelynx.co.uk CL/02/9422GM

“When I told my student friends in London, soon after I arrived in Britain, that I was going to spend the weekend in Manchester and Liverpool, they simply thought I was crazy. But I wanted to look at all those buildings I’d read about since I was a kid. When I was only 11 or 12 I remember looking at a picture of Manchester Town Hall and thinking it was incredible.

In the mid-70s what surprised me most about Britain was the extent to which London overwhelmed all other major cities - they were definitely regarded as second-rate which was so different from America where there is tremendous civic pride almost everywhere.

Thank goodness that has changed. One of the most important and exciting changes in Britain is the revival of its regional cities which are now beginning to stand up for themselves.

I believe their future depends on their distinctiveness. In an age of globalisation, which in one sense means everything is the same everywhere - you cannot move without bumping into a Starbucks - people want to be inspired by a distinctive experience.

Greater Manchester Giants Basin Potato Wharf Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB Tel: +44 (0)161 817 7400 Fax: +44 (0)161 831 7051

Cumbria Gillan Way Penrith 40 Business Park Penrith Cumbria CA11 9BP Tel: +44 (0)1768 867 294 Fax: +44 (0)1768 895 477

Merseyside Station House Mercury Court Tithebarn Street Liverpool L2 2QP Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0)151 236 3731

Lancashire 13 Winckley Street Preston Lancashire PR1 2AA Tel: +44 (0)1772 206 000 Fax: +44 (0)1772 200 049

Cheshire Brew House Wilderspool Park Greenalls Avenue Warrington WA4 6HL Tel: +44 (0)1925 644 220 Fax: +44 (0)1925 644 222 Visit: www.nwda.co.uk & www.englandsnorthwest.com

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