Partner Article

Working together essential for the region

~~Working together essential for the region The recent UK Land Estates’ Sites for Growth Showcase showed how well public and private sectors work together which is essential for the future prosperity of the North East says Tim Evans, partner in charge, Knight Frank. It was a well-attended event with three key-note speakers delivering a blend of informative objectivity about the region coupled with true passion for the North East. The importance of inward investment was touched upon with the success of Nissan upper-most. Nissan is without doubt a massive contributor to the regional economy, the only UK region with a trade surplus balance of around £3bn. The Hitachi Rail Europe project, which is under construction on the Merchant Park development in Newton Aycliffe, will be a similar success. Sometimes the impression is that the region has just one very large inward investment success which reflects poorly on the countless successes with the region. If some in the North East don’t know what successes we have, how can the rest of the country? We have much to shout about and the Arch, the Northumberland Development Company, says much about this dynamic region citing, as evidence that this is a great place to do business, North American interests (Avery Dennison, Coca-Cola, Merck Sharpe and Dohme, PII Pipeline Solutions), Primal Healthcare from India, Egger from Austria and Dreager from Germany. Similarly the Make it in Sunderland campaign emphasises other core economic interests such as software, off-shore renewables, shipping and so forth. We also have some great regional business parks such as North Tyneside’s Quorum which has attracted inward investors such as Tesco Bank, Insure the Box, Aesica and Convergys. These strong businesses are now well-established in the region. Without question the North East is a great place for businesses with economic statistics to support. One of the keynote speakers, Mauricio Armellini, chief economist, NELEP, emphasised growth in productivity in the North East is faster than any other UK region with lower living costs and wages meaning someone earning £25,000 a year in the North East was better off than someone in the South East earning £35,000 pa. This is a much better as a place to do business, to employ people and be employed. With the launch of the NELEP’s property database we have certainly moved forward. But there remains the issue of clear regional branding. If, as suggested at the Showcase, the CBI and NECC work together with other parties to bring forward branding that reflects the genuine strengths of the region then we would be taking a massive step-forward in a highly competitive, global, market where foot-loose international businesses are looking for locations to establish themselves and access important markets. The North East is a great place to be an employer and an employee. This is backed up by facts and compelling statistics to out-perform on the inward investment stage. As the NECC puts it – there are 50 great reasons to do business in the North East. ends

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Knight Frank .