Move Commercial 27

MOVECOMMERCIAL

May-June 2012

The north-west’s guide to property and business Issue 27

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION CHESTER MANCHESTER

CANNES DO Record-breaking year

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MOVE COMMERCIAL4


Issue twenty-seven Move Commercial

Welcome to Move Commercial

Contents

38 22

Before the market took a turn for the worse severalregeneration projects begun across the region. Since thedownturn, many of them have come to a grinding halt. In thisissue we take a look at some of the biggest developmentprojects in the North West and update you on their progress.

We also turn the spotlight on the mayoral elections takingplace across the region in our Focus on elections and our

candidates’ Dinner Debate. We have interviews with Keppie Massie’s Andrew Byrne and

MediaCityUK’s Stephen Wild. SwimFin founder Kevin Moselytell us how he got started and David Swaffield of HillDickinson fills us in on the firm’s history.

As always we’ve also got all the biggest news from theNorth West business and property sectors.

move publishing ltdAdvertising DirectorFiona Barnet. Tel 0151 709 3871Account ManagerJo Tait. Tel 0151 709 3871Editorial TeamChristine Toner. Email: [email protected]: 0151 709 3871Kate Hanratty. Email: [email protected]: 0151 709 3871Jenna White. Email: [email protected]: 0151 709 3871

DesignerRob Whyte. Email: [email protected] by Move Publishing LtdDirectorsDavid O’Brien, Kim O’Brien, Fiona BarnetPrinted by Precision Colour Printers LtdDistribution Liaison ManagerBarbara TroughtonTel: 0151 733 5492 Mobile: 077148 14662CreditsKaty Mutch - Key Event

Copyright Move Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced copied or transmitted in any form orby any means or stored in any information storage or retrieval system without the publishers written permission.Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published, Move Publishing can accept no responsibility forthe veracity of the claims made by advertisers.

News06 Princes Trust building for

Hanover Street07 New plans for Chinatown08 Kier announced as

Siemens partner09 Port Sunlight attraction gets

funding go-ahead10 Venmore rebrands

commercial division13 Amenity building for Mere

Business Park15 Science Park named

enterprise zone16 Castle St refurbishment complete17 West Tower on the market

Features18 Mayoral election focus

What does having a mayor mean for a city?

20 AppointmentsWho’s moving where?

21 Bitesize ThinkingFood for thought

22 Rising StarMove Commercial meets Keppie Massie’s Andrew Byrne

24 Mover & ShakerMediaCityUK managing director

Stephen Wild on his international vision

28 Key EventProfessional Liverpool’s seventh annual Cannes Do

31 Regional UpdateA look at how some of the biggest projects in the region are progressing

36 EntrepreneurSwimFin founder Kevin Moseley talks to Move Commercial

38 Founding businessDavid Swaffield discussesHill Dickinson’s history

41 Dinner debateA group of Liverpool mayoral candidates discuss their plans for the city

46 Ask the PanelAre you more confident about business this year?

28

08

MOVE COMMERCIAL 5


News Latest

MORE THAN 25 companies andorganisations have joined forces tobuild a new state of the art youthcentre for The Prince’s Trust charity.

The keys to the new premises havebeen handed over to the Prince’s Trustfollowing an extensive £350,000refurbishment project. Therefurbishment saw companies workeither pro bono or at cost to transforma section of the former Rapid hardwarestore on Renshaw Street.

The new centre will allow ThePrince’s Trust’s ‘Fairbridge’ programmeto work with a greater number ofdisadvantaged young people to helpthem achieve their potential.

Jayne, Wilson manager of The Prince’sTrust Liverpool Centre, praised the‘incredible generosity’ of the companies.

“No praise is high enough for thecompanies who have ploughed somuch time, effort, energy and moneyinto the project to help us make thisdream a reality,” she said.

Liverpool One Estates Director ChrisBliss, who led the project, said:

“Everyone involved deserves hugecredit. However, it is very important tothank the team who undertook thelarger parts of the project. LandAidmust be commended for contributing£71,000 in cash and for involvingLiverpool One and Grosvenor Estates,which provided the premises andfunding. Aztec Interiors did amagnificent job as the main contractor.

“K2 acted as the architect, Toddand Ledson acted as the quantitysurveyors, Innov8 Safety Solutionsundertook the health and safetywork and Curtins Consulting actedas consulting engineers. Theinternational property companyGardiner & Theobald acted asproject managers and contractadministrator.”

Bruntwood sees LiverpoolPortfolio expandFAMILY-OWNED property companyBruntwood is continuing to expand itsLiverpool portfolio after securing fivelettings at three of its Liverpoolbuildings; Cotton Exchange, ExchangeCourt and Queens Insurance Building.

Law firm John Pickering & Partnershas relocated to Exchange Court on

Dale Street, expanding its occupationto 2,500 sq ft from another ofBruntwood’s buildings, 19 Castle Street.

Promotional specialist Access Pointhas signed a lease on a 1,980 sq ftsuite in the Grade II listed CottonExchange, its first office in the citycentre, with a view to growing their

staff base. Catherine Higgins Solicitorshas also expanded its offices to 1,300sq ft in the building.

Paintbox Art Media has expandedtheir offices to 1,400 sq ft in QueensInsurance Building after initiallytaking the space on a ‘try before youbuy’ basis.

In the same building, internetmarketing agency PH Creative hasextended its space by 200 sq ft.

David Seddon, head of sales forBruntwood, said: “We have seen agrowing trend in existing customerslooking for additional office space butnot wanting to move officescompletely. Given our flexible approachwe have been able to accommodatethe needs of our customers byexpanding their existing officeswithout needing to relocate. Securing anew customer, such as Access Point, isa fantastic letting for the building andtestament to the recently refurbishedreception and common parts.”

NEW PRINCE’S TRUST BUILDINGFOR RENSHAW STREET

SANTANDER has confirmed that it willlet the entire top floor of No.4 St Paul’sSquare Liverpool as a corporatebanking facility.

Sue Douthwaite, divisionalmanaging director of SantanderCorporate Banking said: “We havespent the past three years growingour corporate banking business in theregion and this move signifies thestrength of our businesses withinthe Merseyside region.”

Taking a ten-year lease, Santanderhas secured the 14,155 sq ft seventhfloor which totals 109,000 sq ft at aheadline rent of £20 per sq ft.

Darran Lawless, director of EnglishCities Fund, said: “The £34 milliondevelopment with its strikingarchitecture is the final phase of StPaul’s Square and has alreadyestablished itself as a world classbusiness location for Liverpool. Webelieve that this seal of approval froma major corporate will attract otherleading businesses to locate at No.4.

“The Liverpool office market is poisedfor some significant activity with anumber of very high profile largerequirements in the market. Theseinclude Barclays, Standard Chartered,Deutsche Bank and Direct Line. Withcompetitive rents we can offer a greatlocation and a fantastic landmarkbuilding, there is a real opportunity tobuild upon what is already a stronglocation. St Paul’s Square will continueto grow as one of the region’s leadingfinancial and professional centres.”

Santander is currently based acrossthe square in Bruntwood’s plaza.

ECF, a joint venture between Legal &General, Muse Developments and theHomes & Communities Agencycompleted the letting.

GVA advised ECF Santander wasadvised by CRBE.

Santanderconfirms StPaul’s move

Cotton Exchange,Bruntwood

St PaulsSquare

The Prince’s Trust charity

MOVE COMMERCIAL6


Latest News

New vision forChinatown unveiledAMBITIOUS plans for theregeneration of Liverpool’sChinatown have been unveiled.

There are plans for a trade centre,new restaurants, an Asian Pacificfood court, leisure facilities andspecialist accommodation forChinese students.

A 250,000 sq ft trade centrewould provide a shop window for upto 100 Chinese electronicsbusinesses looking to showcase theirgoods in the UK.

The development wouldcreate up to 500 new jobsand would create acommercial and leisuredestination on a currentlyderelict site on GreatGeorge St close to thecity’s magnificentChinese Arch.

The scheme is being ledby developers ShanghaiSquare Ltd and is fullyfunded. The companyhave consulted Chinesebusiness and communitygroups and now intend tohold a local publicconsultation event tostimulate wider debateabout the future ofChinatown.

Dr Lee Kai Hung of

Shanghai Square Ltd, said: “We havebeen working on these plans for 18months and we have a scheme webelieve is right for Chinatown andwhich is absolutely deliverable. Thereare still issues to be resolved aboutthe future of this site, but we thinkthe time is right to engage the publicand share with them a vision toregenerate Europe’s oldestChinatown.”

The Great George St site is

currently part of a developmentagreement between Liverpool CityCouncil and Urban Splash, but withSplash unable to fund or delivertheir original project.

Dr Lee Kai Hung added: “ Inaddition to the proposed publicexhibition in May Shanghai SquareLtd will be continuing to work withLiverpool City Council and UrbanSplash to find an agreed wayforward.”

GEC inLiverpool anoverwhelmingsuccess

advert strip. not sure the size yet?

THE MAIN summit day of the GlobalEntrepreneurship Congress held inLiverpool this month generated morethan £560k for the city’s economy,initial figures revealed.

It was the first time that the GECwas held in Europe and around 3,000international delegates from 125countries attended the summit at theACC Liverpool to hear from a highprofile cast of speakers including SirRichard Branson, Lord MichaelHeseltine, Martha Lane Fox and SirTerry Leahy.

The GEC was part of a wider week-long Festival of Entrepreneurship,that featured 80 events across thecity attracting many more visitors tothe city,

An online survey with delegatessince GEC has revealed that the mainday was regarded as “inspirational” andLiverpool is seen as an“entrepreneurial” city.

Max Steinberg, chief executive ofLiverpool Vision, who hosted the GECwith the Kauffman Foundation, said:“Liverpool’s GEC proved to be thelargest event of its kind ever to be heldanywhere in the world and it has beena resounding success. We have createda real legacy for the city while raisingthe bar for future GEC host cities.”

The figures are based on initialeconomic impact figures fromLiverpool Vision.

Chinatown CGI

MOVE COMMERCIAL 7


News Developments

PLANS FOR a £45 million renovation ofLiverpool’s Baltic/Cornhill area are beingsubmitted to the city council later thismonth.

The Baltic/Cornhill site is on Wapping,opposite the King’s Waterfront and nearto Liverpool ONE.

Under the proposed schemeapartments, a hotel and commercialspace will be created.

Plans by Windsor Developments todevelop the site in 2006 were haltedwhen the developer went intoliquidation and the site has beenmothballed ever since.

Steve Parry, managing director ofNeptune Developments, who put forwardthe planning application, said: “This is akey site in the heart of Liverpool and itsproximity to the Liverpool Echo Arena andConference Centre and Liverpool Onemake it a very attractive proposition. Weare working closely with the city counciland with local residents to ensure that

our proposals are absolutely right and welook forward to turning what is currentlyan eyesore into the final piece of thejigsaw for this vibrant area of Liverpool.”

There are proposals for four buildings onthe site. The first will contain 159apartments and 200 square metres ofleisure and retail space. The second will have42 apartments.The third andfourth will beoutlineapplications for a170 bed hotel anda building withuses as health,leisure, offices orresidential units.

Balfour Beattyhas been broughton board as thecontractor for thescheme,which isbeing designed

by Liverpool architect’s Falconer ChesterHall. The plans also include thecompletion of the underground car parkto create 330 spaces and the creation ofa pavement café plus other planting andlandscaping work. Subject to the planningprocess Neptune hopes to be on site asearly as summer this year.

Neptune submit plans for Baltic

A LOCAL holdings companyhas re-bought andrefurbished a property whichwas originally in its familybusiness in the 1970’s.

The Robert Smith Group(RSG), a Liverpool basedfamily company, regainedcontrol of the 265,000*square feet warehousesituated between SandhillsLane and Derby Road inLiverpool.

Christopher Smith, directorat RSG, said: “21 SandhillsLane has been in thebusiness since my Fatheroversaw its construction as asteel stocking warehouse inthe 1970’s. To revitalise thepremises and offer it back tothe market is an excitingprospect and to see aproperty be transformed intoa modern useable space ispivotal for our business goingforward.”

The firm has also openedthe premises up to roadsidetrade to take full advantageof its prominent position -just a mile outside LiverpoolCity Centre.

Roy Backhouse, lettingagent from Roy Backhouse &Company said: “The primelocation of the building andbeing situated in a hub ofnational brands makes this avery exciting space to bringto the market.”

SIEMENS has selected Kier Propertyas its development partner for thefuture of its prime 20-acre PrincessRoad site in south Manchester.

Siemens employs 800 staff on thesite and has plans to increase thisto 1,200 people in three years viathe development of offshore windpower transmission technologies.

Siemens and Manchester CityCouncil, working with Kier, will nowbring forward a mixed-use schemeprimarily for commercial use.

The investment and job creationis due to national and internationalinvestments in greeninfrastructure.

The scheme will include a new

100,000sq ft office building for useby Siemens while the in situ SirWilliam Siemens House will berefurbished. The balance of the sitewill be developed in phases toprovide new office, hotel andresidential accommodation.

Siemens and Manchester CityCouncil have secured RegionalGrowth Fund support to aiddelivery of the wider developmentand work will now proceed toagree arrangements to bring thescheme forward.

Juergen Maier, managing directorof Siemens Industry in the UK &Ireland, said: “We have selected Kierto support our plans to develop thesite into a centre for sustainabletechnology and innovation tosupport the city's low carbon vision.The development will create a realfocal point and also help in attractingnew business and engineering skillsto the north-west."

The scheme is subject to theboard approval of Siemens AG.

Firm re-buysformerpremises

Kier announced asSiemens partner

The Baltic site

Sandhills warehouse

Siemens

MOVE COMMERCIAL8


Developments News

A LANDMARK building in Liverpoolis set to become a city centre hotel,as part of a £12m scheme.

Planning permission has beengranted to Ashall Property for theconversion of the Royal InsuranceBuilding on North John Street.

The scheme, designed byLiverpool architects FalconerChester Hall, will see the Grade 2listed property become a 116-bedhotel with a ground floor restaurantand bar.

The property has been disused forsome time and on the nationalBuildings at Risk register.

Roger Williams of Ashall Propertysaid: “To bring back to life this iconicLiverpool building will require carefuland well co-ordinated constructionworks. FCH have designed a schemefitting of the building’s history and

we are delighted to be thedeveloper of this superb buildingwhich will provide a top qualityniche hotel and meeting destinationfor the city.”

Adam Hall, managing director ofFalconer Chester Hall, said: “This is aproject which we were extremelypleased to be asked to work on.

“We were aware of the buildingand its history, and we knew thatany proposals needed to satisfy thedemands of its location within aconservation area.

“Our aim has always been toproduce a scheme that restores thebuilding’s status as a property ofwhich the city can be rightly proud.”

Work on the conversion isexpected to start in December2012 with completion aroundDecember 2013.

Go-ahead given for RoyalInsurance building conversion

Royal Insurance Building CGI

Grosvenor addssome sparkle toits Bling GROSVENOR’S iconic BlingBuilding has benefited from asignificant refurbishment andredesign of its entrance andcommunal areas.

The refurbishment, whichincludes new signage, lighting,flooring and interior design, isset to attract interest frombusinesses looking forfashionable and well-presentedcommercial office space in aprime location.

The building, located at 69Hanover Street, comprises amixture of retail and officeaccommodation over basement,ground and five upper floors.

The remaining available spaceis located on the 3rd (2420sqft)

and 4th floors (2194sqft) andprovides open plan officeaccommodation that benefitsfrom LG3 lighting, raised accessfloors, gas central heating as wellas private male and female WCs.

The building’s basement,ground, first and second floorsare already being used as a mixof retail, beauty salon, leisure,education and office uses.Herbert's Hairdressing Salon &School occupies the 1st, 2nd and5th floors and the 1400 sq ftretail space on the ground floor isnow also under offer.

Lettings on the site are beingmanaged by Paul Thorne ofMason Owen who can becontacted on 0151 242 3000.

WORKING onthe new PortSunlight RiverPark attractionis set to beginfollowing a£2.2 millioncash injection.

The funding,from the

Newlands programme, will helpcreate a community woodland onthe ex-Bromborough landfill siteover the next three years.

Lionel Bolland, Chief Executiveof Port Sunlight Village Trust said:“This is a great boost to our visitoreconomy and should mean morepeople visiting the area and thusmore jobs for the surroundingneighbourhood. It is mostwelcome news.”

The 28-hectare site offersvisitors direct access to the RiverMersey with stunning views acrossthe river to the Liverpool

waterfront and the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.

Plans include taking advantageof the site’s existing 37-metremound to create a new greenvisitor attraction.

Cllr Jeff Green, leader of WirralCouncil said: “This is fantasticnews for Wirral as we can turn aneyesore into a touristattraction. This funding willenable us to really move thisproject forward and begin to openup the waterfront to the localcommunity and visitors.”

Euan Hall, chief executive of theLand Trust said: “The creation ofthis new park will benefit not onlythe local community throughhealth, education and socialcohesion but also the regionthrough tourism, creating acatalyst for economic uplift. Creditneeds to go to all the partners whohave pushed to make this areality.”

Funding confirmed forPort Sunlight attraction

Cllr JeffGreen

MOVE COMMERCIAL 9


News Commercial

MERSEYSIDE businesses have comethrough any concerns over a doubledip recession according to the latestChamber of Commerce survey.

Brian McCann, a board member atLiverpool Chamber and partner in MCVanguard Corporate Finance said: "Thesurvey for the first quarter of 2012shows a significant improvement inorders and in export sales in both theservice and manufacturing sectors."

Over 300 businesses responded tothe survey, which found morecompanies are recruiting than arereducing staff.

There has also been a positiveimpact on business confidence withthe majority of companies nowexpecting growth in both sales andprofits in the coming quarter.

Brian continued: "However, cash flowremains a major concern for mostbusinesses with little sign of anysignificant improvement. The Chamberwill continue to lobby both thegovernment and the banks to turn thesteady stream of policyannouncements on business financeinto real action quickly so as to ensurethat lack of access to finance does not

derail the recovery.”"In responding to the survey, a

number of members highlightedincreases in business rates, employersNIC and uncertainty over levels ofenvironmental subsidies as potentialbarriers to the recovery.

"That underlines the need to supportand foster growth and investment bycompanies to ensure that theincreases we have seen in the firstquarter continue."

Encouraging signs fromLiverpool businesses

REGENERATION LIVERPOOL isto develop at least five new sitesacross the city.

The partnership between LiverpoolCity Council and regenerationspecialist Stigma InpartnershipLimited has already delivered 115new homes in Norris Green.

The five new areas earmarked forthe major regeneration project arethe Stonebridge Crossdevelopment, Gateacre formercomprehensive school site, Lime

Street/Renshaw Street/KnowledgeQuarter, Edge Hill District Centreand Lodge Lane baths site.

Stonebridge Cross will comprise60 acres of land and will provide anew secondary school, a healthcentre, 600 new homes and retailfacilities with a major food store.Gateacre former comprehensiveschool site will be developed toaccommodate around 200 newfamily homes.

Liverpool City Council Leader,Councillor Joe Anderson, said: “Insuch difficult economic times, wehave to find imaginative ways ofworking with partners.Regeneration Liverpool is a reallyeffective way of doing this, bringingtogether the best of the public andprivate sector and creating reallyexciting opportunities for our city.

“The development of these five keysites is fantastic news for Liverpool,and proof that by strengthening thisinnovative partnership, we areleaving ourselves better equipped todeliver vital regeneration schemes,attract investment and createthousands of jobs.”

Regeneration Liverpoolto develop five more sites

MERSEYSIDE estate agent, Venmorehas enlisted North West commercialproperty specialist Malcolm Irving tohead up its new commercial division,Venmore, Farnham & Lea.

With over 35 years of experience inthe sector, Malcolm Irving will join theexpanding team as head ofcommercial, adding his professionalexpertise in dealing with investors,developers, landlords and tenants.

Malcolm has a strong track record inproviding full consulting servicesacross all commercial sectors and willimmediately introduce rent review,lease advisory and professionalservices skills to the team.

Malcolm said: “I am looking forwardfor the opportunity to develop thecommercial arm of the Venmore group.While it is a challenging time in thecommercial market, it is also animportant time for owner investorsand occupiers to ensure that theirproperty investments are producingoptimal return.”

VENMORE RELAUNCHES COMMERCIAL DIVISION

BrianMcCann

JoeAnderson

Paul Lea, Malcolm Irving and Rob Farnham

MOVE COMMERCIAL10


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PLANNING CONSENT has beengiven for an onsite amenitybuilding at Lingley Mere BusinessPark in Warrington.

The new facility, a joint venturebetween Muse Developments andUnited Utilities will be situated inthe centre of the developmentbetween the park’s two lakescovering 7,500 sq ft.

The amenity building will offerhot and cold food, a Costa coffeeshop, an ATM and meeting spacewith WiFi.

Wes Erlam, senior developmentsurveyor at Muse Developments,said: “Lingley Mere has a well-established business community,which has grown significantly inrecent years. As part of acomprehensive master plan, weintend to develop the park furtherby enhancing the excellent rangeof amenities that already exist atLingley Mere.”

Muse Developments and UnitedUtilities are currently in positivediscussions with a potential

occupier for the amenity buildingand hope to start on site in theautumn of 2012.

Wes added: “Achieving the greenlight on the amenity buildingmarks another positive stepforward in the latest phase ofdevelopment. In the next 12months, the joint venturepartnership – which has been inplace since 2004 – is focused onattracting high quality businessesto the park by delivering bespokeoffice accommodation tomeet the needs of arange ofoccupiers.”

Commercial News

Amenity building for MereBusiness Park

RESTORATION at The FlorenceInstitute in Toxteth has beencompleted after two years ofpainstaking work.

Bootle Glass, Bankhall Street,has been working closely withbuilding and restorationcontractors William Anelay tocomplete all of the glazing on theproject.

The FENSA registered glazingfirm fitted leaded lights, fire glassand etched glass designs withinthe building.

The Grade ll listed building,known as The Florrie, was thefirst building in Great Britain to beconstructed specifically as a boysyouth club. It is now home to avariety of facilities including

exhibitions, an auditorium and alibrary.

Bootle glass has beenestablished for over 25 years andin 2009 moved to its largerpremises allowing it to move intothe manufacturing side of theindustry.

Sharon Clarke, director of BootleGlass, said: “We feel veryprivileged to be involved in therestoration of such a beautifulbuilding with so much history. Thebuilding is such an integral part ofthe community, bringing togetherall generations. It has beenrestored back to its former gloryand is an excellent example ofrestoration work at its best.”

Convenience store forPrinces DockA NEW convenience store hasopened at Peel’s Princes Dockdevelopment in Liverpool.

The new store, which will becalled ‘Princes Dock Newsagent andConvenience Store’, will occupy1,163 sq.ft.

The store, located on the groundfloor of the multi-storey car park,opened on March 26 and is thelatest addition to a range ofamenities already based at PrincesDock, which include bars,restaurants, a children’s nursery,coffee shop/deli, gym and hotels.

At Princes Dock Newsagent andConvenience Store customers willbe able to purchase newspapers,essential groceries, fresh and frozenproduce and play the Nationallottery on site.

Mohamed Abdo, owner of the store,

said: “Princes Dock is an excellentlocation for us to open a conveniencestore, the number of people based onsite as well as the number of visitorsto the development each yearpresents us with an excellentopportunity to do business here”.

Bootle Glass completesFlorrie work

Wes Erlam

Princes Dock

MOVE COMMERCIAL 13


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MOVE COMMERCIAL14


Commercial News

A SCIENCE PARK, which could create upto 1,000 new jobs in the Merseyside andCheshire area by 2015, has officially beennamed an enterprise zone.

Daresbury Science and InnovationCampus (DSIC) has been granted thestatus by the government following apledge in the 2011 Budget to revive a

flagship policy of Margaret Thatcher'stenure in the 1980s.

Enterprise zones were originally focusedon rejuvenating run down areas. Its newincarnation provides a remit to reusefinance and pay reduced business rates.

Businesses currently based at DSIC, ormoving to it before April 2015, could beeligible for 100 per cent business ratesrelief for up to five years.

John Leake, DSIC business developmentmanager, said: “We are delighted to beembarking on this new period. EZ statuswill have widespread benefits for thecompanies based at the campus and willno doubt be a catalyst for further growthand investment.

“The new status will accelerate theprogression of the campus significantlyand allow us to pursue our vision todevelop a technology village which willprovide specialist science and technologyroles for more than 15,000 people.”

Enterprise zone launches

LIVERPOOL wealthmanagement firm Wilcocks &Associates is helping propertyand land investors capataliseon credit-crunchopportunities.

Brothers Martin and RobertWilcocks have providedcorporate advice to anoffshore client in securing anoption on a plot of land in theNorth East.

The plot, which was recentlygranted planning for a retailuse, has an estimated grossdomestic value of £15 milliondepending on the tenantsthat are secured. Prospectivetenant discussions areongoing, whilst severalproperty funds haveexpressed an interest inpurchasing the developmentoutright and joint ventures todevelop out.

The planning permission willallow the construction of atwo-storey building set inlandscaped grounds. Therewill also be 186 parkingspaces and it is estimatedwork on the site may begin asearly as August 2012.

What’s unique about thearrangement is that, throughthe use of niche financialproducts, profits from bothplanning and developmentgains are free from capitalgains tax, which is currently28%.

Robert Wilcocks, partner,says: “This is relevant for anyproperty or land investor.What we have is a uniquerange of products that are ofenormous interest to thosewho are actively involved inproperty and landdevelopment, and wheresignificant gains can beexpected.

Furthermore, profits are ableto be extracted tax efficientlyover the short term.”

LIVERPOOL’S cruise season,which is expected to generate morethan £6 million for the city’seconomy, set sail on April 12 withthe arrival of Fred Olsen’s largestand newest cruise ship Balmoral.

The arrival of the vessel, carryingaround 1,300 tourists, heralds thestart of one of Liverpool’s biggestever cruise seasons.

A total of 19 liners and apotential 30,000 passengers willpass through the city over the nextfive months.

Councillor Wendy Simon,Liverpool City Council’s cabinetmember for culture and tourism,said: “Liverpool’s cruise offercontinues to go from strength tostrength, with our fantastic cruisefacility enabling us to welcomesome of the world’s mostimpressive liners to our city.

“This year’s cruise season is set

to be one of the best yet, withvessels from all over the worldbringing tens of thousands ofvisitors to enjoy our many visitorattractions, bars and restaurants.

“It’s bringing a huge boost to oureconomy, and helping cement ourposition as a first-class touristdestination.”

Sailing into Liverpool for the restof the 2012 cruise season are:

17 May: Vision of the Seas, 30May: Caribbean Princess, 11 June:Caribbean Princess, 16 June: AidaCara, 22 June: Arcadia, 3 July:Saga Sapphire, 12 July: CaribbeanPrincess, 20 July: Prisendam, 28July: Quest for Adventure, 3August: Queen Elizabeth, 8August: Astor, 9 August CaribbeanPrincess, 10 August Adonia, 17August Prisendam, 20 AugustAida Cara, 14 SeptemberAlbatross.

Wilcocksadvises on£15mscheme

Cruise season togenerate £6m

CllrWendySimon

Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus

MOVE COMMERCIAL 15


News Sales & Lettings

A £500,000 project to refurbish aGrade II listed Liverpool city centrebuilding has been completed.

Kilpatrick Property Group hasfinished an extensive rollingprogramme of works at 10-18Castle Street after acquiring theproperty in 2008.

Alasdair Irvine, acquisitionsdirector at the Kilpatrick PropertyGroup, said: “We have been delightedby the work carried out by Wirralbased interiors specialists Crave IDon the common areas and atriumthat really set the building apart.”

FRD Risk Solutions has alreadytaken a suite and the property groupbelieve their approach in offering`virtual’ freeholds has worked well.

“Where we have been successful isin selling units on long leases of 250years which is something that isn’tcommon in the Liverpool office

market.” “The unit sizes have also proved

attractive and we believe that willcontinue to be the case with theaccommodation we are currentlymarketing in what is an exceptionallocation at the heart of the city’sbusiness district.” added AlasdairIrvine.

The office accommodationcurrently available includes a groundfloor rear suite of 1,900 sq ft, and asecond floor refurbished suite of1,750 sq ft and a third floor suite of1,000 sq ft.

This work has involvedinfrastructure improvements on thestonework and windows to maintainthe building’s historic integrity,improvements to the buildingsfacilities, and also adding a nodtowards modern trends in commonareas.

Castle St refurbishment complete

COMMERCIAL property agencywill market new homes at theformer Walton Hospital site.

Hitchcock Wright & Partners havebeen appointed to sell the almost 12acres of land near the formerWalton Hospital with planningconsent for 137 new homes.

Nick Harrop, Partner atHitchcock Wright & Partners said:“This is a fantastic residentialopportunity in a very popularlocation. As well as the site beingclose to a wide range of shoppingand leisure facilities, there are anumber of excellent primary and

secondary schools in the area. The site’s disposal has coincided

with the demolition of the lastelement of the former WaltonHospital, which wasn’t anattractive building. With the NHSdue to start construction of a newattractive low rise building this

summer the timing couldn’t bebetter and we have had a goodlevel of interest from developers.”

Phase one of the developmentwas completed in 2004 andincluded the conversation of theformer nurses’ buildings and theconstruction of 18 new homesincluding new build semi-detached houses and convertedcharacter buildings.

The site is split into two distinctareas which are separated by thesite where work is due to start onthe construction of a new NHSfacility, which will serve Waltonand the surrounding areas.

The smaller area of the sitemeasures around 5 acres and thelarger 6 acres. Detailed planningpermission was granted for theresidential site in March 2002.

Hitchcock Wright tomarket Walton Hospital

Castle Street

Walton CGI

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LIVERPOOL’S tallest building,West Tower, has been formallyplaced up for sale with an askingprice of £12.5million.

The administrators, Les Ross andMartin Ellis of UK accountancy firmGrant Thornton have appointed thereal estate specialists Jones LangLaSalle to oversee the disposal ofthe 40-floor waterfront building.

West Tower Liverpool Limitedand Mapfield Properties Limited,the two companies that togethercontrolled the building were placedinto administration on 31 January2011. They were part of theBeetham organisation.

There had been a delay inbringing West Tower to market asan issue with Liverpool CityCouncil concerning landunderneath an overhang of thetower needed to be resolved. Anagreement has now been reached inrespect of this oversail issue but theterms of the settlement have notbeen disclosed.

West Tower has 123 apartments,106 of which are unsold, andmainly let to tenants. Theremaining 17 properties areowner-occupied. The unsoldapartments consist of 104 two-

bedroom apartments, plus twothree-bedroomed penthouses.

West Tower also includes12,500sqft of commercial space onthe lower four floors and theprestigious Panoramic restaurant,on the 34th floor, which was notaffected by the administration as itis run by a separate company. Ithas continued to trade normallythroughout.

Martyn Green, director of JonesLang LaSalle in Liverpool said:“West Tower is a landmarkbuilding and has attracted a greatdeal of interest from privateinvestors and institutions. Wealready have firm enquiries, nodoubt driven by the quality of thebuilding, its unrivalled location andthat fact it is almost fully occupied.”

Joint administrator Les Rosssaid: “West Tower was hit by thefall in property prices since thebuilding was completed in 2008,and that the companies behind itstruggled to meet their bankborrowing requirements. We’repleased to have reached the pointwhere it’s available for sale andbelieve its quality and location willmake it an attractive propositionfor the market.”

Sales & Lettings News

West Tower on the market

New lettings at Burlington HouseOFFICES in north Liverpoolcontinue to prove popular forfamily-owned commercial propertycompany Bruntwood after itsecured two new lettings inBurlington House.

Oakdale Insolvency and Voice

Engineer Dot Com have takenspace in the building pushingoccupancy to over 75%.

Insolvency service providersOakdale Insolvency has signed athree-year lease for a 700 sq ftoffice space in the building located

on Crosby Road. Unified communications

specialists Voice Engineer Dot Comhas also taken a 650 sq ft suite ona five-year lease following acompany expansion.

David Seddon, head of sales atBruntwood,said: “Ournorth Liverpooloffices continueto be popularwith companieslooking for highquality, wellconnectedoffice space atcompetitiverates. We haveinvested solidlyin the buildingsince acquiring

it over 20 years ago including arecent refurbishment of thereception and various offices.

“This, coupled with rent freeincentives and lease flexibility, isproducing a surge in companiesinterested in the north Liverpooloffices we have available.”

Alen Roberts, managing directorat Voice Engineer Dot Com, said:“We knew we would require alarger office when we took on newstaff earlier this year. As we have totravel to reach our clients, we feltBurlington House is ideally locatedclose to both Liverpool city centreand the rest of the North West.

“Our new office is perfect as itprovides excellent value you expectfrom space outside of a city centrewhilst being of a highspecification.”

Burlington House

West Tower

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With just days left before the people of Liverpool andSalford take to the polling stations to vote for their firstever elected mayors we take a look at how the new rulewill work, who else has it and what it means for cities.

By Christine [email protected]

hink city mayor and whatcomes to mind? Boris? Ken?Understandably mostpeople associate directly

elected mayors with London. That’sbecause while the capital has had adirectly elected mayor since 2000,most other cities operate on a ‘leaderand cabinet’ model whereby theleader of the council – andsubsequently the city – is elected byother councillors.

However, since 2000 – and theintroduction of the Local GovernmentAct 2000 – all cities have had theoption of having a directly electedmayor. As a result there are currently14 elected mayors across the UK,situated in Bedford, Doncaster,Hackney, Hartlepool, Leicester,Lewisham, Mansfield, Middlesbrough,Newham, North Tyneside, Torbay,Tower Hamlets, Watford and, ofcourse, London.

In May 2010, the coalitiongovernment claimed it wascommitted to creating electedmayors in 12 of the biggest citiesoutside London.

As such it was announced thatreferendums would be held inLiverpool, Salford, Birmingham,Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds,Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne,Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield

in order for the people to decide ifthey wanted an elected mayor or not.

Salford held a referendum onJanuary 27 this year and the peoplevoted in favour of a mayoral system.

In Liverpool however, in anextraordinary council meeting it wasdecided that on May 3, as voters inten other UK cities take part in areferendum to decide whether theywant a city mayor, the people ofLiverpool will be instead be choosingwho they want to fill the position.

Council members voted 63 to threein favour of skipping a referendumand head straight into a mayoralsystem.

Should the referendums in theother ten cities result in a move to amayoral system, elections will takeplace from 15 November

THE ROLE OF THE MAYORElected mayors are responsible forthe day-to-day running of localservices. According to thegovernment their duty is “to providepolitical leadership to the council andthe community, and carry out thelocal authority's policies. ”The mayorwill be elected for a period of fouryears. He or she will appoint aCabinet (also called the “Executive”)of two or more councillors.

There will still be councillors and

leaders of each of the politicalgroups however the role of leader ofthe council would no longer exist.Councillors will still carry out theircommunity roles, representing theirconstituents and undertakingcasework.

Councillors will also be responsiblefor scrutinising the decisions of themayor in a similar way to the currentLeader and Cabinet system.

The role of the Lord Mayor remainsceremonial.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE CITY? According to cities minister GregClark the move will allow cities toretain their individuality.

“It is self evident that each of ourcities is distinct and unique. Bristoland Newcastle, Manchester andLeicester, they all have differentambitions, different assets,” he says.“No team of ministers or officials inLondon - no matter how bright orwell-intentioned - can devise one setof solutions that fit these verydifferent circumstances. To achievetheir ambitions, to fulfill theirpotential, cities need to take chargeof their own destinies. The drivemust come from within, not without.”

As such Clark and the coalitionpromised that where it could see

T

Mayoral powerOn May 3rdvoters inLiverpool andSalford willelect a mayorfor the firsttime in history.

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Directly elected mayors Focus

SALFORD CANDIDATESMichael Felse - English Democrats

Karen Garrido - Conservative Party

Bernard Gill - UKIP

Paul Massey - Independent

Michael Moulding -

Community Action Party

Joe O’Neill - Green Party

Eddy O’Sullivan -

British National Party

Norman Owen - Liberal Democrats

Ian Stewart - Labour Party

Pat Ward - Independent

LIVERPOOL CANDIDATESJoe Anderson - Labour

Richard Kemp - Liberal Democrat

Tony Caldeira - Conservative

Adam Heatherington - UKIP

John Coyne - Green Party

Steve Radford - Liberal Party

Tony Mulhearn - The Trade Union

and Socialist Party

Mike Whitby - British National Party

Peter Tierney - National Front

Liam Fogarty - Independent

Jeff Berman - Independent

THE CANDIDATES

strong leadership, complemented byclear accountability to local people,central Government was “ready tohelp cities do things their way”.

“Our great cities should not be runas branch offices of centralGovernment,” said Clark. “This may turnthe established order on its head, butit's time that Whitehall knew its place.”

Cities that opt for an elected mayormay be offered city deals includingnew funding powers to commissiontransport and infrastructure, or forapprenticeships and skills

According to Liverpool City councilthe vote followed the negotiation ofa new “city deal” with centralgovernment that will see newpowers devolved to the city and the

creation of a single investment fundof new and existing public andprivate money, initially worth £130million but with the potential togrow to £500m - £1 billion.

The initial fund will include £75million of new money from centralgovernment.

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Appointments

Hitchcock Wright announce newpartner by promotion

Liverpool commercial propertyagency, Hitchcock Wright &Partners has promoted retailspecialist Matt Kerrigan fromassociate to salaried partner in thefirm's Liverpool office.

Kerrigan joined the firm inSeptember 2004 as a graduatesurveyor, progressing to AssociatePartner in May 2010.

Matt, said: “Having worked andcontributed to many significantprojects since I began at HitchcockWright & Partners, I am excited toput my hard work and skills topractice and continue my career insuch a leading and well recognisedfirm in the North West.”

New Appointment at Kingsley AssociatesKingsley Associates, the property,construction, legal and businesssupport recruitment consultancy, hasexpanded their property andconstruction team with theappointment of Neil Massie.

Neil, who has worked in recruitmentsince 2000, said: “When theopportunity arose to be working forKingsley Associates, coveringpredominantly the North WestConstruction Market, it was not adifficult decision.

“There is a strong synergy betweenall of the teams here, and the futureis looking increasingly positive as wetake the business forward.”

DTZ announce ManchesterpromotionReal estate advisers DTZ haveannounced a number ofpromotions in the UK.

In DTZ’s Manchester office,Richard Farrall has been promotedto associate director level in thehuman resources team andHoward Hill has been promoted tosenior surveyor in the propertymanagement team.

Mike Mitchell, regionalmanaging director, said: “Ournewly promoted associatedirectors and senior surveyorshave demonstrated considerableprofessionalism and commitmentto their role, and to the company.”

DTZ is part of UGL Services adivision of UGL limited.

Hill Dickinson recruits Cobbettspartner to its ManchesterCorporate teamCommercial law firm Hill DickinsonLLP has bolstered its corporate teamwith the appointment of Ian Riggsas a partner in the Manchesteroffice.

Ian will be involved in both publicand private corporate finance work,bringing his specialism in corporatetransactional work andreorganisations to the firm.

Ian, said: “Hill Dickinson’s corporateteam is well respected in the NorthWest and I am looking forward toworking with Ian Gillis and the teamto enhance Hill Dickinson’s corporateoffering in Manchester and thewider region.”

Howard.Hill

MattKerriga

n

NeilMassie

Ian Riggs


Move Commercial Bitesize thinking

If only I’d known….

ROB FARNHAM

‘Going forward’BuzzwordMeaning:Remember the time when youcould explain what your planswere without having to makesure people knew you weretalking about the future, ratherthan planning retrospectively? Itseems nowadays too many peopleare unsure about whether tasksand ideas are to be put in placefrom now on or whether they aresomehow supposed to beimplemented in the past.Thankfully to solve this littleconundrum there is a handy littlephrase – “going forward”.

Indeed, no presentation orbusiness plan is completewithout the speaker or writerassuring the listener or readerthese are ideas are to beimplemented “going forward”. Intruth it’s a totally pointlessphrase that doesn’t actually addanything to a sentence. Forexample, “We need to be moreproductive, going forward” wouldconvey exactly the same messagewithout those last two words. So,business people of the world, let’stry and drop the “goingforward”ahem, going forward.

Liverpool's Sea Odyssey is expected to generate a £12m boost tothe city’s economy. At least 250,000 people attended the city’sbiggest outdoor event and advance hotel bookings for April 20-22increased by 12% compared to the same weekend last year. The costof the event was around £1.5 million with £400,000 representingLiverpool’s last tranche of Capital of Culture legacy funding.

£12mVitalstatistics

When starting our business on day one, the key driver for setting up our highstreet chain of estate agents was on location and not the deal. We were sokeen on location and so eager to grow, we undervalued ourselves as a tenant.The upside is that it has given us a valuable insight into spending more timequalifying would be tenant’s, fully understanding their business model, lifeexperience and funding and presenting a very balanced view when advising ourcommercial landlords on suitability.

Whilst it’s tarnished by the continuingslow economic recovery, I believe themarket will continue to see yieldsbecome more polarised betweenprimary and secondary locations.

The local market viewed as anobserver, occupier and an agentsupports the polarization theory. As anobserver, the prime retail location ofLiverpool ONE goes from strength tostrength irrespective of the annual“Nightmare on the High Street” newsheadlines. As an occupier of prime citycentre accommodation, owning asuccessful well funded businessenables a great financial deal to be

done with varying incentives. And lastly, as an agent in secondary locations thewidening availability of properties are forcing capital valuations down whilst rentsremain static.

The conclusion of this is that prime rates seem fixed at around 5 or 6% whistsecondary locations can yield between 10 and 12%. I also believe we are reachingthe bottom of the market.

chief executive of Venmore

HOME:I was privileged to work at NeptuneDevelopments when our design, ‘TheCloud’, was chosen to be the ‘FourthGrace’ at Mann Island on LiverpoolWaterfront. Unfortunately, the

project never matured beyond thedesign stage for several reasons,which was a real shame.

The subsequent black granite andglazed buildings however are equallyas striking and are my current

favourite ‘home’buildings not only fortheir aesthetics,functionality andarchitectural style butalso for their contrastand setting within thesurrounding area.

AWAY:Buildings provide manypurposes and sometimes,breathtaking views. I wasfortunate to visit ‘ThePeak’ in Hong Kongseveral years ago - astylish piece ofarchitecture whichprovides restaurantsshops and entertainmentvenues but for me, it isthe panoramic 360°views of the vibrant citybelow from The SkyTerrace 428, (428mabove sea level) whichdistinguishes the buildingfrom any other I know –especially at night.

&HomeAway

The Peak, Hong Kong

Andrew Kingsley, director, KingsleyAssociates Recruitment Consultancy

FAVOURITE BUILDINGS

Mann Island, Liverpool

In my crystal ball…

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Keppie Massie’s headquarters atRumford Court Complex aresteeped in history. Originally builtin the mid 19th Century, theSurveyors and PropertyConsultants office buildings havesignificant historical importancedue to the role they played duringthe American Civil War. Theywere the unofficial offices of theAmerican Confederate Embassyand attract many Americanvisitors on the Liverpool SlaveryTour route.

Andrew Byrne says that one of themost memorable moments of hiscareer so far has been hisinvolvement with the Liverpool ONEdevelopment, which has changedthe face of Liverpool as a City.

“I was lucky to be involved in theLiverpool ONE project which haslinked our traditional retail offer tothe waterfront, anchored by theAlbert Dock complex and the fact Iwas a part of it is something I’mvery proud of,” says Andrew.

“I have visited lots of other greatcities such as Sydney, Hong Kong,Auckland and New York butLiverpool is my home and has agreat buzz about it.”

Crosby born Andrew’s roleinvolves advising tenants andlandlords, whether acquiringproperty for investment or sellingand leasing premises. He hasworked on behalf of many bigname clients including Langtree,

Grosvenor, Peel and St Modwen. I asked him what he enjoys the

most about his role.“I like meeting new people all the

time,” he says. “One minute you are meeting

someone who runs a hedge fund orsomeone who runs a largecorporation, next you are advisingsomeone who needs a 1,000 sq ftindustrial unit and owns their ownbusiness, and with them it’s abouta person’s whole livelihood rather

than just figures. I really enjoy thediversity of people that I get tomeet in my job.”

Andrew started at Keppie Massieas a graduate back in 2008, afterstudying at Sheffield HallamUniversity and then completinghis degree in Real EstateManagement at Liverpool JohnMoore’s University.

“From an early age I knew I

wanted to be a surveyor. One of myfathers’ good friends was asurveyor and following a workplacement at his firm I was hookedand decided surveying was forme,” says Andrew.

Andrew completed a year’splacement as a surveyor at MyTravel head office in Rochdalebefore joining the ranks at KeppieMassie, which has 40 staff acrossLiverpool and Manchester offices.

To become a qualified surveyor he

had to train for a further two yearsafter university to pass the APCexam which enabled him to becomea member of the Royal Institute ofChartered Surveyors (RICS).

“When I look back, this is one ofthe things that I’m really proud ofdoing and I passed first time,” saysAndrew.

After those two years Andrewwas given more responsibility at

Keppie Massie.“As well as maintaining long-

term client relations within KeppieMassie and continuing weeklyresponsibilities. I am motivated toencourage new clients to use ourservices” he says.

“It’s more about finding leadsmyself now, rather than waiting forsomeone else to provide them; it’snice that as a company they trustme and with that trust comesgreater responsibility.”

Andrew was involved in puttingtogether the Liverpool CommercialOffice Market Review in 2011alongside the two prestigiousbodies of Professional Liverpooland Liverpool Vision. The reviewanalysed commercial office spacetake up in the North West.

“Since 2008 I have helpedcorrelate figures for the annualreview. Since then the review hasbecome part and parcel of myremit,” says Andrew.

“It’s a case of being in touch withthe market, speaking to all theother agents, noting all the dealsand then collating all the figuresand being part of a team that puttogether the report.”

I asked him from his findingswhat he could tell us about trendsfor commercial office take up inthe City.

“There has definitely been animprovement last year from theyear before as we are seeing

By Kate [email protected]

The future is bright

From an early age I knewI wanted to be a surveyor““

To be considered upcoming in your field is quite anachievement. For Andrew Byrne, senior surveyor at KeppieMassie, this and being involved in the changing face of hishometown Liverpool is really something to be proud of.


MOVE COMMERCIAL 23

increased levels of enquiries acrossall sectors,” says Andrew.

“We have already started to lookback at all the figures again andcompare them month by month. Ifyou reflect the figures back, we’realready ahead this year. When Istarted in 2008 the recession wasin full swing, but is now steadilymoving in the right direction. Wesaw a blip in the figures in 2010,but it’s been slowly improvingsince then.”

When looking at specific areas,Andrew says one area that has seena notable improvement is Speke.

“Last year Speke had one dealand now so far there has been sixtransactions, which percentagewise is the biggest growth area inthe region, so you could say Spekeis on the up!” says Andrew.

“Last year the majority ofcommercial office space was takenup by professional sector tenants,such as solicitors. City centre officetake up has improved in the firstquarter of 2012, one reason for theimprovement could be that inJanuary of last year weexperienced heavy snow.”

“Everyone likes to do a deal inthe better weather. People arehappier going to work. It’s asimplistic way of looking at it, butit makes a difference.”

Andrew’s focus at Keppie Massieat the moment is the out of townoffice and industrial market whichcurrently includes sites such asMere Grange in St Helen's,Meridian Business Village in Spekeand Southport Business Park. Hehas also assisted on a number ofcity centre instructions such asMercury Court, Princes Dock andExchange Flags.

As a rising star in the companywhat can we expect from him inthe future?

“In the future my ambition is toown my own business, doing whatI do now,” says Andrew.

“With regards to Keppie Massiethe future is bright, we are verywell diversified as a propertyconsultant to cover all aspects ofproperty, which puts us in a goodposition for when the market fullyrecovers.”

Keppie Massie was established in1999 and deals with all majoraspects of commercial andresidential property consultancy.

Andrew Byrne, senior surveyor at Keppie Massie Rising Star

Byrne FileDOB:10/12/1983

Education:Finished Real Estate Degree at LiverpoolJohn Moores University (2007)

Studied Real Estate at Sheffield HallamUniversity (2004)

Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby (2002)

Career:Joined Keppie Massie as a graduate in2008, now a senior surveyor.

Passed APC and joined Royal Institute ofChartered Surveyors. (2010)

Surveyor at My Travel (2004)


For many people the nameMediaCityUK is now synonymouswith the BBC – not least because ofthe coverage in the press regardingthe shift of staff from London toSalford. But, talking to the managingdirector of the Peel-owneddevelopment, Stephen Wild, it’s clearto see MediaCity is much more thanjust a new home for the Beeb.

Indeed, whilst the broadcaster isamongst its most well knowntenants, the vision of MediaCitygoes much wider.

“Our vision is to create a new citythat is a hub of internationalstanding in the creative and mediasectors –this is not about buildingthe BBC a new building,” saysStephen. “This is about building acomplete new city, a new vision,where there is a whole explosion ofcreativity – that is what led to themcoming to MediaCity as opposed todoing a simple property relocation.The major difference was ourvision,” says Stephen.

And Stephen is certainly a manwith vision.

A Reading university graduate, hetrained at a GVA Grimley andbecame a partner in thedevelopment section for the NorthWest before setting up his ownconsultancy where he worked

closely with Liverpool City Councilon the delivery of Liverpool ONE,Liverpool Arena and a variety ofother things. He joined The PeelGroup six years ago and tookresponsibility for MediaCity threeyears ago.

“As managing director of MediaCity I’m responsible for everythingfrom its tenants, its leasing, itslettings, its operations, events,branding and marketing,everything on a day to day basisthat relates to it,” explains Stephen.“The only distinction is in relationto the operation of the studios

business, that’s done in jointventure with our partners SIS andthat doesn’t fall into my remit.”

The site is now home to eightlarge businesses including BBC,ITV, University of Salford, SIS,Holiday Inn and two residentialcompanies along with a numbers ofsmaller firms.

“We were very fortunate over theyear to secure 60-65 small tomedium enterprises (SMEs) uphere, principally at the Pie Factoryand the Greenhouse (morecommonly referred to as the MediaVillage),” says Stephen. “We nowhave between 4000 and 5000people on site at the moment,across all of those companies.”

And there are still spaces on offer.“Media City offers something for

everybody so we have space forSMEs, which might be one desk ortwo desks for, perhaps, a month ora week,” explains Stephen. “Wehave hot-desking available here aswell and our spaces range all theway up to Grade A.”

Grade A offices are up to 200,000sq ft and are obviously let on alonger-term basis.

“We’ve got retail and leisureopportunities still available,” saysStephen. “And, on the residentialside, we offer apartments for

private rent and for sale and whilethey are doing well there are still afew on offer.”

Opportunities also exist, of coursefor the surrounding communities.During the construction processStephen claims £100 million waspumped back into the localcommunity. Now the developmentworks closely with local colleges tobring people through toemployment.

Addressing recent press reportsthat the BBC only employed ahandful of people from the localarea Stephen says part of the majordrive is to ensure there are long-term benefits for the community bydriving skilled jobs coupled withappropriate skills education intothe area.

“That’s where the likes of theUniversity of Salford, SalfordCollege and the council come in,”says Stephen. “This isn’t about aone off opportunity, this is about along term vision.”

That vision, says Stephen involveshelping Salford to continue tobenefit from the regeneration,which began as far back as 1985.

“Salford has a range of assetswhether that be the Lowry theatreor the Imperial War Museum,”says Stephen. “By the physical

With MediaCityUK continuing to grab the headlines,managing director of the development Stephen Wildtells Move Commercial about the vision behind it.

This isn’t abouta one offopportunity, this is about a long term vision.

““By Christine [email protected]

Wild words

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nature of our development we cantie all that together and create areal vibrant hub, a centre forSalford.”

Hosting events such as SportsPersonality of the Year and CBBC’sPlaytime in the Piazza atMediaCityUK drive activity andfootfall into the local area and intoSalford Keys and Stephen says hewill continue to roll that forward.

“What this gives is an addeddimension to what is on offer inthe local vicinity for those peoplewho live here and beyond,” headds.

However, Stephen does not wantMediaCityUK to just be a regionaloffering but rather a national andinternational attraction.

“The city region and the NorthWest is already very strong in thecreative media sector,” he says,“There has been an increase increative media positions in theregion from 750 to 2500. We nowhave BBC breakfast here, which isthe first time a news programmehas come outside of London. Allthese are massively enhancing theNorth West as a region andbringing opportunity for inwardinvestment.”

Stephen is equally as enthusiasticabout his parent group’s plans.

“Obviously Peel in its widersense is massively involved in theentirety of the North West,” hesays. “All the time it’s increasingassets here which allows the wholeregion to compete on aninternational basis.”

Wild FileBorn:November 1970

Education:Reading University

Career:Trained at GVA Grimley andbecame a partner in thedevelopment section. Set up ownconsultancy before joining PeelGroup six years ago.

Stephen Wild, managing director, MediaCityUK Mover & Shaker


WWW.MANNISLANDCOMMERCIAL.CO.UK

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For more information contact

Brian Ricketts M: 07970 837454 E: [email protected] Owen M: 07798 576789 E: [email protected]

A Development by

Up to 15,877 sq ft (1,475 sqm)

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Grade ‘A’ Offices To Let/For Sale. The Latitude Building

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MOVE COMMERCIAL26


WHETHER YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE FLEXIBILITY OF A SHORT TERMAGREEMENT WITH SERVICES INCLUDED, A LONGER TERM LEASE OR A FREEHOLD PURCHASE, FIND OUT WHY WE’RE BETTER. CONTACT [email protected]

LIVERPOOL’S WIDEST RANGE OF OFFICES TO LET OR FOR SALE

MOVE COMMERCIAL 27


1. Lyndsey Ashworth (Peel). 2. David Thomas (Seaford Finance), Helen Johnston (DWF) and Luke Hopkins (DWF). 3. Stella Shui (Sam Wa Group). 4. Ben Nicholas

(Trident), Mike Hunkriss (CBI), Simon Millington (Space Invader), Ian Spencer (Trident) and Jonty Shaw (Trident Dental Associates). 5. Jo Tait, Christine Toner (Move

Commercial), Tracy Thompson and John Mckenna (Paul Crowley and Co). 6. Eric Mahoney, David Mahoney (TJ Thomas Estates), Louis Anastasiou and Kim O’Brien

(Move Commercial). 7. John Barker (Hitchcock Wright & Partners), Andrew Mills (Smith Nicholas), Andrew Bangs (James Hall & Company Ltd), Matt Kerrigan (Hitchcock

Wright & Partners), Dennis Dwyer (Orbit Developments) and Nick Harrop – (Hitchcock Wright & Partners). 8. Mark Worthington, Nick Nelson, Kirsty Gilleford, Rob

Woods, Mike Walker and Phillip Shopland-Reed (All CBRE). 9. David Nicholls (Mazars LLP), Maxine Desse (Additions), Dave Matthews (The co-operative Bank) and Ian

Vicary (Weightmans LLP). 10. Angela Harrison (Mazars Accountants) Neil Kelly (Mazars Accountants) and Helen Johnston (DWF). 11. Michael Griffiths (Edward

Cannes Do hailedhuge successThe great and the good of the property world gathered at Peel’s No12 PrincesDock for Professional Liverpool’s seventh annual Cannes Do. A record-breaking460 guests attended the event during which £6,250 was raised for children’smedical research charity, Sparks.

Stuart Keppie, of Keppie Massie and chairman of the Property Group forProfessional Liverpool, says: “The event is one of the main highlights inLiverpool’s property calendar and has become so popular that this yearnumbers had to be seriously restricted. The venue at Princes Dock wasregarded as being one of the best for the event and was well received byattendees. It generated a good atmosphere, and we were delighted thatchosen charity Sparks received such generous donations from guests.”

Key events Cannes Do 2012

1

7

2

4

5

8

6

3


Cannes Do 2012 Key events

Symmons LLP), Sheila Whitton (Weightmans LLP), Dave Griffiths (Cosmopolitan Housing Group) and Sian Evans (Weightmans LLP). 12. Andrew Kingsley (Kingsley

Associates), David King (Edward Simmons LLP) and Paul Parker (Edward Symmons LLP). 13. Guests of Peel and Sam Wa Group. 14. Andrew Lovelady and Stuart Keppie.

15. Beth Gore (Hill Dickinson), Jan Green (RBS) and Liam Thomas (Hill Dickinson). 16.Mark Conner (Vermont Capital) Auden Clements (Lloyds Bank) and Les Ross (Grant

Thornton). 17. Paul Jasper (Core Safe Consulting), David Morriss (DMPM Construction) and Matthew Giles (MgMa Studio Architecture). 18. Tony Reed (Keepie Massie)

Andrew Byrne (Keepie Massie), Jonathan Lowe (GVA), David Guest (Bruntwood), Neil Kirkham (CBRE), Andrew Owen (Mason Owen), Colin Forshaw (Bruntwood), Chris

Hennesey (Matthews & Goodman) and Graham Bowling (Fitton Estates). 19. Ann Hopper (Liverpool Vision), Patrick Doherty (Harcourt Developments), Jenny Douglas

(Liverpool Vision), Max Steinberg (Liverpool Vision), Peter Grieve (Laing O’Rourke) and Mike Taylor (Liverpool Vision) and Andrew Wallace (Liverpool Vision).

9 10

11

12

13 14

15 16 17

18 19


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MOVE COMMERCIAL30

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The North-West’s building trade has been particularly hit by therecession. Projects which had originally been given the green light

have been brought to a standstill by issues affecting propertyfinance and the collapse of companies. We look at which projects in

the region have stalled, which are biding their time and which arestill going full steam ahead behind the scenes.

ProjectsUpdate

What: The tale of the £250million site regeneration ofLiverpool International FestivalGardens has many twists andturns like the site itself.

If you pass the site you can seethat the gardens look finished yetthe gates remain closed and thesite is empty.

Where: A 90-acre-site next to theRiver Mersey in Otterspool.

When: Originally opened in1984 as the country’s first evergarden festival site, the sitechanged hands several timesbefore eventually becomingderelict in 1997.

Plans granted to developersLangtree in 2007 to build 1,374new homes in a linked residential

scheme at Festival Gardens wereinitially put on hold whencontractor David McLean collapsedin 2008.

The next appointed contractorMayfield Construction followed asimilar path in July 2011. Thelatest blow in a catalogue ofsetbacks was Groundwork, thefirm managing the site collapsingin February 2012.

Update: The Land Trust said theplanned re-opening in spring 2012would not be affected byGroundwork’s demise. Land Trustchief executive Euan Hall said: “Wemust stress this will not affect thescheme in any way. We arecommitted to ensuring the FestivalGardens become the iconic site thepeople of Liverpool deserve.”

FESTIVAL GARDENS

Update Regional projects

MOVE COMMERCIAL 31


MOVE COMMERCIAL32

What: £200 million project to transform LiverpoolCentral Station and the surrounding area by developersMerepark.

There will be two new hotels, retail and leisure units, acinema and offices combined with a public outdoorspace which will be directly linked to Central Station.

Where: The project will transform six acres of land behindLiverpool’s Central Station and will back onto Bold Street. The scheme includes the refurbishment of the iconic GradeII listed Lewis’s building as well as extensive works toLiverpool Central Station.

When: The old Lewis’ building is currently being renovatedand a Q Park building can be seen springing up fromCropper Street. The project is expected to be complete in2013.

Update: International hotel group Millennium & CopthorneHotels will open two hotels on the site. Food chainsincluding Frankie & Bennies have also announced thatthey have secured units on the development.

CENTRAL VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT


What: Project Jennifer is the £150million regeneration of the areaaround Everton’s Great HomerStreet.

St Modwen Developments Ltd andLiverpool City Council plan to buildMerseyside’s biggest Sainsbury’ssuperstore.

There will also be retail space, an

open market and a public transportinterchange. Further phases includethe building of apartments,business accommodation, extensivepublic realms works, a Primary CareTrust and a library.

Where: A 45-acre-site in Everton.

When: Originally granted planningpermission in 2007, the projectstalled in 2011 when the CompulsoryPurchase Order granted by thecouncil left business owners in thearea complaining that they were notbeing offered enough money fortheir properties. So far 37 businesseshave objected to the ‘paltry’ sums

that they have been offered. A publicinquiry will be held next summer.

Update: Michelle Taylor, regionaldirector for the scheme’s developerSt Modwen, said if the project winsapproval at a public inquiry thissummer work could start on site earlyin 2013.

PROJECT JENNIFER


MOVE COMMERCIAL 33

Update Regional projects

What: Liverpool Waters is thebiggest development everconsidered for planning permissionin the UK. The £5.5 billion visioninvolves regenerating a massivehistoric dockland site, creating20,000 jobs, a cruise terminal and a55-storey skyscraper.

The project’s developer Peelpromises 9,000 apartments,hundreds of offices, hotels and bars.

Part of the developmentincludes creating a new riverterminal capable ofaccommodating some of theworld’s largest container shipswhich could re-establish Liverpoolas a powerhouse port.

Where: 60-Hectares of land alongthe north of Liverpool’s Pier Head.

When: Planning permission wasgranted by Liverpool City Councilearly in March 2012.

Update: Objectors have issues withthe project’s effect on Liverpool'swaterfront and the fact it may leadto the city losing Unesco WorldHeritage Status.

Because of these concerns theplanning application must now besent to communities’ secretary EricPickles MP.

Developers and Liverpool CityCouncil face a wait of three monthsto see if the development will beapproved or go to public enquiry.

What: Plans to build a superstoreand new Everton stadium in Kirkbywere first announced in 2006.The supermarket chain Tescobought £65m of land but plansfor a huge retail park and footballstadium were rejected in 2009.

The Government blocked theplans after a public inquiry heardthat such a large shopping centrecould pull consumers out ofnearby towns.

Under revised plans from Tescobacked by Knowsley Council morethan £300m will be invested intoKirkby Town Centre for a radical

revamp which includes a newhealth centre and a new primaryschool.

Where: Kirkby Town Centre.

When: Work on the new plans willstart in March 2012.

Update: Knowsley council deputychief executive Mike Harden said:“A number of high street retailershave expressed an interest in takingretail space in the development. Weanticipate the store will open in thespring of 2014.”

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MOVE COMMERCIAL36

We look to the multi-millionaireinvestors on Dragons Den aspinnacles of their game, peoplewho have the knowledge to knowwhich business ideas will work andwhich won’t. Surprisingly even theexperts aren’t always right.

Kevin Moseley appeared on theshow in 2006 with Olympicswimmer Mark Foster, whoendorsed SwimFin as the ultimateswimming aid device.

Theo Paphitis called the six-timeworld champion an 'idiot' forbacking the product and DuncanBannatyne laughed in Kevin’s face.

In the face of such adversity Iasked Kevin how it feels to havenow proved the dragons wrong.

“It’s great,” he says. “I don’twallow in the facts. I’ve alwaysbeen a grafter and I just get onwith it.

“The dragons have got egos asbig as Simon Cowell. It’s a TVprogramme at the end of the day.Anyone in the business worldknows you can’t take this seriouslyat all. My opinion is that they mayactually try to frighten potentialentrepreneurs in taking theirproduct to market.”

Kevin invented SwimFin, abuoyancy aid which is more effectivethan armbands or a float and whichhelps children to learn to swim onaverage three times quicker.

SwimFin now employs four full

time staff and 200,000 SwimFinswere manufactured in China last year.

Kevin’s eureka moment camewhen working as a swimminginstructor at the swimming bathsnear Rice Lane flyover.

“I used to get two bits of oldkickboard and join them togetherto play with the kids at the end oflessons,” he adds. “We’d hype it upand call it sharky. I’d submergeunder the water and they wouldshriek with delight.”

“My eureka moment was when alittle boy was reluctant to take theplunge into the water we putSharky on his back and it pickedhim up and gave him confidence.The boy’s dad was a doctor and hesaid to me ‘that is brilliant, lookwhat it’s done for my child. Youshould get that patented.’”

“The idea is now over 20 yearsold I didn’t get it patentedstraightaway. I was quite youngand I had a new mortgage, I justcouldn’t afford it. SwimFin wentback into the loft and I brought itout from time to time. “

Kevin’s crunch point came justbefore his appearance to pitch tothe dragons.

“I worked with local firm DWFLawyers and Marks & Clerks PatentAttorneys. Patents by nature canget very expensive,” he explains.

“At this point I had to ask myselfam I in this or not and I went for

it on a gamble. We decided toremortgage the house. I spent thatmoney on legal fees to patent allthe countries in the major market.We have South Africa, India,China, Australia, Japan. Ipatented all the major marketswhile we were still trying to find amanufacturer.”

How did he have the faith to knowthat his idea would be a success?

“From a swimming instructor’spoint of view I knew that SwimFinwould improve my teaching and Iknew it would make a differenceto the children, there is nothingelse like it on the market,” he says.

“I say to the kids ‘I might not beable to make you an Olympicswimmer but I can make youwaterproof. If you fall in the wateryou will make it back to the side.’If you give the kids a choice theywill go for SwimFin every time itturns a swimming lesson into afun session.”

In its first year of trading,SwimFin became an internationalsensation with orders flooding infrom 47 countries and salestopping 70,000.

Kevin gave up his job as aswimming instructor toconcentrate all his efforts on thecompany and turnover topped£1million in 2010.

SwimFin supplies authorities andorganisations around the world and

Ormskirk born and bred Kevin Moseley inventor of SwimFin had hisinvention laughed at, called idiotic and dangerous by the dragonsfrom BBC2’s Dragons Den. He didn’t listen. He now has a businessvalued at six figure sums and exports internationally to over 70countries around the world. Who’s laughing now?

Swimming againstthe tide



Kevin Moseley Entrepreneur

has just secured a deal withWalmart. Kevin has just got backfrom Brazil with a big order for theproduct and the company has alicensing company secured in thestates and hopes to completecontracts with an Americansupplier who service 50,000 stores.

“I work from a converted garagein Burscough, Ormskirk which isour business hub but I workinternationally,” he says.

“There’s a lot of hard work, a lotof long days and sleepless nightsbut we’ve won internationalawards for our work. We have amain office in Northampton fromwhere we ship SwimFin all around

the world,”says Kevin.“I have learnt that there is a lot

that goes on behind the scenes inbusiness; four years ago I was stilla swimming instructor. The UKTrade & Investment governmentorganisation has been like a bigbrother to me. I’ve learnt so much about exporting, how to dealwith the Japanese and otherdifferent markets.”

Swimfin won the North West’sbest export idea in 2010 throughthe UKTI, which works with UKbusinesses to ensure their successin international markets.

“Part of my job now is to travelaround the world and tell people

about the product,” says Kevin. “I’ve just got back from Brazil

and we’re working with teachersfrom Swim North Africa.”

Next year Kevin hopes to sell upto 500,000 SwimFins across theworld. So from here what is nextfor SwimFin?

“Every swimming pool in theworld has some kind of buoyancyequipment to help people learn toswim,” he says.

“My mission is to get at least oneSwimFin in every swimming poolacross the world. The markets thatare most important to us in thenext year are Brazil and the EU.”

Moseley fileDOB:22/07/1964

Education:Taunton Vale high school in Skelmersdale

Career:Window CleanerMobile DJMechanicSwimming InstructorInventor of SwimFin


MOVE COMMERCIAL38

By Christine [email protected]

“This was a major project for thefirm”, he explains. “We had theaspiration to move into one placebut we felt we needed around100,000 square feet. When westarted looking there weren’t manylocations available.”

Hill Dickinson wanted to helpform a new Central BusinessDistrict in Liverpool and, as such,discussions were had withLiverpool Vision.

“We wanted to help Liverpoolshift the CBD up in this direction,so you'd get a cluster of law firmsand other professional service firmsup here. The council wanted thesame sort of thing.”

The aspiration has been realised.St Paul's Square and thesurrounding area is now also hometo companies such as law firmsDWF, Weightmans and surveyorsEdward Symmons.

Hill Dickinson's building, with itsfloor to ceiling windows (offeringstunning views across the river)and slick finishes is a decidedlymodern building for such anhistoric firm.

Indeed, the firm’s history has beenbrought to public consciousnessrecently with the 100th anniversary

of the sinking of the Titanic.Following the shipping disaster,which saw 1500 lives, lost, the lawfirm represented the vessel’sowners, the White Star Line.

“When the film came out I waswheeled out to speak – as the mostlikely to have been here at thetime,” jokes David.

It's not too surprising that HillDickinson would have been chosento represent White Star Line whenyou consider the firms history.

Created in 1810 or thereabout(“that's the date we think it begun”,says David) the law firm's initialprimary function was serving theshipping market in Liverpool.

“The Liverpool market wasbasically shipping companies andtheir activities,” says David. “Thisdeveloped into things like smallbanks. Some merchant banks inLondon today had their origins inLiverpool. Cunard and White starwere early clients along with otherLiverpool names such asHarrisons and Bibbys. They werestill very much clients when Iarrived in the 1970s.”

Hill Dickinson also performedgeneral commercial and corporatework for its Liverpool based and

international shipping clients andon the property front developed aniche in acting for pension funds.

This continued as the firm'smain line of business until the late

1970s. Starting in the 1930’s alarge London office haddeveloped, focusing on servicingAmerican and Greek shippingclients as well as the Londonoperations of English shipowners.

Around 25 years ago the firm

went into growth mode with aseries of mergers and acquisitions,but not before the London officehad split from the Liverpool firm.Offices were opened in Manchester,Chester and (most recently)Sheffield the business was rebuiltin London (before eventuallyremerging with the old Londonfirm). And the firm extendedoverseas with offices in Greece andSingapore being created.

David joined the firm in 1976following a career in finance,working as an investment analystat a London merchant bank.

“The career change came becauseof the stock market crash of themid-seventies, the economy was inserious recession,” says David. “Idecided I didn’t want to remaindoing that for the rest of my life soI switched to law.”

Interestingly, despite theaforementioned troubles in theeconomy at the time, David recallsHill Dickinson as being somewhatprotected from the problems whenhe joined.

“We were peculiarly insulatedfrom it because we were actingheavily for shipowners who were ininternational trade and the

Sitting in the stunning surroundings of Hill Dickinson's offices – at thegrandly named No1 St Paul's square – it’s easy to be impressed. It's alsoclear to see why David Swaffield, a partner at the historic firm andhead of the investment and development elements of the commercialproperty department, would be proud. Swaffield worked on the deal forthe new premises when the firm decided to move its entire Liverpoolstaff to one office in 2008.

Liverpool’slaw stalwart

The realchange forLiverpoolhas been inthe last tenyears.

““


property work we were doing wasmainly outside Liverpool,” he says.“Liverpool itself hit its nadir in the1970s and early 80s whichultimately led to Lord Heseltinecoming in to try and kick start theregeneration process..

Since then the market has,understandably, changed a lot butI'm interested to know whatDavid would pin point as thecatalyst for change. Was it LordHeseltine's intervention?

“We had political difficulties in thecity after that and the reputation ofthe city remained poor,” he says. “Ithink it was the establishment of amore stable political background inthe city that helped to change thingsand the gradual change inperceptions which came aboutthrough the activities oforganisations like Liverpool Visionand The Mersey Partnership.

“I think the real change has beenin the last ten years. Liverpool ONEled to huge change in the retailsector. Peel’s activity has alsochanged the feel of Liverpool. Theturning point must have beenabout ten years ago when we beganto see developers from outside thecity becoming serious aboutLiverpool. There was morespeculative development going on.”

“This building was speculative onthe part of English Cities Fund,”says David of the Hill Dickinsonoffices. “Peel also carried outspeculative development in PrincesDock, so did Downing in acquiringand renovating the Capital andBruntwood in acquiring the Plaza.All of those have really helped tochange the office market. Then youhad the council and others whopressed ahead and developed theinfrastructure needed”.

Bringing about change inLiverpool is something David haslong been passionate about. Despitenot being a native of the city (he wasborn in East Anglia and spent muchof his childhood in Blackpool andLondon) he was part of BusinessOpportunities on Merseyside(BOOM) during the 1980s.

“We were really the first attemptat trying and change whatperception people outside ofLiverpool had of the city,” he says.“We were bringing investmentdecision makers here and trying toshow them Liverpool wasn’t whatthey thought it was. It was muchbetter than that and had a lotmore potential.”

Potential that, thanks to the likesof David, is now being recognised.

Hill Dickinsonmergers andacquisitionsHalliwells LLP, Liverpool andSheffield offices (2010)

Middleton Potts (2009)

Gamon Arden & Co. (2007)

Hill Taylor Dickinson, remerger following demergerin 1989 (2006)

Bullivant Jones & Co. (2004)

Gorna & Co (2001)

Davis Campbell (1997)

David Swaffield Founding Business


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M6 & M62

• The most car-friendly

place in the UK*

• Within 45 minutes of two

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UK’s largest Freeport zone

• Within an hour’s drive of 4.3

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Leading Liverpool

Mayoral hopefuls Lunch debateBy Christine [email protected]

With just days to go before the people of Liverpool take to the pollingstations to elect a mayor for Liverpool for the first time, we brought

together a selection of the candidates to discuss their plans for the city.

Cllr Paul BrantLabour Party (in place of Joe Anderson)

Cllr Richard KempLiberal Democrats

Cllr John CoyneGreen Party

Tony CaldeiraConservative Party

Tony MulhearnTrade Union and Socialist Party

Liam FogartyIndependent

MOVE COMMERCIAL 41

s


Liverpool ONE has been hugelysuccessful in attractingbusinesses and tourism to thecity, what plans do you have tobuild on this? How would youencourage private investmentLiam Fogarty: I think that wehave a tendency in the city tocongratulate ourselves aboutarchitecture, old and new, aboutthe landscapes that we enjoy andthe amenities down on the river.But I am struck by how littleattention is given to the 90-95%of the surface areas of Liverpoolthat don’t attract the tourists andthe accolade of national awards.

If I could get the opportunity tobe mayor I would want to refocuson the ordinary neighborhoods ofLiverpool, which are at risk andhave been degraded over thedecades.

I want to see a greenerLiverpool, more building inLiverpool and I want the design tobe the best available. I’m notimpressed by the bulk house-building which I think was afundamentally misguided policy.The development has to be rightfor Liverpool’s needs not purelyfocused on what the developerwants.John Coyne: The Liverpool ONEdevelopment has got some goodfeatures about it. I think it had allparty support as it arose. Unlikethe typical shopping mall, itretains the open streets structure.While we’re going to haveshopping as a major part of thecity’s economy, it’s in the rightplace it’s the right kind ofshopping development. But toanswer the

question, what are we going to doto make sure there’s furtherpotential for investment of thiskind. I think the answer is to makethe city a high quality urbanenvironment people are going towant to live. That will pull in thewish to invest, the wish to createthings I think that’s really thesimplest thing. Tony Caldeira: As far as I’mconcerned Liverpool ONE and theACC are just the start. As a city weneed to be more ambitious. Wehave made progress but we arestill playing catch up. We have tobe realistic about where we arebut also optimistic and ambitiousabout where we’re going to be.

I hope that we can build onrecent successes and make ourcity world class. We have to makeour city as visitor friendly aspossible, as investor friendly, asbusiness friendly as possible. Ifyou take the ACC, I think we stillhave a long way to go even withthat. We have the exhibitioncentre coming up and hopefully afour or five star hotel.

I’ve actually been lobbyingwithin my own party to bring theConservative party conference tothe city which would bring £25million to our region. I think oncethe whole context - the arena, theconvention centre and theexhibition centre we will have theopportunity to have the bestevents facilities of any city. It’svery exciting and I’m lookingforward to the opportunity, shouldI be elected as mayor, of attractinginward investment and attractingproperty development from aroundthe world. I believe myinternational experience will helpattract players to Liverpool andhopefully I’ll have the chance todeliver some of those things.Paul Brant: Since we took overthe city council Joe (Anderson,council leader) has lead the wayin unblocking a lot of theregeneration activities

There were problems with EdgeLane with the council locked in alegal dispute with thelandowners up there.

There was Mere Park centralvillage land by central station,that needed some additionalpressure to move forward.

But we’re also very consciousthat the council needs to play abigger role than just unblockingthe development.

We have committed thecouncil to making sure the newexhibition centre will be

progressed and developed. Thecurrent convention centre hasbeen very successful, but it has toturn away international sized-conferences.

Everyone who comes to thearena is blown away but the verylarge exhibitions in the UK at themoment predominantly have to gothrough Birmingham, London orGlasgow.

The return of the cruise liner – asan embarkation and

disembarkation location - is key tothe regeneration to the city. Weestimated that we get a millionpounds worth of investment inrevenue from every cruise linerthat uses the port.

And, as people will know, we’vetaken on the government andother councils - Southampton inthis argument and the debate.

That will deliver not onlyadditional people for hotels butwe’ll also make sure that there aremore shoppers to spend money inLiverpool ONE. The destinationeconomy remains a major driverfor economic growth. We’re sittingin a hotel, which is a symbol of therenaissance of Liverpool as adestination location.

We’re going to go much furtherbeyond that. We have negotiatedwith the government two newenterprise zones.

We have negotiated carefully fora long time with Peel on theLiverpool Waters development.

We’ll also have five mayoralzones, which the mayor will

“I am struck byhow littleattention isgiven to the90-95% ofthe surfaceareas ofLiverpool thatdon’t attractthe tourists.

”

MOVE COMMERCIAL42


preside over to ensuredevelopment in those zones isprioritised.Tony Mulhearn: I think the term“successful” is a relative term.What do we mean by hugelysuccessful? We had the city ofculture, which was supposed tocreate thousands of jobs, thedevelopment of Liverpool ONEpromised the same. I think thedevelopment on the waterfront isabsolutely incredible; it’s awonderful area. If you look,tourists come to Liverpool andwalk around that area and thinkthis is a wonderful city butLiverpool is now a tale of twocities. On the one hand there’s thewonderful development on thewaterfront, the new apartmentsbut on the underbelly we’ve gotmore households without a wageearner than any other city in theUK, with ten kids chasing everyjob - that’s the other side ofLiverpool.

What we’ve heard is all fine, butdo we want Liverpool to be onehuge doormat for visitors? Or dowe want Liverpool to be a vibrantcity, which offers people help hereand now? Liverpool is a citylooking for an identity, Liverpoolwasn’t built on rock and roll, it wasbuilt on the maritime industry;shipbuilding and engineering. Thatwas Liverpool’s role. That’s beenlost. The manufacturers haveclosed, the sugar plant has closed,the printers, my own industry, isgone. All of these offered jobs andreal apprenticeships.

All of that is in the past.Liverpool, as a city, cannot resolveproblem on its own. What we needis massive governmentintervention. This nonsense thatwe’ve got to abolish regulation tofree up the entrepreneurs, it’sbeen tried for 35 years, what’sbeen the result? Absolute chaos.Richard Kemp: I’m glad youmentioned Liverpool ONE and thearena, because I was heavilyinvolved in the Liverpool ONEdevelopment.

Two things happened at thesame time to make it possible.

The first one was that Liverpoolcame up with a big idea, whichcaused an international surprise.There was Liverpool, this desolatecity in the north, renowned forBoys from the Black Stuff, saying,“We can be the European city ofculture.”

The second thing was thecouncil realised it couldn’t doeverything itself. That was the

traditional Liverpool way, we see asite and we’ll do something withit. What we said with LiverpoolONE is we have an opportunityhere, it’s clearly a retailopportunity and we, the council,don’t have the skills to know whatneeds doing with that site, soinstead of coming up with a planwe came up with a competition.We said here’s all the informationyou need to know about Liverpooland here’s the site, you tell uswhat you can do with it?

That’s what I believe we need todo now. And not just to developcommercial activity but alsohousing activity. Lets deal withthe commercial activity first. Wemust not confuse the idea of

creating property which will createspace to employ people with thecreation of jobs. I can rememberthe 80’s when there were so manynew buildings created to provideplaces to work, 300 new jobshere, a thousand new jobs there,all that was actually created wasspace.

What we need is a series ofsmall developments. My big planfor Liverpool is to make it theEuropean green capital.

We need to invite partners tocome in and challenge the council,because Liverpool ONE and thearena wouldn’t have happened ifwe’d had left it to the privatesector. The private and publicsector had to work together.

I would challenge what Liam saidabout the quality of housing that’sbeen built in Liverpool. What Iwould say is there hasn’t beenenough new building of newhousing. I could certainly showyou two sites is Liverpool 8 wherethe housing is good as anythingthat anyone would want to buyanywhere. Two of us here chairhousing associations, we couldtake you to some of the besthousing developments anyonewould want to live in.

Some housing associations areup for the challenge of findingnew ways to provide finance,finding new ways of being inpartnership with the council.Housing development associationsare sitting on a billion pound ofassets on their balance sheetsthat they’re not using for thebenefit of developing associations.As much as we challenge thecommercial sector to come in andbe partners, we should challengethe housing association to buildup houses not only for rent buthouses for sale. We shouldn’t beleaving it to Barratts and Wimpyand people like that.According to new research fromthe GMB union, Liverpool has thehighest proportion of homeswithout people working in the UK.

31 per cent of Liverpool’s160,000 houses are effectively‘jobless’, how will you work on this?Richard: 30 years ago Iestablished a place on the southdocks called the New EnterpriseWorkshops and I did it at a timewhen 2,500 people walked out ofTate and Lyle for the first time,when 2,500 walked out of BT forthe first time.

I helped a lot of people look attheir career options and self-employment with a range of

“Liverpool, as acity, cannotresolve problemson its own. What we need is massivegovernmentintervention.

”

“The basis ofpeople’scapacity toaccess newjobs is going tobe theireducation.

”

Mayoral hopefuls Lunch debate

MOVE COMMERCIAL 43


routes to set up a business. Somewere successful and that’s great.Many went into unemploymentthen and largely, apart from theodd training scheme, have been inunemployment since. The realtragedy is not only are theyunemployed but their children areunemployed because they’venever had the advantage ofseeing their mum and dad goingto work.

There are some families inLiverpool that no longer aspire towork so we have to accept thereare two types of people who areunemployed. There are those whocan and want to work and thosewho have given up trying.

The feeling with the secondcategory it’s a very long termprocess. If you come from a familywhere no one aspires and youdidn’t bother going to get a singleGCSE because there was no point,it would be pointless to say wecan have some quick solutions.One solution is to try and comeback to traditional apprenticeships

As far as creating jobs for thosewho want jobs there are tworoutes. One of them, we need tocreate private sector jobs, we’vealready talked about that but whatwe need to do is make people jobready now.

I can give an example - BulkyBob Resource Centre Group whogo out and find people who arelong-term unemployed and workwith them on an individual basisto get them back into work sothey know what it’s like to get upat 7 for an 8 o clock job, tounderstand the responsibilities ofwork, to understand there not asstupid as a lot of people haveclaimed they have been.

John: One of the ideas whichwill create employment if Ibecome mayor is my plans for anambitious programme to retro fitold houses with new insulation.I've put forward a proposal for amulti skilled team involvingpeople who are going to installwindows, deal with the ingress ofmoisture and damp proofing, thiscan be paid for, this can befunded by savings on fuel coststhat will be the long term gainand we’d be financed bycredential borrowing from the citycouncil.

Another thing I’d like to do forunemployed and young people,that might be a surprise to hearfrom a green party person, isteach them to drive. I'm actuallyin favour of less driving but more

drivers, more people having theskill to drive.

I think it can be a bar toemployment for some people andactually passing a driving testwould give people who haven’tgot a lot of achievements behindthem, the belief they can dosomething. I think that wouldmake them more employable.Other policies include moving theemphasis away from privatetransport, to public transport.When you drive your own privatecar, you don’t pay yourself asalary but when you’re runningpublic transport including taxisthat creates jobs for people.Tony Caldeira: First of all, they'revery disappointing statistics andthey emphasise more thananything what we’ve discussedtonight that we need to changethe way that we operate. We

need to create opportunities andcreate businesses for thesepeople.

I started my business career onthe markets in Liverpool 5 I had avery interesting upbringing in acouncil house but I wouldn’t beput off by my relativedisadvantage.

I believe that most people whoaren’t working desperately wantto and as mayor I want to givethem the opportunity to do that.And I think to do that what weneed to do is to createconditions for business to growand prosper. It’s a very simplething if you ask mostentrepreneurs they want anenvironment were regulation islow, were their taxations is lowso they can reinvest and createmore jobs.

Having built a manufacturing

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business on Merseyside, I reallydo want to rebuild manufacturinghere.

I think it’s important we supportall businesses that create the jobsLiverpool needs. We’ve also got tolook at how we support the peopleand how we make the people whoare unemployed work ready; weneed to look at how we do that.

People are leaving school whoare not going to go onto universityand aren’t going into college, weneed to train them how to sellthemselves because some peoplecan’t sell themselves very well.Some people sell themselvesparticularly well but are not goodat the job, some people aren’t verygood at selling themselves but arefantastic at the job.

Ultimately it’s about makingLiverpool Britain’s best businesscity.Tony Mulhearn: What we’ve got toexamine is how we inject the workculture into families who are ontheir second generation that havenever worked. Their parentshaven’t worked and the kidsaccept the situation. How can weoverrun that culture?

It’s a problem, no question. Job centres have these armies of

advisers. Every adviser will tellyou, that the most demoralisingthing is that the jobs are notthere. And how do you resolvethat? You can develop a kid, givehim his typing skills, CV skills,interview skills, and then he endsup stacking shelves for six weekson the basis that there may be ajob at the end of it but no jobtranspires. He’s out on his ear, andhe says “I’m wasting my time”.This is a major problem, how dowe deal with that problem if thereare no jobs?

It comes back to the city, whatcan the city do about it? Thegovernment is saying to thesekids, unless you get out there andfind a job we’re going to cut yourbenefits - you drag people out oftax credits and benefits, and theywill desperately seek work formore hours but those hours arenot there.

We’re coming back to this basicquestion, how do we create jobs?With all due respect, the tax cutdidn’t produce accurateinvestment in manufacturing, andafter the budget, after theyeliminated the 50p tax that madeabsolutely no difference.

There’s no backing away fromthe situation, what is required isan intervention by the

government in collaboration withthe councils to develop the kindof infrastructure which isessential, otherwise were goingto end up with kids who havenever worked. Imagine a wholepool of kids ten years from nowwho have never worked, they’ll bein their twenties, that essentiallyis a time bomb in society.Paul: I want to say two things.Firstly, if you’re going to dealwith long-term unemploymentyou need to first of all create thejobs, and secondly to make surethe people in the city can accessthose jobs.

We spoke earlier on about themeasures the council is taking toincrease regeneration in the cityand develop jobs, 17,000 will becreated in Liverpool Watersscheme and other developmentsin the city.

The basis of people’s capacity toaccess new jobs is going to betheir education and attainment.

I’m very proud to say as part ofthe City Deal we have, Joe whohas negotiated an arrangement,which will allow us to rebuild 12 ofour city schools. That means thatwe will be able to deliver qualityeducation in properly refurbishedbuildings to city pupils.

We are also committed tocreating apprenticeships, wehaven’t just talked about thiswe’ve gone out there and done it.We have produced the plans andare in the process of delivering1300 new apprenticeships in thecity working with other publicsector organisations but also theconstruction sector and localhousing associations. We’rebuilding 5,000 homes up inStonebridge cross and other areasin the city and the housingassociations have pledged to uselocal labour. We also have a locallabour agreement in the LiverpoolWaters agreement.

We are also in a position were wehave said that every young personin the city aged 17 or 18 who isnot in employment, education ortraining will be guaranteed anapprenticeship by the city council.That is an unprecedented pledgeacross all authorities as far as I'maware, we’re the only one to havedone it.

Liam: As we have discoveredthere is no one simple solution,no one magic bullet.

We have, as Richard pointed, outan immediate jobs crisis amongyoung people. We don’t want tocreate another lost generation

like in the 1980’s and we shoulddo whatever it takes – mentoring,work experience, workopportunities, micro-businesses,social enterprises, multinationals- whatever it takes.

And I think there’s acommonality amongst most of thegeneration that in creating workfor Liverpool people, the earlierwe intervene the better.

I think the mayor’s role in all thisis trivial. I think Liverpool’s problemover many years is good thingshappening unbeknown to eachother and people operating theirown little furrows. There’s never akind of integration.

The opportunity of having anelected mayor is to have someoneleading the way and getting outthe way, sometimes councillorsthink they can do the job of theprivate sector for us and they can’t.

The mayor’s job is to sell thecity, persuade people to come andinvest in the city but also to trustthe home-grown enterprisescreating entrepreneurs.Liverpool’s greatness wasdelivered by those sort of samepeople and we can do it again.

Mayoral hopefuls were treatedto a delicious three coursemeal courtesy of Marco PierreWhite Steakhouse Bar & Grillat the uber-trendy boutiquehotel Hotel Indigo. Startersincluded pea & mint soup orpan-fried grey mullet withasparagus and sauce vierge.

Mains on offer included theextremely popular roastGoosnargh chicken breastwith fondant potato, swedepuree and a spinach &pancetta sauce and thedelicious French trimmed porkchop with crushed potato,curly kale and a wholegrainmustard sauce.

The lemon and brown sugarmeringue went downparticularly well amongst ourguests for dessert.

Special thanks go to generalmanager David Hughes forhosting the debate.

Telephone 0151 559 0111.

Mayoral hopefuls Lunch debate

MARCO PIERRE WHITESTEAKHOUSE BAR & GRILLHOTEL INDIGO


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Expert views Ask the panel

"Are you more confident about the futurethan you were this time last year?"

“The rest of 2012 will continueto be a challenging period forthe property industry.

The economic conditions arepushing landlords to work tokeep buildings full, fromnegotiating on length andflexibility of leases to rent-freeperiods.

“At Bruntwood we’re seeingan increasing trend in ourexisting customers looking foradditional office space but notwanting to move officescompletely. The big lettingsare there to be had, but they’rehotly contested and landlordsare working harder than everbefore to secure them.

“I believe we are well placedto both attract new occupiersand retain customers as wehave a strong focus on offeringreal flexibility, particularly if acompany’s circumstanceschange. We know from thelast couple of years’ marketexperience that those landlordsunable to accommodate up ordownsizing will continue tostruggle in a tough market.”

Colin Forshaw, head of sales, Bruntwood

“Yes, we are more confidentabout the future. We are nowfive years into the recession. Ifyou work on a ten-year cyclethen something good has tohappen soon. There is strongdemand for reasonably pricedstock - we are witnessing thisboth on the high street and inthe auction room. So far this yearwe have held two auctions andthe results have been the best inMerseyside for over three years.

Auctions tend to be a goodindicator of where the market isheading and based on the resultsbeing achieved in Merseysideand across the UK things arelooking positive. Funding isbecoming more readily available,albeit with fairly strict lendingcriteria, which is also helpingmarket conditions to improve.”

James Kersh, director, Sutton Kersh

“We are certainly feeling confidentabout business this year but wewere confident this time last yeartoo. We are continuing to the buckthe trend in terms of our growthboth currently and also throughoutthe recession which has gripped usover the last few years. Themarket as a whole seems to beimproving now and we areoptimistic that this will continue.”

Paul Crowley, senior partner,Paul Crowley & Co Solicitors

Based on results from the Chamber of Commerce survey thatshows we're past the risk of a double dip recession, we ask:

“There is no doubt we are stilloperating within an uncertainproperty market, however, theredoes appear to be a greateroptimism and confidence aroundthe city than 12 months ago.

In the retail rental market, wehave seen a steady increase inthe number of enquiries, whichin turn leads to moretransactions.

“Together with nationalretailers, we are also seeingdemand from entrepreneursliving and working within thecity who are keen to open orexpand their own businesseswhilst taking advantage oflower rental values and rent-freeperiods. “Historically, somelandlords were sceptical of newbusiness ventures, proving asignificant shift in opinion asthey seek to avoid empty ratesand rental voids which hascontributed towards marketactivity.

“By no means do I feel we areon the cusp of the good timesagain but rather making steadyprogress towards normality.”

Matt Kerrigan,partner, Hitchcock Wright

“Business is now starting to turn a corner, weare seeing more guests staying for longerthan before and the restaurant is attractingguests from far and wide. With great eventslike the Giant Spectacular and of course theLiverpool Biennial these continue to puttourism at the centre of the cultural world.The conference market with ACC Liverpool iscontinually delivering fantastic events like theLabour party conference and of course theGEC conference and this in turn results inreturn visitors.

“Attracting new SME's to the area is keyto continuing down the road of recoveryand with the mayoral election coming up, Ican only see Liverpool delivering this greatopportunity through driving businessentrepreneurship.”

David Hughes, general manager, Hotel Indigo


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