ldp business magazine, april 2010

M O N T H L Y R E G I O N A L B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E

BUSINESSLDPLDPBUSINESSw w w . l d p b u s i n e s s . c o . u k

Former ICI site transformedbymanwithadynamicvision

●Capital idea:ALondonembassy forLiverpool?●WayoutWest:SellingSkelmersdale●Swashbucklers:JMUtakesonthepirates

Leadingthe wayLeadingthe way

A p r i l 2 0 1 0

A warmwelcome?

Eight-page analysisof Merseyside’svisitor economy

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4NEWSLondon embassy for Liverpool?

7BIG FEATUREMerseyside’s visitor economy

18COMMERCIAL PROPERTYCammell Laird secures new leases

19BIG INTERVIEWPeter Cook of SOG

23INTERNATIONAL TRADERisks of a volatile currency

25ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTFocus on West Lancs

30HOW GREEN IS YOURBUSINESS?Hotel cuts flood risk

32TRANSPORTExtra seats on key rail route

35PROFESSIONAL SECTORSNew networking opportunity

37SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYHigh-flying firm’s Newcastle deal

38EDUCATIONSinking the pirates

41RESTAURANT REVIEWTate Liverpool Cafe

42THE LIST

44NETWORKER‘Netwalking’ Liverpool

46SOCIAL DIARYCarolyn Hughes out on the town

LDP

I RECEIVED a disturbing electionleaflet from the Liberal Democratslast week.

Posted through my letter box, theLib-Dems’ “Liverpool Today” glossypublication included an article thatattacked the Labour candidate forWavertree, “London Luciana”, fornot being from around here.

Luciana Berger’s London roots arementioned 12 times in a singlearticle. Examples include “educatedin a London school”, “controversialLondon candidate” and “wasstanding as a councillor in London.”

Colin Eldridge’s London-phobiacontrasts with his article’s numerousreferences to his own “local”connections. But I can’t helpingthinking he’s stretching the pointwhen he makes something of the factthat his partner, Laura Gilmore, was

head girl at Bishop Eton primaryschool. Whoop, whoop.

The fact is, Mr Eldridge is thin ondetail about his own origins. All thathis leaflet reveals about himself isthat he currently lives at 50Rathbone Road.

The implication is that you shouldvote for Mr Eldridge because he hasbetter local connections and youshould send London Luciana packingback down south because . . . well,she’s not from around here.

So does this parochialism meanonly local people can stand forelection in any given constituency?Such an approach would certainlyhave reshaped British politicalhistory.

Yorkshire-born Harold Wilsonwould not have representedHuyton and didn’t MargaretThatcher represent a northLondon constituency, eventhough she came fromLincolnshire?

Mr Eldridge’s partyleader, Nick Clegg, wasborn of Russian and Dutchstock in very leafy ChalfontSt Giles, Buckinghamshire,yet he is MP for inner-citySheffield Hallam. Noteven Mr Clegg’s wife,a Spaniard, has a

Sheffield connection! The lastLib-Dem MP for the Wavertree areawas “Essex David”, or Lord Alton ofLiverpool, as he styles himself thesedays. Should he have been drivenback south?

If we are going to be prejudicedabout outsiders, should

Fernando Torres and VasilyPetrenko go home?

As for “local” Colin, hewas, it turns out, born andeducated at StBartholomew’s school inNewbury, Berkshire, andattended the University ofthe West of England,

wherever that is, and wasuntil a few years ago a

councillor inBristol.

A woolly

EDITOR’SLETTER

BUSINESS

EDITORBill Gleeson0151 472 [email protected]

DEPUTY BUSINESSEDITORTony McDonough0151 330 [email protected]

BUSINESS WRITERSAlistair [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

HEAD OF IMAGESBarrie [email protected]

MARKETINGEXECUTIVELitza Gorman0151 742 2352

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PHOTOGRAPHYTrinity Mirror

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PUBLISHED BYTrinity Mirror NW2,PO Box 48,Old Hall Street,Liverpool,L69 3EB.

TELEPHONE0151 227 2000

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COPYRIGHTLDP Business is printedmonthly and distributed withthe Liverpool Daily Post. Nopart of this publication may bereproduced without permissionof the publisher.

back if ever there was one. If youwant my vote, Colin, you should stoptalking about your girlfriend’sachievements when she was aged 11and instead tell me what you’regoing to do about income tax,business taxes and the economygenerally. Indeed, how are you andyour party going to make inwardinvestors, including those fromLondon, feel welcome in this part ofthe world?

Or would you prefer that anybodynot hitched to a former Bishop Etonheadgirl took the hint and kept theirinvestment cash, their jobs and theirfunny London ways to themselves?

Pots, kettles and the word blackcome to mind.

BILL GLEESON

INSIDE

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4

NEWS

Law firm founder callsfor London ‘embassy’O

NE of Liverpool’s leadingcorporate professionalssays the city should set up afully-staffed “embassy” inLondon to attract inward

investment.Guy Wallis, one of the founding

partners of corporate law firm DWF,said the city region needed a “radicalshake-up” of its inward investmentactivity.

His idea follows on from commentsfrom Liverpool Vision chief executiveJim Gill acknowledging that the cityneeds to do more to attract new blue-chip business into the city.

Mr Wallis said: “It would not be anexaggeration to suggest that 90% of thedecisions and judgments made in thiscountry that impact on our economyare made in London.

“Once upon a time, Merseysidemaintained an office in Brussels tolobby for all-important Europeanfunding. Today it’s private investmentthat the city needs, and a very largepart of that is still directed by peopleand institutions in London.

“Whether it is investment advisers,corporate companies, senior civilservants, media opinion-formers orpoliticians, it’s clear that theperceptions of people in the capital arevital to Liverpool’s future.

“It’s great that Liverpool is going tobe at the Shanghai World Expo, but wealso need to focus our efforts a lotcloser to home.”

Mr Wallis acknowledges that such ainitiative would require re-prioritisingexisting marketing expenditure.

The Mersey Partnership is theagency tasked with the role ofattracting inward investment into theLiverpool city region.

However, a spokeswoman told LDPBusiness the agency did not wish tocomment on the idea at this time.

RUNCORN-BASED“rugged” PC supplierJLT Mobile Computersis reporting a 50%surge in sales overthe past 12 months.

The firm, formerlycalled JLT UK,supplies tablet PCsand in-vehiclemounted PCs that areused in a wide rangeof demanding, harshenvironments.

Some of the recentapplications of JLTdevices includeintegrating touchscreen PCs intonon-destructivetesting equipmentused for testing oiland petrochemicalstorage tanks, andinstallation in mini-submarines to run thenavigation andauto-pilot systems.

Managing directorMark Muslek said: “Ithas been aphenomenal year forJLT in the UK.

“Despite thegeneral economic

downturn, we are verypleased with the levelof interest in ourrugged mobilecomputing productsthat are deployed in awide range ofgroundbreakingend-user applicationsunder extremeconditions.

“As the companiesbenefit from ourleading technologyand word spreadsabout its successfuldeployment, we areexpecting great thingsfor 2010.

“Our ruggedproducts present anexcellent return oninvestment for endusers. All have beenproven fit-for-purposein the harshestenvironments andwithstand extremephysical abuse. Sincethe early 1990s, JLThas been developingrugged PCs that areused by the militaryand emergencyservices.”

‘Rugged’ PC firmin sales surge

JLT managing director Mark Muslek

Guy Wallis – believes Liverpool should have an office in the capital

CONSTRUCTION firmMorgan Ashurst gavepupils at Wallasey’sPark Primary Schoollessons in health andsafety.

The Liverpool-basedbuilder is developing a£4.3m eco-friendlyreplacement school onthe Woodstock Roadsite.

And with most of thework set to take placeduring term-time, thecompany felt it wasright for students to donhard hats and hi-visjackets for someschooling in safety.

Morgan Ashurstproject manager Ryan

Jones said: “We wonthe job to constructPark Primary Schoolpartly because wepromised to keepchildren involved withthe project.

“We are building thenew school just metresaway from the pupils,and it’s ourresponsibility to keepthem safe throughoutconstruction.”

Headteacher HilaryRyan added: “Thechildren greatlybenefited from theopportunity to find outhow building sites workand now recognise veryclearly the dangers.”

Ryan Jones with Emma Parke, Jack Panteli, and ReesO'Neill

Morgan Ashurst delivers valuable safety lessons

5

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Helping business sparkle

Claire Smithwick, of Passion Jewellery

Stepclever gives valuable support andstart-up aid to Liverpool-based jewellerymakersSTEPCLEVER is an initiative togenerate an enterprise culturein North Liverpool and SouthSefton, by offering freebusiness advice and support, aswell as grants and otherfinancial assistance for existingenterprises, start-up companiesand individuals. Here we lookat an exciting venture which isbeing helped by Stepclever.

ALL things that glitter don’t haveto be gold, as Claire Smithwickhas discovered.

In 2009, the 28-year-old wasmade redundant from her job as a

florist and struggled to findanother job in the industry. So,Claire took control of thesituation and decided to turn herhobby – jewellery making – into afull-time job.

Claire said: “I’d always wantedmy own business and so,ironically, being made redundantwas the best thing that could havehappened to me – it gave me thekick I needed to make mybusiness dream a reality.

“I had some minor concernsabout setting up a new companywhile we were in the middle of arecession, but I thought that if I

could make it work during thesetough financial times, I would beable to make it work in thefuture.”

After applying to Stepclever fora grant, Claire was awarded £1,500funding which resulted in thecreation of Passion Jewellery.With this money, she bought theessential materials used to createunique pieces and also invested inmarketing which included a newwebsite which is set to belaunched soon.

And it wasn’t just about themoney. Stepclever gave essentialadvice and sent her on manycourses to give her basic businessskills such as marketing and bookkeeping.

Claire added: “Stepclever havebeen invaluable and have helpedme understand more about thebusiness side of things. They’vealso given me fantastic contacts,which has really got my businessoff the ground.”

Passion Jewellery’s head-quarters are in Claire’s home, inAnfield, where she designs agorgeous range of one-off

bracelets, necklaces and earrings,all ranging from £10 to £45.

The jewellery is sold throughspecial parties hosted by Claire,as well as fashion and corporateevents. A selection of the custom-made items are also sold at shopsthroughout the city, art galleries,boutiques and beauty salons.

With her diary filling up andfantastic feedback fromcustomers, business is going well,and Claire is hoping for evenmore success throughout 2010.

She said: “More and morepeople are recognising that Iproduce lovely jewellery which isof an excellent quality, and I’d liketo get to the point wherecustomers proactively come to me– and fingers crossed that willstart to happen in the very nearfuture.”

■ FOR more information aboutPassion Jewellery, contactClaire Smithwick on 07757 291357, email [email protected] or search forPassion Jewellery by Claire onFacebook.Stepclever gave funding to help Passion Jewellery’s start-up

We can HelpStepclever offers FREE specialist advice to growingbusinesses including access to a range of financialincentives, support with developing your business idea,managed referrals to other available support, developing newproduction processes, finding suitable business premisesand a dedicated Business Development Manager to help youon a one to one basis through the whole process.

Support for Business• Want to grow your business and create new job

opportunities?• Want to know how to get FREE advice and continued

support to develop your idea?• Require financial assistance to help you achieve your

goals?

Who to contact

Stepclever has establishedoffices in the heart of thecommunities serving theareas of Anfield, Everton,Kirkdale, County in northLiverpool and Derby andLinacre insouth Sefton.

If you would like some moreinformation please contactus by either email or phone.

You can call us, free ofcharge, on 0800 030 4376Email: [email protected]

www.stepclever.co.uk

DERBYRERELINACRENANA REREL E

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© Crown copyright.All rights reserved100018351 2008

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From left, Nick Murphy, Dave Smith and Kes Earl, of Warrington-based Hydrotech Solutions

Water firm tapping intosome expert adviceAFTER working for aninternational watertreatment company for 24years, Dave Smith and hisfamily realised that bycombining their individualskills, they had the basisfor a successful business.

With Mr Smith and hisson-in-law Nick Murphy atthe helm, and with thesupport of daughter Joannaand wife Dianna,Hydrotech Solutions, asupplier of specialist watertreatment equipment, hassince grown beyondrecognition.

The company nowsupplies water cleaningequipment to the famousGleneagles golf courses, inScotland, and has alsoinstalled equipment at the

Royal Liverpool Golf Club.Hydrotech is aiming toexpand into the publicsector during 2010 bysupplying its equipment tolocal authorities.

Mr Smith first came intocontact with Business LinkNorthwest in 2008, when hewas looking for somesupport with a fundingapplication to the bank tohelp with expansion plans.

He was paired up withBusiness Link Northwestfinancial and professionalservices adviser NormanDenton and, while theapplication to the bank didnot go ahead, it was thestart of a very beneficialrelationship.

Mr Denton said: “I cameinto contact with Dave once

more at a Business Linkevent in November, 2009,and he thought it would beuseful for the company if Icame on board again. Thecompany was going fromstrength-to-strength andexpecting its turnover totriple in 2010, so Dave waskeen to ensure the growthwas sustainable.”

Mr Denton met with MrSmith and together theycarried out a diagnostic ofHydrotech Solutions andput together an action plan.■ TO CONTACT BusinessLink Northwest, call 084500 66 888 or [email protected]

For more information,visit Business Link websiteat www.business link.gov.uk/northwest

TOTALLYFRANK

Frank McKenna isthe chairman ofDowntown LiverpoolIn Business

ICONIC brands have tomodernise, too . . .

IT WAS with sadness, if notnecessarily surprise, that Iheard the news of Lewis’sclosure. The legendaryLiverpool department store willbe closing its doors after over100 years of trading, with theloss of around 300 jobs.

Every Scouser has a tale totell about the grand old retailoutfit. For my part, it was thefirst place where I visited Santa’sGrotto. Sir Paul McCartneyonce worked there, JohnLennon is said to have met hisfirst wife, Cynthia, outsideLewis’, for their first date, nodoubt underneath the statuethat is “exceedingly bare”.

The Liverpool Onedevelopment, along with thesoon to beconstructedCentral Villagescheme has, ofcourse,contributed toLewis’s demise.However, longbefore themodernisation ofLiverpool citycentre, Lewis’swas in difficulty,and has almostclosed on at leasttwo previousoccasions duringthe recent past.

As withtraditional namessuch as Wool-worths and EthelAustin, Lewis’shas failed to renew and re-invent itself as a relevant retailoffering for the 21st-centuryshopper. Discussing this withAurora Media boss Jon Egan heamusingly – though, it has to beconceded, accurately –compared Lewis’s to GraceBrothers, the store from sit-comAre You Being Served?

Historical? Yes. Quaint? Yes.Fit for purpose in 2010? As withall businesses, particularly in asector as harsh as retail, youcannot survive on reputationand past glories alone.

New ways of marketing havebeen the subject of severalrecent business publications,with an inevitable, though notexclusive, focus on theinfluence of the internet.

Of course, it is increasinglyimportant that businesses havea strong on-line presence, but

keeping a brand fresh,maintaining and making goodcontacts and ensuring thatyou have a quality offer are allimportant elements of aneffective “sales” pitch.

Bright Marketing, by entre-preneur guru Robert Craven,is well worth a read if you arelooking to shake up yourfirm’s marketing strategy.

Maybe there are lessons tobe learnt in all this for ourcity’s two football clubs.Recent LDP reports suggestedthat the latest negotiationsabout the potential for a jointstadium, or perhaps analternative plan that wouldsee the redevelopment ofAnfield and Goodison Park,alongside the creation of a“football quarter” have beenquickly dismissed.

NeitherLiverpool norEverton haveanywhere nearthe resourcesrequired tobuild a stadiumon their own.Why then suchvehementopposition toeven exploringthe possibilityof a sharedhome?

And, for all ofyou dyed-in-the-wool Bluesand Reds whosay they wouldrather seeTorres andArteta in a

Manchester City shirt thanshare a ground with theirrivals, think on this.

Figures revealed this monthshow that matchday revenuesfor Manchester United are£108.8m, compared to £42.5mat Liverpool. Everton will besome way below that again. Itis now 20 years since eitherMerseyside club won a leaguetitle (Liverpool may yet winthe Europa League thisseason, but does anyonecare?). There is a very realpossibility that Liverpool willfail to qualify for theChampions League for thefirst time. Everton’s hopes ofany European competitionnext term look remote.

I repeat. As with allbusinesses, you cannotsurvive on reputation andpast glories alone.

‘Aswithallbusinesses,you cannotsurviveonreputationandonpastgloriesalone’

7

▲

BY PETER ELSON

THE BIG FEATURE▲

Giant spider La Princesse weaves her way through Liverpool, as part of 2008’s Capital of Culture celebrations

Capital of tourism?

Contrary to expectations, the real legacy of LiverpoolCapital of Culture was not in buildings or events, butin an entirely revitalised attitude to the city which is

nowpoweringits tourismeconomy.Butwill it last?

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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WHEN globe-trottingJudith Chalmers testeda short-break inLiverpool for ITV’sWish You Were Here?

quite some time ago, evenLiverpudlians thought it was a spoof.

In the intervening 15 years or so,what was once a joke is nowseriously regarded as the economicfuture.

Because tourism is now hailed asone of the major saviours ofMerseyside’s economy.

The Beatle generation has nowcome of age, both directing themarket and filling the hotels.

That means Liverpool and, byassociation, Merseyside are the“coolest” they’ve been since the FabFours burst onto the world stage inthe 1960s.

The Liverpool City Region’scultural and tourism appeal is nowthe strongest outside of London,claims The Mersey Partnership(TMP).

It promotes this offering as amatchless combination of culture,music, heritage and sport.

This means that tourism has thegenuine potential to take theeconomy onto a new level during thenext decade.

Much hype has been made ofinfluential magazine Conde NastTraveller’s readers voting Liverpoolbest short-break city after Londonand Edinburgh for two yearsrunning, in 2008 and 2009.

This was all thanks to Liverpool’sCapital of Culture 2008 title, but themomentum can’t be allowed to rundown.

Normal pre-2008 service can’t beallowed to resume.

Reassuringly, in the post-Capital ofCulture World, we are seeing thecity’s economy hugely boosted by theLiverpool Arena & ConventionCentre.

A new annual national event, theLiverpool Boat Show, will belaunched next year.

On May 25, an F1 and high-performance car pageant will takeplace on The Strand, Liverpool.

If a success, there are signs thiscould be expanded around the cityand made an annual event.

TMP has devised an action plan inconsultation with local and regionalpartners, plus the Department ofCulture, Media and Sport.

Currently, the tourism economy isvalued at an annual visitor spend of£1.3bn.

This is expected to grow by 60%, to£2bn by 2020.

Over the next 10 years, visitorspending will grow to support 37,000jobs, which is a 61% net increase of14,000 jobs on the current 23,000 jobs.

No other sector shows anythingsimilar in its potential for growth, orto spearhead regeneration.

Its effect spreads across theLiverpool City Region’s jobopportunities in hotels, retail,restaurants, conference venues,visitor attractions, culturalinstitutions, transport, tours andcreative industries.

There were many who believedthat Liverpool’s success in winningEuropean Capital of Culture in 2008would have no lasting effect.

In fact, that in itself was theculmination of a decade ofinvestment.

There is no doubt that 2008 was theturning point for the city.

This was when Liverpool wentfrom being na ational basket case tobeing seriously re-appraised in apositive light by opinion-makers.

Although the glossy new LiverpoolOne shopping centre, expandingLiverpool John Lennon Airport’sservices, increasing the city’s

bedstock and building LiverpoolCruise Liner Terminal caused somecritics to dub 2008 “the culture ofcapital”, together they created acradle for the visitor economy.

These public realm improvementsprovide the infrastructure necessaryto service the visitor market.

These days, tourists also expecthigh-quality “recreational shopping”alongside the traditional attractionsof art galleries and concert halls.

The newly-unleashed visitorgenerating ability of the LiverpoolEcho Arena & BT Convention Centrecannot be underestimated.

It has all enabled the tourismsector to come of age.

With the bulk of traditionalindustries gone, transformed orreduced, tourism provides for, or

improves, the quality of life for theCity Region’s 1.5m population.

The cascade effect forregeneration through the localeconomy is enormous.

There is also the matter of pride athriving region gives the population.

However, there is a feeling that thesurface has hardly been scratched.

Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminalis delivering an outstandingsatisfaction level from passengers.

It is known that several leadingcruise lines want to base ships here –including one world-famous four-starbrand, should the cruise terminal bepermitted to host turn-arounds.

“Disney’s cruise operation is alsointerested in coming to Liverpool,”said Cllr Gary Millar, Liverpool CityCouncil executive member for

tourism and regeneration.“Obviously, they do great businesswith young families who would notusually consider taking a cruise.

“We tick all the boxes for them asa family-friendly city that is compactand walkable from the landing stage.

“This is an example of strategicthinking nobody in Liverpool wouldhave once dared dream about.”

Liverpool John Lennon Airport isworking with its main carriers tobring foreign tourists intoMerseyside, besides flying locals out.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines isincreasing its flights from four to sixdaily, giving Europe unparalleledaccess to Liverpool via itsAmsterdam Schipol hub.

Merseytravel, through its MerseyFerries subsidiary, is also moving

into family and day-out tourism,having acquired the Birkenheadtramway system and transportmuseum.

Liverpool is also the only UK cityto be represented at the ShanghaiExpo, which runs from May untilOctober this year.

The theme is Better City – BetterLife, and Liverpool was chosen torepresent British civic designbecause of its regeneration.

“The Liverpool Pavilion will beexhibiting to 200 nations and 70mvisitors,” said Cllr Millar.

“Our message will be aboutculture, health and sport, with anaim of bringing in more visitors,students and investment.

“It’s taken 30 years to get to thispoint in the city’s regeneration, and

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

A Mersey ferry passing the SevenSeas Voyager cruise liner last year

9

tourism will take us furtherforward.”

Ian Ayre is a classic case ofsomeone who left Liverpool in the1970s, later moving to the Far East.

He is now back and not onlyLiverpool Football Club’scommercial director, but is also TheMersey Partnership chair of the cityregion tourist board.

“I’ve seen the city transform instages. When I came backpermanently, the service andattitudes had much improved.

“Liverpool has greater assets thanmost cities in the UK which can beharnessed for tourism.

“If you bring anyone here, theirperception of the place changes –always for the better.”

There is no doubt that the city has

everything to play for and gain in thetourism market. But it is a toughworld out there.

Bob Prattey, Echo Arena Liverpool& BT Convention Centre chiefexecutive, said: “You can bet if we’resitting here thinking about how toattract more visitors, every othercity is, too. But while it’s greathaving big ideas, we must keep inmind why we’re doing it.”

Stephen Roberts, Liverpool HotelsAssociation chair and Crowne PlazaHotel chief, is optimistic.

“The transformation I’ve seen inthe past 10 years is nothing short ofremarkable, but we need a consistentlevel of demand to fill the hotels.

“With more hotels coming onstream in the recession, that’s wherethe challenge is.”

Newmuseums arekey to the futurePhilRedmondseescultureasaneconomic forceTHE new Museum ofLiverpool has not beenwithout its critics orcontroversy, but there is nochance it can be ignored.

Prof Phil Redmond,National Museums Liverpoolchair of trustees, believes it isthe premier example of howthe city needs to think big.

“The new Museum ofLiverpool is not a ‘Museum ofScouseology’, but the only newnational and internationalone outside a capital city.

“The 2.8m visitors to NMLin 2008 had an economicimpact of £120m.

“While 45% of our visitorsare from Merseyside, thatmeans 55% are not.

“In terms of visitor spend,they are more valuable,especially as 10% of those areinternational.

“To me, that’s a really goodand interesting profile.”

NML is practically theelephant in the city regiontourism enclosure, so big andlong-term is its presence.

It spreads down WilliamBrown Street with the WalkerGallery and World Museum,along the waterfront with theMersey Maritime Museum,International SlaveryMuseum and new Museum ofLiverpool and into Wirralwith the Lady Lever Gallery.

He reckons there is evenroom for one more betweenthe new Museum and theAlbert Dock.

“We have national mus-eums in Liverpool and nation-al museums outside Liver-pool,” said Prof Redmond.

“We do not celebrate thatenough. The new museumencapsulates how thisparticular city played such acrucially interesting role inthe modern world.

“We have more to tell thanjust celebrating the GrandNational or the Kop.

“Going back to the first

dock in 1707, werevolutionised sea trade andit’s about explaining thisstrange place we came tooccupy in the world.

“The decision to build themuseum in that waterfrontposition reflects that history.

“We went for a memorableshape, which was the braveand right thing to do.

“This is called the ‘Bilbaoeffect’ as that Spanish city,which is very similar toLiverpool, was the first torevive itself with an iconicnew museum.

“My other focus aschairman is to make sure theInternational SlaveryMuseum is not only aboutsocial justice, but about hefact that slavery still exists.”

When completed in 2011,the waterfront museums’

“cultural offer” will beequivalent to London’s SouthKensington museum range,he believes.

“The waterfront museumsare linked to the adjacenthotels, Arena and ConventionCentre,” said Prof Redmond.

“We’ve got to work togetherto sell the brand, as we’re acold-water, northern city.

“We have to marketourselves in a different way.

“People who come to seethe football generally aren’tgoing to visit the museums.

“But those who visitAintree might do. It’s what Icall ‘dwell time’.

“If you come to shop, arrivefour hours earlier and dosomething else.

“By being smart, weconvert £30-spend-a-headvisitors into £45 ones.”

We have to market ourselves in a different way – PhilRedmond, chair of National Museums Liverpool

‘Edgy’ area right for new hotel conceptLIVERPOOL’S timeas a destinationwith a differencehas arrived.

So says RobertNadler, who willopen a new £14mhotel concept herein July.

His hipbase2stay brandwas launched inLondon in 2006,and the Liverpoolfour-star 106-roomproperty is in the1855 former Seel

House Press,creating 60 jobs.

There are nodining or barfacilities. Instead,guests explore theRopeWalks area’samenities, lured bythe pre-agreeddiscounts with theowners of localbusinesses.

Mr Nadler,base2stay chiefexecutive, said:“We want peopleto spend their

money in the areaand see Liverpool.

“We want to bean economicmultiplier for localbusinesses and tobe regarded bythem as a partner.

“My idea isbased on what Iwant from a hotel.

“Tourists don’twant hotel dining,so why have arestaurant in it?”

The up-comingRopeWalks, with

its Bohemian air,music bars andold architecture isideal for the hotel.

“We don’t wantto be yet anotherordinary hotel inan unexciting partof town,” he said.

“The RopeWalkshas got that edgyfeeling. This city isreinventing itselfand you rarely getthe chance tocatch the wave asit grows.”

THE BIG FEATURE THE VISITOR ECONOMY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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Tourism will overtake all elseLiners andmaritimeeventswill be the key to Liverpool city region’s economic revival in next decade

IN TEN to 20 years, tourism will bethe key industry for the North West,says Liverpool City Council’stourism executive member.

“For Liverpool and the city region,the vital economic tourism driverwill be the cruise liner and relatedmaritime industries,” said Cllr GaryMillar, responsible for tourism andregeneration.

News that Peel Ports wants totemporarily transfer its LangtonDock turnaround cruises to the PierHead’s Liverpool Cruise Terminalwas warmly welcomed by him

“If properly developed, thissuccess will feed into the hotels,bars, restaurants and transport.

“More people are realising acruise is one of the best, safest andmost relaxing holidays around.

“As a city port, Liverpool is ideallyplaced for this fast-growing market.

“New York and Majorca offercruise and stay holidays, so can we. ”

Traditional UK industry hasshrunk and the new knowledgeeconomy will be huge, but nothing

will match tourism, he believes:“Capital of Culture was a wonderfulimpetus and change for the hospital-ity industry,” said Cllr Millar.

“A year later, and in the midst of arecession, we’ve seen only a 2%reduction in hotel bookings.

“This is while a lot more beds havecome on stream in the city.

“Since 2008, the national presshave been much kinder to us andchanged their views dramatically.

“This feeds into local perceptionsof confidence levels which councilresearch showed rose to 95% in 2008.

“It is still at 89%, compared to30-70% some years ago.”

Liverpool has been rated twice inthe top three UK city breakdestinations by the influential CondéNast Traveller magazine’s readers.

“But I don’t know how long thiscan continue,” warned Cllr Millar.

“We need a flow of events, festivalsand one-off occasions to keep ahead.

“Liverpool One has put us in theUK’s top five retail cities.

“Many visitors have not woken up

to the fact of our World Heritage Site.Once the waterfront building work iscompleted, we’ll work up anotheraudience who want to see it.

“People forget WHS stretchesacross the city in six zones toWilliam Brown Street.

“Being a gadget man, I’m lookingat how we can harness newtechnology to impart information totourists on walking tours.

“WHS logo plaques with RFIDtransmitters could be activated andtalk to mobile phones as you pass.

“Heritage maps can be beamedfrom sat navs detailing our 1,678listed buildings and 2,500 statues.These are the hidden gems of the city.

“Much more could be done infeeding people from one attraction toanother.

“The Tate’s chief, Nicholas Serota,will open Tate Liverpool’s Picassoexhibition on April 19.

“Hotels should sell combined roomand tickets to this show.

“The popularity of the RoyalLiverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s

chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko,should be used as a hook to getpeople on architectural tours.

“Working in partnership is theway forward.”

Judith Feather, Liverpool CityCouncil’s head of events, hasassessed 2008’s achievements and thelasting effect on 2009.

“The momentum is beingmaintained with events like MathewStreet Festival and On theWaterfront,” said Ms Feather.

The latter includes the MerseyPirate Muster, Albert Dock, July 17,part of the Art & Maritime weekendwith the Tate’s Picasso show.

The Liverpool Boat Show, backedby the city, is run by a commercialcompany, National Boat Shows.

“That will have a big impact andmove us forward in a new direction,”said Ms Feather.

This year, The Mersey Partnershipstarted the Major Events Group withthe City Council, North WestDevelopment Agency and otherbodies like Merseyside Police. The

group has a major event plannerschedule from 2010 - 2024. It isbidding for Liverpool to becomeUnesco City of World Music, and tohost matches in the World Cup 2018 ifat least one new football stadium isready.

More aspirational events are beingbuilt up like Brouhaha arts andmusic festival, Hope Street Feast andthe Pageant of Power highperformance motor parade in May.

“Organisers now knock on ourdoor with events like the Boat Show.

“That is a perfect match for ourwaterfront and maritime heritage.

“But we must ask what events wewant and what will they do for us?For the 2008 legacy is the glueing ofdisparate groups together whichdidn’t happen before.

“Our cultural offer is now betterthan anywhere else, but, as withmartime events, we should play toour advantages.

“The Tall Ships Races 2008 gotmassive TV coverage and generated£8m for the Liverpool economy.”

Cllr Gary Millar relaxes at his Studio 2 venue, which was converted from a recording studio, in Parr Street, Liverpool

THE BIG FEATURE THE VISITOR ECONOMYIN ASSOCIATION WITH

11

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Taste Liverpool is an accreditation scheme forrestaurants that demonstrate excellence incustomer service and food and drink preparationthroughout Liverpool City Region, promoted byThe Mersey Partnership, the official Tourist Board.

12

The Spanish armada helps boost JLALiverpool FC’s stars start a new trend in tourismwhich is aiding Liverpool Airport’s steady revivalTHE Spanish are very keen on visitingLiverpool for one particular reason.

It’s called the “Torres effect” as Spain’sanswer to David Beckham bringsplaneloads of his countrymen to the city.

Having decided to see a match starringtheir hero Fernando, the Spaniards oftendecide to make a weekend of it and book ashort-break package.

All music to the ears of Liverpool JohnLennon Airport, England’s fourth-biggestregional airport, which has inbound planeseats to fill, as well as outbound.

JLA has become one of the top 10 busiestairports in the UK for the first time in itshistory.

This is a far cry from its position of 20thin 1995 and 14th just 10 years ago, in 2000.

It was also one of two airports toexperience growth in January, 2010, withan 8% year-on-year increase.

This is the third consecutive month thatLiverpool has seen year-on-year monthlypassenger growth, with 8% and 7%increases in November and Decemberrespectively.

However, the recession caused an 18-month decline in passenger throughputprior to this.

While Ireland remains the biggestoverseas visitor market into JLA, Franceand Italy are both growing throughcost-effective direct flights from aroundthese countries.

Although Liverpool’s main bait is TheBeatles, it is serviced by a completepackage of facilities for visitors.

“We have an infrastructure to take careof visitors like never before,” said NeilPakey, Peel Airports Liverpool deputychief executive officer.

“The boom in hotels means we can offereverything from budget to four-staraccommodation.

“Capital of Culture 2008 was the triggerfor us. The city’s credibility changedovernight, and that positive image stayed.

“What is not known is how much theLiverpool carriers backed the bid, as theyknew it would be so valuable to them.

“Glasgow is still talking about havingbeen City of Culture 20 years ago – that’show long the effect can last.

“When we talk to new carriers, we sellthe region as well as the airport.

“Airlines are more internationallymobile, and national airlines no longercontrol their market.

“Liverpool is an easy sell these dayswith the history, culture, music, sport,Arena and Liverpool One.

“As the budget airlines have more basesin Europe, we can tap into more markets tobring visitors into Liverpool.

“The Liverpool brand is very healthy

overseas. JLA is also becoming a gatewayto the North West, whether it’s Chester, thegolf coast or the Lake District.”

After launching services to Liverpoolservices last year, KLM Royal DutchAirlines has increased daily flights to itsAmsterdam Schipol hub from four to six.

This link opens a vast array of Europeanand international services to Liverpool.

“We need to educate people that theconnecting times via Amsterdam arebetter than Manchester,” said Mr Pakey.

North American visitors are evenarriving in Liverpool via Amsterdam.

“There is a tremendous ‘leakage’ ofpassengers to us from KLM long-haulroutes, ranging from the US to Hong Kong.

“About 15%-20% of our passengers areinternational tourists.

“The Scottish carrier FlyGlobeSpanproved that, if promoted, there was astrong US outbound and inbound market.

“Unfortunately, the company hadoperational difficulties and thingsspiralled down and closed.

“As KLM is showing, there are bigmarkets for us in New York, Washington,Las Vegas, and California.

“When the economy comes right, I’msure someone will look at it again.”

Last year, Eastern Airlines alsointroduced a Southampton – Liverpool –Aberdeen service, which is holding up well.

JLA’s £12m expansion of its departurelounge, including a number of new shops,will be finished this autumn.

The first phase is the opening of a newpassenger security screening area in June,three times the size of the existing facility.

The opening of the on-site airport hoteland new multi-storey car park has greatlyimproved the business travellerexperience.

Business travel accounts for about 15%of JLA traffic.

However, Mr Pakey is much exercised bythe Government’s Air Passenger Duty(APD) tax.

Although other European countrieshave dropped the tax, Britain refuses tobudge.

“This is purely a revenue-raising tax,not an environmental one as originallystated,” said Mr Pakey.

Passengers currently pay £10 APD ondomestic flights or short-haul journeysleaving the UK and £40 for long-haul flights.

This is set to rise greatly, and double forsome long-haul flights.

“If you’re travelling as a group of fourinto Liverpool from abroad, APD greatlyincreases your costs and will put people offcoming,” said Mr Pakey.

He hopes the tax will be dropped whenthe EU introduces a new system in 2011.

The ‘Torres effect’, named after Liverpool FC star Fernando Torres, above, has seen planeloadsof his Spanish compatriots fly into Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Liverpool football museum’s winning streak shows no sign of going off sideEVER since winning theEuropean Cup in 1977,Liverpool Football Clubhas deliberately courtedsupporters worldwide.

As the most successfulEnglish club ever,Liverpool FC was the firstto create a museum in1997, knowing its supportbase was big enough toback the attraction.

This is coupled with astadium tour aroundAnfield, which wasupdated earlier this year.

"We'll always be lookingat refreshing the tour andmaking it better,” said TomCassidy, LFC commercialtourism manager.

“So, if you come back inagain, you'll notice tweaksand improvements.”

The museum was sucha success, it was sooncopied by ManchesterUnited and Arsenal.

It was the first club tolaunch an InternationalSupporters Club, afterwinning two UEFA Cups in

1973 and 1976, and thenthe European Cup in 1977.

“Our profile across theworld was sky-high andLFC made an intelligentdecision to get peopleabroad to support and seethe team play,” saidStephen Done, Museum &Stadium Tour curator.

In August, 2006, TheMersey Partnership gavea very special chairman’saward to LFC for anoutstanding contributionto the visitor economy.

Pre-Capital of Culturedata showed LFC’s visitordraw and spend in the citywas so extraordinary itoutranked all otherattractions combined.

The museum andstadium tour gives aninsight into who visits thecity.

“There’s a significantincrease in overseasvisitors. We seem to beswimming in Spaniards, arace previously not knownto travel,” said Mr Done.

In 2001, LFC won fivetrophies, and this broughta huge interest in themuseum, followed by theChampions League Finalin Istanbul, in 2005, whichdoubled visitor numbers.

“Capital of Culture wasastonishingly good for us.There are no signs of ittailing off,” said Mr Done.

In 2008, the Museum andStadium Tour had 156,000visitors, and last year1,320,000 people attendedgames at Anfield.

An aerial view of Anfield,with Goodison Park beyond


13

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14

A conventionalsolution to thelong recessionTheLiverpool Arena andConventionCentre is avital factor in supporting thecity’s big-namehotels

IF FERRIS wheels are a sign ofsuccess, then Liverpool isriding high with another first.

After the 55m-tall LiverpoolOne Wheel, in Chavasse Park,

installed for Christmas, came the60m Echo Arena Wheel.

Now, appropriate to our MaritimeCity, rolls in the world’s first floatingFerris wheel.

Situated in Salthouse Dock, by theArena, it will be ready for theLiverpool Boat Show, in May, 2011.

Visitors will take a boat out to thewheel, anchored in the Dock’s centre.

Bob Prattey, Echo Arena and BTConvention Centre (ACC) chiefexecutive, said: “The floating wheelwill be the centre piece of adevelopment for the Boat Show.

“It’s based on oil-rig technologyand encapsulates the importance tothe city of doing innovative andimaginative things to attract people.”

Whoever you discuss Liverpool’stourism economy with, soon theywill advise: “Talk to Bob Prattey.”

It is a mark of not only howquickly the Arena and ConventionCentre’s became embedded, but of itshighly crucial economic importance.

Luckily, its success has beenmeteoric. Hoping for profit withinfive years, it might break even in itssecond year of 2009-10.

“And our first year loss wasnegligible on a £12.5m turnover,”said Mr Prattey.

Most convention centres (like thisone) are local authority owned andnot expected to be profitable per se,but act as economic drivers.

“It took me 10 years to get intoprofit at the InternationalConvention Centre, in Birmingham,”said Mr Prattey.

Bookings are already being takenfor conferences in 2015 and 2019.

Before then, the Lib-DemConference will be here in autumnand the Labour Party Conferencenext year.

The Tories should follow andrepeat business is also growing.

Mr Prattey chuckles: “I meet hotelgeneral managers who have to maketheir quotas, and they’ll say, ‘Robert,we’re having a quiet February’ orwhenever.

“Then there’s a pause, followed bythe question: ‘What are you going todo about it?’!”

Clearly, this is a downside to alsochairing the Mersey Partnership’sMajor Events Group.

“TMP has set Liverpool City Regionhugely ambitious visitor targets, andwe’re not going to achieve thoseunless we use plenty of imagination.

“We have a huge poster over themulti-storey car park advertising themusical Mama Mia!, in July.

“It’s simple, but this is the onlyvenue outside London and we couldhave 70,000 people seeing the show.

“We also have an Arena databaseof 100,000 past customers who getinstant information on new shows.

“Sometimes, we can fill the Arenaon just one electronic mailing.

“Then you can ask the promoter

immediately for a second night.Many of the Mama Mia! audience, forexample, will come from outside thearea, and it’d be crazy if they onlycame to see the show.

“Especially as we have the TateGallery, Albert Dock and MerseyMaritime Museum next door.

“It’s imperative to convert day

visitors to overnight stays. That’swhen the economic impact becomesrealisable.

“The hotel relationship is crucial;there’s not a cigarette paper betweenus, although we don’t have anypreferred partners.

“Obviously those like Jury’s,Hilton and Holiday Inn Express

Bob Pratteyonsite, as theArena andConventionCentre wasbeing built


15

benefit by being close. When oursales teams are in Brussels orFrankfurt, they have got to be able tolook clients in the eye and say ‘We’vegot 5,000 beds’.

“Obviously, there is supply anddemand, but hoteliers must berealistic about long-term rates andnot damage the city’s reputation.”

Liverpool’s amazing big namehotel boom is predicated on theConvention Centre; without it, theywould not survive.

The Capital of Culture got the ACCoff to a flying start.

Without Liverpool winning thetitle, there would have been no MTVAwards or BBC Sports Personality ofthe Year staged here.

“We hit the ground running, butthe recession affected corporatebusiness,” said Mr Prattey.

“We saw that coming and focusedinstead on associations, like AGMs.

“These are more immune toeconomics and are longer events.

“The corporations are returning,

and I’d say it was a 50-50 split.”Although 500 staff are on site for amajor event, there are only 100permanent staff employed by ACC.

Mr Prattey brought key staff fromconvention centres ranging fromGlasgow to Brighton.

“Local character is a vitalingredient for Liverpool, but it’sequally important to bring in peoplewho have experience elsewhere.”

Liverpool as a convention centredestination sells itself, being acompact city buzzing with life.

The waterfront site instantlyimpresses conference buyers.

“Should we regard businesstourism as ordinary tourism – isthere a demarcation?” asked MrPrattey. “Later this year, we host thefirst BT AGM in Liverpool, which isa huge conference.

“Why not encourage delegates tobring their families either side oftheir five-day stay?

“We must make sure Liverpool plcgets the most out of it.”

It’s imperative to convert day visitors toovernight stays – Bob Prattey, chiefexecutive of Liverpool’s Arena andConvention Centre complex

Liverpool must be abrand to sell itselfWHEN the convention centre isbusy, Liverpool is busy.

That’s the view of MarcusMagee, Liverpool Hilton generalmanager.

This is the unquestionableforce behind filling Liverpool’s4,000 hotel bedrooms.

The Hilton is the newest jewelin Liverpool’s tourism tiara,with the hotel company waitingmany years for the rightopportunity.

Liverpool One provided thelocation it wanted and the £55mfour-star, 215-bedroom LiverpoolOne hotel opened last month.

Not only that, but the hotel is afew minutes’ walk from theArena and Convention Centre.

It is on target for 70%occupancy this year and aims for90% in three years.

“Business has been fantasticso far,” said Mr Magee.

“Given its infrastructure now,Liverpool has a wonderfulchance to be a key destinationfor business and leisure.

“Liverpool now has everythingthat the convention and meetingsmarket wants.

“Its location, at just 2¼ hoursby train from London, is farbetter than many UK destinat-ions. It retains far greatercharacter than manydestinations, and hasrecognisable cultural roots.

“The Beatles, music, sport andsightseeing are well-knowneverywhere.

“It’s a compact, walkable citywith an amazing array ofarchitecture from cathedrals tosmall Georgian houses.

“A fascinating newdevelopment is the number ofNorth American passengers whoget off a cruise liner here andstay a few days before flying tothe ship up at the next port.”

Leisure business is currentlymore important than corporatebusiness as the rates are higher.

“Liverpool has a very smallcorporate base,” said Mr Magee.“The government business isvery rate-conscious, so leisure isvital.”

Between 2007 and 2008, thecity’s bed stock increased by athird.

“There is a question ofreaching saturation point, so wemust go on raising our profile.

“We had a delegate at theDiabetes Association Conferencehere from Texas.

“He was overwhelmed by thepassion and friendliness of thepeople and the city’s historiclinks with the US.

“I believe Liverpool will sell

itself, as long as we create theinterest to bring people here.

“About 90% of my team is localand they’re my biggest asset.

“Our guests come for theHilton standards, but also gettraditional links with Liverpool.

“Sport is huge for ourEuropean visitors.

“We shouldn’t forget how bigEverton is there.

“Like the football clubs,Liverpool must itself become arecognisable worldwide brand.”

Business has been fantastic so far – Marcus Magee raises theflag at the Liverpool Hilton Hotel

The only Beatles hotel in the worldTHE biggestsurprise about theHard Day’s NightHotel is how long ittook to happen.

Surely, aBeatles-themedhotel was along-term must forLiverpool, given theunstoppable fame ofthe Fab Four?

The 110-bedroom,four-star hotel wasfirst announced byCavern City Toursabout 15 years ago.

But, after USfinance dried upfollowing the 9/11attack in 2001, localdeveloper Bowdenatook over.

However, Beatles

fans alone are notenough to sustainthe city centre hotel,so the decorationwas crucial.

“It’s a Beatles-inspired hotel,rather than athemed one,” saiddirector JonathanDavies.

“We want the

corporate marketand mainstreamtourists, and thesepeople must not beput off if they’re notBeatles fans.

“This is the onlyBeatles hotel in theworld, but it is notlicensed by AppleCorp, which is fullyaware of it.”

Thecity is now thecomplete conferencedestination

THE BIG FEATURE THE VISITOR ECONOMY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

16

More new hotels in Liverpool mean a greater struggle to expand businessTHE hotel boom in Liverpoolwas planned before therecession. As the newproperties come on-stream,they face a tough birth.

Hotel occupancy was 83% in2008, 81% in 2009 and isexpected to be lower in 2010.

“I’m struggling to see wherethe next big lift for the industrycould be,” said StephenRoberts, Crowne Plaza Hotelgeneral manager and chairmanof Liverpool Hotels Association.

“It could be resolved byopening Liverpool Cruise Liner

Terminal to turnarounds, withstay-cruises returning us to2006/7 occupancy levels.”

Turnarounds are cruiseswhich begin and end in a port.

Liverpool is unusual in beingboth suitable for cruise linercalls and geographically placedfor turnarounds to service anarea ranging from the northMidlands to southern Scotland.

“We’re in the odd situation ofvisitor numbers growing whileindividual hotels see bookingsreduce,” said Mr Roberts.

“This is due to the increasing

supply of hotels and servicedapartments in Liverpool.

“But I’m pleased to saythere’s a real development ofcollaborative marketing ofLiverpool as a destination.

“This is a transformationalforce in the economicdevelopment of the city region.

“The development of majorevents all increase visitornumbers, whether it’s the GolfOpen, Liverpool InternationalTennis Tournament or theQueen Mary 2 calling for a day.

“Irish visitors numbers, which

were very heavy, suffered withthe collapse of its economy andthe fluctuating fortunes ofLiverpool Football Club affectdemand for rooms.

“When I came here 10 yearsago, everyone thought I wasmad – myself included.

“The transformation has beennothing short of remarkable.

“You shouldn’t overlookLiverpool One in the short-breakmarket – he goes to football,she goes shopping.

“We should have much moreoptimism than many places.”

Crackin’ ferry boats, Gromit!Merseytravel bossgets his tramwayat lastwith Victorian heritage line inBirkenheadWHEN Neil Scales took charge ofMerseytravel passenger transportexecutive 10 years ago, he could not havedreamed he would be curating animatedmodel TV characters.

However, as his expanding empiremoves inexorably into the leisure sector,he is proud to welcome the Wallace &Gromit Exhibition to Seacombe fromthis week for a year.

Also, the irony is not lost on theMerseytravel chief executive that, afterfighting for years to bring modern tramsto Liverpool, Merseytravel bought therecreated old Birkenhead Tramway andWirral Transport Museum, in TaylorStreet.

The acquisition deal with WirralBorough Council also includes PacificRoad Arts Centre.

On assuming his post in 1999,commuter passenger figures on theMersey Ferries subsidiary had rapidlydeclined from 33m in 1934 to 700,000.

“And they wouldn’t go back up, due tothe rise of the car, the road tunnels andthe fact we’d fixed the railway service,”said Mr Scales.

“So we either just ran the serviceuntil it died, or repositioned into thetourism economy.

“With commuter loadings down to 1.5people boarding each ferry atBirkenhead Woodside, there was nodoubt about the answer.

“To close the ferry service requires anAct of Parliament and would beunacceptable to the people ofMerseyside.

“They tried to do close them in 1976,but I took the opposite view and decidedto invest in the ferries as a tourism assetand contributor to the city region.

“We’ve completely refurbished thethree ferry boats, including renamingthem after their famous predecessors,Royal Iris, Royal Daffodil and Snowdrop.

“We chose Snowdrop, as that was thefirst ferry boat on the Manchester ShipCanal.

“The ferry now has big viewing panelsand shows our commitment to buildingthe ship canal summer cruises from sixto 30 a year.

“The demographic is 50-year-olds plus,with children. The six-hour cruises toSalford are booked solidly ahead.”

Next he tackled the ferry terminals,with Seacombe getting a new pontoonand its listed buildings becoming hometo Spaceport.

Mersey Ferries’ new Pier Head

building not only contains a ticket officeand cafe, but a satellite of Albert Dock’sBeatles Story.

But the “big one” came with thecollapse of Birkenhead’s HistoricWarships in 2006.

“We looked at helping and I cameacross U-534, which was preserved atBirkenhead after being raised from theBaltic following its sinking in May, 1945.

“There is a link with the Daffodil andIris, as the original ferries were in theZeebrugge raid.

“We cut U-534 into five sections (itwould have been scrapped otherwise)and after partial restoration placed it atWoodside.

“Not everyone was keen on my idea ofgetting involved, but as an attraction it’sfar exceeded my expectations.”

The U-Boat Story has now clocked up50,000 visitors, 30% ahead of its target.

He is highly supportive of thecampaign to bring the last Battle of theAtlantic warship, HMS Whimbrel, backto her Liverpool home.

This will create yet more ferry trafficas visitors cross the Mersey to view thehunter – Whimbrel – and the hunted –U-534.

Mersey Tunnel tours centred on themagnificent art deco George’s Dock Ventbuilding are booked four months inadvance.

“It’s been a long, hard journey with aninvestment of £70m,” said Mr Scales.

“All this adds up to £34m annuallybeing pumped into the city regioneconomy and 742 jobs,” said Mr Scales.

“It ties in with our tourism strategy ofgetting more people on public transportto reach these attractions.”

Altogether, the Mersey Ferries and itsassociated venues had 343,000 visitorslast year, with 16% from overseas.

The Pier Head will receive a new £8mferry landing stage in the next 18months and the ferry attractions areexpected to grow by 20% in 10 years with300,000 extra visitors.

Merseytravel has also embarked onpublic art strategy on its stations acrossthe city region.

Few passengers arriving at LiverpoolLime Street mainline station can havemissed the double statues of Ken Doddand Bessie Braddock.

“About 26% of people visitingLiverpool arrive at Lime Street, andeach time I pass they are beingphotographed by the public.

“It makes me very pleased to see that.” Neil Scales with U-Boat U-534, at the Woodside ferry terminal, in Birkenhead

Visitor numbers growing– Stephen Roberts


17

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Team secures shipyard dealHalliwells real estate lawyers representCammell Laird in agreement onBirkenhead site

Economic downturn hits NorthWest shopping centres

HALLIWELLS real estate team hashelped secure 50 acres of land in Birk-enhead, on behalf of Cammell LairdShiprepairers and Shipbuilders.

The law firm’s team, led by AlexMcCann, secured the property fromowner Reddington Finance on two25-year leases.

The land is located within theshipyard in Birkenhead, and includesthe modular construction hall.

Mr McCann said: “Cammell LairdShipyard is an historic and

impressive site that includes one ofthe largest dry docks of its kind inthe world. It is of high strategicimportance to the UK’s shipbuildingand ship repair industries.

“We are thrilled to be involved in atransaction of this type, whichsecures the trading position of thefamous Cammell Laird Shipyard formany years to come.”

Earlier this year, LDP Businessrevealed that Cammell Laird hadsecured a £50m contract to build the

flight deck for the Royal Navy’slargest warship. The three-year dealis for the next-generation aircraftcarrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The deal will create jobs at thefirm and among the region’s supplychain, as well as safeguarding jobsamong the existing workforce.

The yard directly employs almost700 staff and provides work for asimilar number of sub-contractors.

The £4bn Queen Elizabeth Classaircraft carriers – a two-ship class

that includes the HMS QueenElizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales –are to replace the ageing Invincibleclass aircraft carriers.

The deal is the latest completed byHalliwells’ Liverpool real estateteam, following on from the itssuccess in securing the biggest officeleasing deal in Liverpool’s historytowards the end of 2009.

This was an agreement to let out220,000 sq ft in the Capital buildingfor client Downing Property Group

to UK Borders Agency. Mr McCannadded: “Despite the tough marketconditions of the past couple ofyears, Liverpool’s businesscommunity has remained resilientand, as a result, we have been able tocomplete a number of significantdeals for our clients.

“Our ongoing work for CammellLaird is yet another demonstrationof how Liverpool has played to itsstrengths and is now looking forwardto the next 25 years.”

MANY UK shoppingcentres are at risk ofdefaulting on loans, withthe North West the worstaffected, a new reportclaims.

BCSC, therepresentative body of theretail property industry,says centres with a totalvalue of £10.1bn are atrisk.

Its report – SecondaryCentres – claims 20% of

the at-risk centres arebased in the North West.

The research wascarried out by commercialproperty agency DTZ.

David Thompson, thefirm’s retail director, said:“Secondary shoppingcentres make up a largesector of the retail market,and one that is affordableto a wide variety of ownersranging from propertycompanies, wealthy

individuals, investmentcompanies, speculatorsand developers.

“This asset sectoruntypically demonstratedhigh levels of turnoverprior to 2008, with somecentres changing hands onseveral occasions within afew years.

“In the current market,secondary shoppingcentres have presentedopportunities to the

well-informed because offactors such as fallingcapital values, rising shopvacancies, tenantinsolvencies and retailersre-negotiating lease terms.

“In the north of England,there is a contrastbetween the North West,which has the greatestnumber of affectedcentres, and Yorkshire andthe North East, wherethere are a lot fewer.”

The Cammell Laird Shipyard, in Birkenhead, has won a £50m contract to build the flight deck for the Royal Navy’s largest warship

Opportunities:DavidThompson,retail directorat DTZ

19

THE BIG INTERVIEW

BY ALEX TURNER

▲ ▲

Making knowledge economic

In March, 2000, SOG took over the formerICI headquarters in Runcorn. Today, it is one

of the region’s outstanding regenerationprojects – and a driver of future growth.

20

THE BIG INTERVIEW DR PETER COOK

‘IT WASN’T obvious 10 yearsago, but it sounds obviousnow,” says Dr Peter Cook.

He is infectiouslyenthusiastic, but when

reflecting on the decision to takeownership of The Heath BusinessPark a decade ago, Dr Cook vividlyrecalls that very few other peoplethought that his idea would succeed.

“Everyone thought we werecrackers,” he said.

The idea was simple enough – takeover the former headquarters of ICI,which housed a mix of laboratoryand office space, in an area with aheritage of a scientific workforce,and attract firms to create a hub ofinnovation and commerciality.

But it was not a view that waswidely shared, as plans for the60-acre site were being developed inresponse to ICI’s decision to leave.

Dr Cook, the managing director ofSOG, said: “ICI wanted to exit thetraditional chemicals business, soput the site up for sale.

“They had no need for a site likeThe Heath.

“Property consultants came in andthey walked round the 1960s site inRuncorn. They said it was a develop-ment site – meaning the buildingsshould all be knocked down.”

At that time, Dr Cook had reached35 years’ service with ICI, havingjoined as a chemical engineer in 1964after completing a PhD at UniversityCollege London.

“I was the first member of myfamily to go to university,” he said.“My father was a bank manager – hedied when I was 13. I was reasonablybright at grammar school inShrewsbury and I went to universityat 17.

“When I finished my first degree, Ihad a number of jobs lined up,including coming here with ICIdoing general engineering.

“But I liked the idea of doingresearch, so I decided to do that firstrather than spend my life regrettingnot doing it.

“I got a grant from Esso and I didthree years’ research. I was studyingthe dissolution of solids in liquids inrelation to the liquid solution, andwhat could influence the rate ofdissolution. I learnt that, if you putdetergent in your tea, you dissolvethe sugar more quickly,” he quipped.

His early years saw him involvedin the design and commissioning ofvinyl chloride plants, including VC3in Runcorn, a plant commissioned in1969, which he still passes everymorning on the motorway.

He later project-managed thedesign and build of multi-millionpound herbicide and chlorinatedsolvent plants in the UK and FarEast. After a period in a businesssupport group, he was maderesponsible for a researchengineering team and then for themanagement of three major ICIresearch locations in Cheshire,including The Heath.

That was in ICI’s Site OperationsGroup – where SOG’s name comesfrom – and it is why he feltresponsible for the futures of thestaff at the site when ICI looked towithdraw.

“When we realised the writing wason the wall for the site, we realisedthat the people we were responsiblefor would be joining the dole queue,”he said.

“We felt we wanted to determineour own destiny.

“We thought the site had a lotgoing for it. There were a lot ofpositives, such as the skills base thathad been built up over generationsin the Halton area.”

“I was 59, I could have gone off

with a not insignificant ICI pensionand gone to play golf. I just felt it wasa crying shame that the whole of thisthing would be wasted.

“I did believe we could retain theskill base that I was responsible for. Ifelt – and so did some of mycolleagues – that we wanted theopportunity to do something.

“Did we think we wereentrepreneurs? No.

“But we thought it was a shame,

and we thought we could turn it intoa business.”

They launched a managementbuyout bid, which was rebuffed byICI. The team recognised it needed tobolster its line-up and bring insomeone with experience of theworld outside ICI.

He said: “We had never run abusiness and we lived in the cosyenvironment of ICI, where there wasalways a department to look after

things. We decided we needed tobring someone in – but where werewe going to find that person?

“We realised that we neededsomeone who was used to running asmall business. We needed a differentculture.

“That was one of the mostimportant decisions we made. Wefound John Lewis, who was themanaging director of RJ Lewis. Johnis a very go-ahead person and we

decided that was the skill we neededto bring in.”

Mr Lewis, who is still SOG’s salesand marketing director, was able toprovide it with the impetus the teamneeded.

“With John on board, we re-bid,saying it was a consortium, not anMBO. They said fine, but there wouldbe no favours, we would be incompetition with others,” said DrCook.

Dr Peter Cook, in a laboratory at The Heath Business and Technical Park, Runcorn

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

21


“We found funders and put in a bidagainst property developers andinvestors. And won.

“We were the only bidder that tookon the 50 ICI staff under their termsand conditions and the final salaryscheme – and everyone thought wewere crackers.

“ If the clock were turnedbackwards, I would do it again,definitely. It’s the most exciting thingI have ever done.”

Not that the transformation wasan overnight success.

The site, which had employed 1,600people in its heyday, had 1,200 peoplethere when SOG took ownership. Butthat included hundreds of ICI staffwho were to leave The Heath, andwithin 18 months there were onlyhalf the number of people there.

“The fall was from the ICI peopleand the ICI businesses, such as IneosChlor, who were exiting in their

busloads,” he said. “It was like tryingto fill the bath with the plug out. Bythe summer of 2002, eighteen monthsin, you can imagine what our bankmanager thought.”

But Dr Cook and his teamremained confident that the upturnin numbers would come becausethey were convinced that thebusiness model could succeed.

He said: “If nobody was coming in,we would have been very worried but

they were staying and they likedbeing here.

“That gave us the confidence thatwe had the right product and it wasjust a matter of hanging on in there.

“We sold the computer centre andsold some land to Persimmon. Thatkept us afloat from a cashflow pointof view. We didn’t seek public funds,we sorted it out as any businesswould.

“People stopped flowing out at that

rate and it started to build.” Theoccupancy levels rebounded fromspring 2003, passing the confidence-boosting 1,200 figure by September,2004, and reaching 1,500 people a yearlater.

“After about three years, westarted to have confidence,” he said.“We filled the laboratory side upquicker than the office side.

“The site did have a reputation, sopeople who were looking forlaboratory facilities did engage withus and we demonstrated how flexiblewe could be in modifying space, andthe message started to get out.”

A short period of consolidationand slight regression followed, beforeanother year of growth saw another300 people arrive on site, taking thetotal above ICI’s peak and towards1,800 by mid-2007.

Today, The Heath has 1,900 peopleworking in 180 businesses acrossmore than 20 sectors.

Its firms are split equally intothree groups – early-stage businessesless than five years old, those thathave been trading for between fiveand 10 years, and mature businesses.

The diversity in sectors and agehelps act as a buffer against anyproblems within specific companiesor areas.

He said: “We took a big hit whenICI got taken over by Ineos Chlor.The fact that we now have 180businesses, if one leaves it won’t beas disastrous. The largest employerhere, LGC, have got about 160people.”

Part of the attraction of SOG’soffer is the support infrastructure ithas in place.

One division is its safety, healthand environment consultancy, SHEGroup. One of its training products, abehavioural safety programme calledDeal With It, has been used by 25,000people in about 30 countries.

SOG also has laboratory servicesand scientific facilities managementexpertise which enables it to easilymodify its laboratories to cater forthe individual needs of companies –whether prospective or existingtenants.

A key aspect of catering for thecompanies on site is being able toaccommodate their ambitions andfuture plans.

The Heath has begun aprogramme of expansion that plansto add 180,000 sq ft of newaccommodation and will potentiallyincrease the total workforce on siteby more than 1,000.

The first new building,Progressive House, was opened byformer government ministerStephen Norris last July.

The 7,500 sq ft of office space wasbuilt for the information technologyfirm, Progressive Solutions, whichwas expanding from their previousbase on the site, and is one of the fewbuilding projects to have beendesigned, started and completedduring the credit crunch in theregion.

It was the first of eight separateplots available at The Heath whichoffers companies the opportunity tocreate bespoke accommodation.

Mr Norris, who has visited TheHeath on several occasions, is one ofa series of senior political andbusiness figures to visit the site inrecent years.

The then Prime Minister, TonyBlair, came with his Chancellor ofthe Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in2005, while former Chancellor KenClarke, science and innovationminister Ian Pearson, LordHeseltine, Alistair Campbell and thelate Sir John Harvey-Jones have alsovisited the site.

Dr Peter Cook, left, wins a Daily Post Regional Business Award, in 2007

They started it all: SOG’s founder members, from left: Bob Moore, Tony Banner, PeterCook, John Lewis and Alan Houghton

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

22

Their interest isn’t just about thesuccess of The Heath, but about howits success could be replicated acrossthe country.

SOG already operates a former ICIresearch, development andproduction centre, Hexagon Tower,in Blackley, north Manchester.

The 11-storey building had beenthe headquarters of Avecia. It wastaken over by SOG in 2006, has100,000 sq ft offices and 85,000 sq ftlaboratories and employs 450 people.

Dr Cook said: “The VC exited fiveyears ago, so they were needing anorganisation to run multi-occupancyscience facilities. So we took on 14staff and we now run that place. It’snot dissimilar to The Heath.

“What we have done is retain theskills. The traditional view is to getrid of the people and look at thebuildings, but by then you havethrown the gold dust away. The golddust is in the people.”

SOG had developed its FusionProject, which is a blueprint todemonstrate how ailing sites can beregenerated or large organisationscan downsize into a smallerfootprint.

The key to the model is theprotection of skilled workforces,keeping the often highly-specialistexpertise before it is dissipated andlost.

Dr Cook said: “Science andtechnology is vital to the futureprosperity of the UK economy, and itis essential that we protect thisunique skill base, which is preciselywhat the Fusion Project sets out todo.

“Replicating The Heath’s successcould create a new UK scientificplatform, which would be a magnetfor other research and developmentspecialists from across the world.”

The Fusion Project is gatheringmomentum. Talks are ongoing withdrug firm Sanofi-Aventis about itssite in Dagenham, which is due toshut in 2013, while other unidentifiedsites are also being looked at.

He said: “We are talking to fivedifferent sites across the UK –Dagenham, and four others.

“We think the current climate isready for this.

“We have got skills, but we need torefocus them. The fact that we aretalking to five means that otherpeople are now agreeing.

“There’s a need to promoteinnovation, enterprise, knowledgeeconomy. We don’t need to build anymore science facilities – they arealready there.

“Corporate organisations aredownsizing, they are superbfacilities.”

“You can get a positive out of whatcould be a negative from closing thesite. All without a pound of publicmoney.”

Although The Heath is very firmlyfocused on science and technology,Dr Cook also sees it as an importantenterprise hub.

Halton Council’s businessdevelopment team are on sitealongside Halton Chamber ofCommerce. There are also businessesproviding support services,including a restaurant, gym,newsagents, opticians and printers,and some small enterprises, such asclothes designers Love Frocks.

He said: “I think the country hasgot to get back to inventing thingsand making things and starting upbusinesses. There’s growth in peoplesetting up businesses.

“If it’s in the knowledge economy,then great. It’s important, but it’s notthe only thing.

“Businesses can be successful andinnovative without being in the

knowledge economy.” Theentrepreneurial activity which TheHeath is looking to assist anddevelop does have a wider impact onthe Halton community.

“We have had a significant effecton the area,” he said.

“It’s likely to keep any wealth inthe area, unlike in the ICI dayswhere the majority went to the Cityof London. Retaining the wealthmust have a huge effect on theregion.

“I believe we have made adifference in Halton, compared withwhat might have happened. We arean enterprise hub for Halton.”

Dr Cook is enthusiastic about the

work being done to develop theborough, which is one of the smallestin the region.

He said: “Halton is getting a verygood improvement in the rate of newstart-up businesses and they lastmore than two years as well. Thestatistics are quite impressive.

“Halton is a very go-aheadborough for the size of it. It has anenterprise board and an educationbusiness partnership – I sit on bothboards.

“The Halton Enterprise Game isplayed in schools. That’s where wehave got to get in.

“In the old days, there was theexpectation that people would get a

job at ICI, so there’s not theenterprise culture. The gameaddresses that.”

An enterprising spirit is clearlysomething that Dr Cook cherishes –it is easy to believe that, within ICI,he was an intrapreneur, before themanagement jargon was invented todescribe such a person – which fitsin with his carpe diem outlook.

“If you feel you want to do it, thengo and do it, or you might regret itfor the rest of your life,” he said. “If Ihadn’t have done SOG, I would havelived in regret.”

This also acts as a self-fulfillingprophecy that means a questionabout his regrets is met by a look

approaching bemusement. “I am notone for regrets,” he said, then, after along pause, he added almostapologetically, as if wanting toprovide a better answer, “it’s a pitythe opportunity hadn’t arisenearlier.”

It is clear that Dr Cook isimmensely proud of the success ofSOG, and he is excited by itspotential development.

“I will carry on working for aslong as I am able to and my healthholds out,” he said.

“It’s hugely exciting. The potentialis huge, not just here at The Heath.

“Would I pack that in and go andplay golf ? You must be joking.”

The Heath has become a magnet for politicians. Visitors have included, clockwise, from top left, former deputy prime minister Michael (nowLord) Heseltine, science minister Lord Sainsbury, minister for science and innovation Ian Pearson, shadow business secretary Ken Clarke,former minister Stephen Norris and legendary spin doctor Alastair Campbell

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21Dr Peter Cook,right, with PrimeMinister Tony Blairand theChancellor,Gordon Brown,in 2005


23

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Sterling without its sheenExporters arewarned to ‘avoid volatilemovements’, as confidence remains uncertain

EXPORTERS are now “exposed togreater currency risk” because theyare trading with a wider range ofcountries – at a time when marketconfidence in the pound remainsuncertain.

In the 10 years between 1999 and2009, the value of UK exports toChina increased by more than 400%,the highest increase of any of theUK’s main trading partners.

Between December, 2008, andDecember, 2009, the value of exportsto China increased by 43%.

There were similar large increasesin the value of British exports toIndia, Brazil and Russia, where thevalue of goods sold to these countriesincreased by 150%, 250% and 380%respectively in the decade between1999 and 2009.

Mark Taylor, head of foreignexchange at Close Brothers, said:“The world has opened up and thereare now more sales opportunities forUK businesses.

“However, although this is goodnews, it also means that UK

businesses are exposed to greatercurrency risk. The currency marketsare very volatile at the moment, andexporters need to take steps to makesavings on their currency purchasesand avoid volatile price movements.”

In the year to the end of February,2010, sterling fell 6% against the USdollar and the Chinese RMB, butstrengthened 23% against theBrazilian Real.

Unemployment falling in Februaryprovided a welcome boost to sterlingwhen the data was released last

week, but market confidence in thepound remained uncertain.

Phil McHugh, senior executivedealer at foreign exchange firmCurrencies Direct, said: “Thecurrency markets are not gettingcarried away.

“There is still an acute awarenessof the risk of a stuttering recovery asthe threat of sharp public sector cuts,and of increased job losses as aresult, remains.

“Though the pound has welcomedthe news, the markets have an eye for

the small print, which shows thenumber of longer-term unemployedrising.

“Sterling has been on the ropessince the beginning of March andthis relief for the pound is welcome,but the markets will not simplyforget the rising trend of those whoare economically inactive.

“The realities facing the UKeconomy mean the rally willinevitably run out of steam.Meanwhile, a double dip recessionremains a real threat in 2010.”

Californian dreams and Texan triumphsMERSEY creative anddigital firms have beenliving the American dreamby promoting themselvesin the US.

Entrepreneurs fromeight North Westcompanies joined aLiverpool Software Citymission to Silicon Valley topitch to potential investorsand meet key players fromcompanies including Sunand Google.

Among the companieswho went to California wasLiverpool’s KiskyNetmedia, which developedthe Little World Giftsapplication for people tobuy “virtual gifts” on theirphones.

Kisky also attended theSouth by Southwest music,digital and film conferencein Austin, Texas.

A delegation from theNorth West, backed by UK

Trade and Investment(UKTI) and NorthwestVision and Media, attendedthe event to promote theregion’s music industry.

Other Liverpoolcompanies attendingincluded royaltiesspecialist Sentric Music,while city bands attendingincluded Hot Club de Paris.■ CREATIVE Focus:Business Lunch withKevin McManus, P 41

Exporting can be costly if firms get their currency calculations wrong

San Jose, inSilicon Valley,California

24

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A business destination of choiceA prestigious address in the heart of the North West. The WestLancashire Investment Centre provides an excellent opportunityfor businesses to position themselves in a business centre ofthe highest standard in a top location.

25

ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT

Swings and roundaboutsSkelmersdale hashad ‘more visions thanStBernadette’ – butmight the latest plan actually happen?

TRAVEL writers from BillBryson to Paul Therouxhave based their literarysuccesses on being able tocapture the spirit of a place

despite not living there or, in somecases, not even spending much timethere.

Capturing the je ne sais quoi canbe done in a phrase, a description oran enlightening anecdote thatillustrates far more than theimmediate subject matter.

But, other times it takes an insiderto give a pull-no-punches assessment.

West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper,in seeking to urge the Minister forthe Regions, Phil Woolas, to supporther efforts to win additionalinvestment for Skelmersdale – whichshe described as “one of the region’sforgotten towns” – captured some of

the problems the town has. She said:“Ever since its birth as a new town,Skelmersdale has suffered fromfly-by-night employers who took thegrants and ran in the seventies,through to some appallingarchitecture and bad planning.

“Sub-standard housing; a roadnetwork that would leave even themost proficient Krypton Factorcontestant baffled; high levels ofunemployment, much of this longterm, and the lack of a real towncentre, means that Skelmersdale hasfailed the ambitions that pastdecision makers promised.

“As a location, the town can boastsuperb access to the motorwaynetwork, via the M58. It is possible toget to any major North Westdestination in 30-40 minutes fromSkelmersdale.

“Unfortunately, the location forbusiness investment loses part of itsattraction due to the absence of arailway station/link – despite plansbeing put in place for such a facilityover 30 years ago.”

As well as fiendish roundabouts,the problem for Skelmersdale – andthe borough of West Lancashire – hasnot been a lack of ambition.

As Miss Cooper put it: “Aconstituent once told me thatSkelmersdale has had more visionsthan Saint Bernadette.”

The latest vision has been largelygathering dust for a couple of years.A £300m plan to redevelopSkelmersdale town centre stalled onthe global recession and the verylocal problem of the potentialcompetition from plans to transformKirkby town centre.

The decision by the Governmentto reject the plans for Kirkby, whichincluded a 50,000-seat stadium forEverton FC and retail space of 38,000sq m – a huge Tesco Extra store and40 other stores – was greeted with nolittle relief in West Lancashire.

It meant that the plans to dosomething about the town which hasno town centre could be movedforward once more.

The current provision is theConcourse Centre and asupermarket, which are isolatedfrom each other.

The masterplan for the towncentre is to develop a high streetlinking the two, which will includeshops, a cinema, bars andrestaurants, and apartments. Therewould also be a new library, a newSkelmersdale College and a new

sports centre and swimming pool.Jayne Traverse, West LancashireBorough Council’s executivemanager for regeneration andestates, said: “We have known for awhile we have needed to redevelopSkelmersdale town centre.

“We tried to look at it differentlywith some commercial realism.

“It’s about wholesale change of thetown centre itself – changing theretail offer while retaining theConcourse, alongside the commercialoffer, getting the footfall increased inthere.

“Looking at the night-timeeconomy which Skelmersdale doesn’treally have, and also the need for aquality leisure offer day and night,and quality housing.

‘Skelmersdale: world class for business’ is written on stone, but the message can get lost between the clamour of three city regions


26

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEST LANCASHIRE

“If you want people to live andwork here, you need to have the righthousing mix. All these issues areinterlinking.”

The plans are now back on thetable, with the parties looking at thebest way to move it forward.

She said: “In terms ofSkelmersdale, the Kirkby inquirywas part of our considerations.Everything was on hold for a while.

“Now we are looking at how wecan take it forward given theeconomic conditions. We are stillworking very hard on it.

“We are still looking at how wecan take it forward and maybe do itin a different sequence – but we are

still very committed to it.” A reportby consultants GVA Grimley, WestLancashire Economic Study,published in October, stresses theimportance of the plan to the wholeborough.

It said: “The redevelopment ofSkelmersdale town centre is thebiggest element of economicpotential in the short term for WestLancashire and is critical for theeconomic future of Skelmersdale, ifnot as vital for the rest of WestLancashire.

“The scale of developmentproposed at Skelmersdale means thateven taking into account leakage anddisplacement effects, it couldgenerate more than 1,500 netadditional jobs, not including

employment in construction. There-development of the town centre isthe key to unlocking the potential ofSkelmersdale to deliver thisadditional development.”

West Lancashire sits between thecity regions of Liverpool,Manchester and Preston – “thegolden triangle”, according to CllrAdrian Owen, West LancashireBorough Council’s portfolio holderfor regeneration and estates.

“We are in the golden triangle,” hesaid. “We are none of the city regions– Liverpool, Manchester and Preston– but we have close links with allthree.

“We shouldn’t see, for example,Liverpool’s gain as WestLancashire’s loss.

“West Lancashire needs strongcities, it needs Liverpool,Manchester and Preston to thrive, sowe will thrive.”

He argues that the diverse sectorsoperating within the borough can allbenefit from its location, whichbroadly covers the area west of theM6 to just before the Formby by-pass,which is in Sefton, and from the M58in the south stretching to the Ribbleestuary in the North.

It has 110,000 residents spreadacross its 350 sq km, making itspopulation density of 315 people persq km just one-quarter that ofneighbouring Sefton. Its rural nature– more than 90% of West Lancashireis greenbelt – makes it an areacompletely different to any of the

Merseyside authorities. And withinWest Lancs there is also thedichotomy of Ormskirk, the historicmarket town, and Skelmersdalewhich, despite its Old Norse nameand presence in the Domesday Book,is largely a creation of 1960s townplanning.

Cllr Owen said: “If you go to Orms-kirk and Skelmersdale, they are verydifferent, but what links them is thelocation in this golden triangle.

“We are close to all the three cityregions.

“We have space, we have a skilledworkforce, we are very diverse –from traditional manufacturing torural economy.”

The Concourse Centre is the closest Skelmersdale comes to a town centre, although there are plans to create a high street and a new heart for the town



27


ONE COMPANY EXTOLS THE VIRTUES OF BEING BASED IN SKELMERSDALELOAF CREATIVE is adesign agency based inSkelmersdale, which has asecond site in Liverpoolcity centre.

Despite the attractionsof the city, they arecommitted to their WestLancashire origins. Thefirm started off in theproverbial back bedroomin Orrell, before movinginto the West LancashireInvestment Centre.

Expansion meant theysought more space, butthey have stayed onWhitemoss Business Park,finding the view out of thewindow as important asits location on JunctionFour of the M58.

It eulogises its locationon its website, saying theyare “smitten” with theirsurroundings.

They said:“How manyagencies are visited bypartridge, kestrel, owl andbadger? The skies areamazing, especially in themorning, so we thoughtwe’d make the most of avery good thing and bringthe outside in. There aregood reasons for that, too.

“Design is all aboutinspiration, about changeand about sustainability.Only through theseprocesses can you driveresults.

“The environment wework in is a constantsource of inspiration.

“Every day it remindsus to factor change andsustainability in to ourthinking.”

The creative benefitsare matched by thepractical benefits of

location. The M6 is fourmiles away and the M57eight miles, allowing foreasy access to the region.

They added:“Skelmersdale is our oasisspace, but don’t bedeceived, there’s no feet-up mentality here. We’re

here because we areperfectly placed betweenall of the major northernconurbations.

“We are right on theedge of the motorwaynetwork and we’ve got twointernational airports onour doorstep.”

The directors of design agency Loaf Creative

The view down Church Street gives a sense of Ormskirk’s market town atmosphere

REGIONALOUTLOOK

with StevenBroomhead,chief executiveof the NWDA

STEVEN BROOMHEAD,Chief Executive for theNorthwest Regional Develop-ment Agency (NWDA), talksabout the success ofManufacturing Weekwithin the North West.

LAST month, the UKcelebrated ManufacturingWeek 2010 and the NWDAworked with EEF – themanufacturers’ organisationto bring the main event to theNorth West. The manu-facturing debate, “Is manu-facturing our future?” waslaunched in Halewood’sJaguar Land Rover VisitorCentre, with over 100 guestsfrom manufacturingorganisations across the UK.

The manufacturing sectorwithin the North West is thebiggest of any English region.It contributes £19.6bn to theregional economy, employsapproximately 400,000 peopleand is a strong exporter,bringing £23.7bn fromexported goods in 2009.

Manufacturing Week wasan excellentopportunity todiscuss the sectorand how it hasevolved. At theAgency, we’restriving to imp-rove the image ofmanufacturing.We’ve extendedthe Make It cam-paign to changethe perceptions ofmanufacturing,so younger peopleconsider a careerin the industry.We’ve alsolaunched the websitethisismanufacturing.co.uk – awebsite which provides anonline centre for reviewingsome of the latest trends inbusiness improvement.

Our ManufacturingAdvisory Service (MAS),funded by the Agency anddelivered by the Manu-facturing Institute, hascontinued to support theindustry. Since 2002, it hascreated or safeguarded 9,200jobs, provided training toalmost 7,500 adults andachieved savings of £781m forNorth West manufacturers.The NWDA has also com-mitted to putting anadditional £20m into the ser-vice over the next four years.

The Agency is leading theManufacturing Strategy andAction Plan for the region,which was launched inOctober, in partnership withbusinesses, trade bodies anduniversities. It provides aten-year framework for thedevelopment of manu-facturing in the North West,

with a three-year, annuallyassessed action plan.

This month, we announcedthe Northwest ManufacturingForum, which will steer theNorthwest ManufacturingStrategy, with privateindustry members who willact as ambassadors for thisvital North West sector. TheNWDA will work with theForum (which will be the voicefor North West manufacturing,helping to promote the diversestrength of our manufacturingsector) and partners acrossthe North West to create amodern manufacturing sectorin the region that will beinnovative, enterprising,highly skilled, and well led.

Many leading andinnovative manufacturingcompanies are based inMerseyside. As well as JaguarLand Rover, the 55-acre GetragFord facility is based withinthe Halewood corridor and isa division of the world’slargest independent manu-facturer of auto/manualtransmission systems.

ColorMatrix, a modernmanufacturingbusiness based inLiverpool, is anemployer ofskilled workers inresearch anddevelopment, IT,chemicals andmarketing.Furthermore,Brainboxes, whichhas been withMAS since 2002,manufacturescommunicationsdevices which areused in science,

retail, industry and banking.These are just a few excellentexamples in a long list thatdemonstrate the variety themanufacturing sector offers toemployees within Merseysideand the North West as awhole.

The North West’s manu-facturing sector is in anexcellent position. DuringManufacturing Week, BioNowand the North West AerospaceAlliance were awarded thenew Northwest Cluster Markaward – an independent andprestigious endorsement ofthe quality of the sector andsector cluster organisation.

Manufacturing Week alsohighlighted manufacturers’positive outlook for the nextyear, with 37% expecting theeconomic climate to improve,and 41% believing it willremain stable.

We’re confident at theAgency that, if we continue tomaintain our strong positionand capitalise on opportun-ities, the sector will continueto grow from strength tostrength.

‘The sectorwillcontinue togrow fromstrength tostrength’

28

As a relatively small borough, oneof its challenges is finding a way tohave an impact within each cityregion when it is on the edge of thefringes of each.

The GVA Grimley report arguedfor a change in emphasis for theborough, acknowledging that,although the borough sits withinLancashire’s local governmentstructure, it actually has “muchstronger links” with Liverpool cityregion and Wigan, in GreaterManchester.

The report’s authors recommend“that West Lancashire seek toprimarily engage with andparticipate with the structures andnetworks within the Liverpool cityregion, and the balance of resources,policy and energy should be orientedtowards this.”

It said: “This is not to say that thePreston-led Central Lancashire cityregion, or the rest of Lancashire,should not be engaged with: itshould.

“However, West Lancashire haslittle in common with EastLancashire or Lancaster, andrelatively weak links with theCentral Lancashire city region.

“West Lancashire must ensurethat it is seen as a major partner inthe Liverpool city region . . . it isimportant that city region issues areconsidered across all areas of WestLancashire’s local strategicpartnership agenda.

“Equally, for this to occur,Liverpool city region partners mustfully consider West Lancashire intheir city region-wide working.”

Ms Traverse acknowledges thatworking with its sub-regionalpartners is an important focus.

She said: “We are in Lancashire,but we have more in common withGreater Manchester and Merseyside,so we need to build on that.

“In Merseyside, for example, theremay be a demand for a particulartype of accommodation space – canwe deliver that?”

West Lancashire has struggled inbusiness development – between 2001

and 2007, it grew its business base byjust 4%, compared to growth of 11%across the North West and GreatBritain.

This compared badly with growthof as much as 23% in Knowsley and18% in St Helens, and was lower thanall eight of its neighbours, with theexception of Preston.

It responded to its sluggish growthwith a £5.5m project which resultedin the West Lancashire InvestmentCentre, at Whitemoss Business Park,next to Junction Four.

She added: “The purpose was toprovide incubation space and arange of space, from tiny incubationto larger space as well.

“The idea was that we would growand nurture the businesses, and asthey grew we would move them on.

“It was very successful and wewere fully occupied within weeksand we had a waiting list.

“It’s very high-quality space, weget fantastic feedback from thetenants.

“We do have space here now – theinvestment centre is 80-85% full.

“We have used the investmentcentre as a focus for a lot of theeconomic development work andbusiness support we have done – tosupport people wanting to start inbusiness.”

A second major project aims tostimulate growth.

It is the five-year Inspire Project,which has just finished.

It provided £820,787 grantassistance to 78 companies andclaimed to have helped to create 388jobs, safeguard 1,158 jobs and create11 businesses.

It offered grants to improvebusiness premises and to help withbetter security measures, as well asfunding environmental schemes thathave been carried out to improve theattractiveness of the borough.

Cllr Adrian Owens said: "Theeconomic outputs achieved byInspire are fantastic in terms of jobcreation and safeguarding jobs, andit is brilliant to see the extent ofimprovements made to such a widerange of commercial premises.

“The project has made a real

difference to many businesses, bothsmall and large, throughout WestLancashire.

“The economic benefits have beenfurther strengthened by the qualityof environmental improvementsundertaken on important sitesacross the borough’s focal points ofeconomic activity.”

Inspire Project covered 2005-2010,but what now for the five years to2015?

“We want to be well on the waywith Skelmersdale, high up on theagenda for investment funding forbetter transport funding inSkelmersdale – to be recognisednationally for that,” said JayneTraverse. “We want to be working inpartnership with other localauthorities, to have regionalthinking to the benefit of WestLancashire and the region.”

The next five years will be criticalin seeing whether the plans forSkelmersdale can give the town amajor boost. Alternatively, they riskbecoming just another of SaintBernadette’s many visions.

A sketch of how Skelmersdale High Street might look if the masterplan comes to fruition


Working age populationWest Lancs................................................................ 59.6%Merseyside ................................................................ 61.7%Lancashire................................................................. 60.8%North West ................................................................ 61.6%Great Britain .............................................................. 62.0%

Economically active ofworking age population

West Lancs............................................................... 81.0%Merseyside ............................................................... 72.9%Lancashire................................................................ 77.4%North West ............................................................... 76.8%Great Britain ............................................................. 78.9%

Jobseeker’s allowance (JSA)claimants rate

West Lancs............................................................... 4.5%Merseyside ............................................................... 6.4%Lancashire................................................................ 3.6%North West ............................................................... 4.9%Great Britain ............................................................. 4.3%

Jobs density (ratio of jobsto working-age)

West Lancs............................................................... 0.78Merseyside ............................................................... 0.72Lancashire................................................................ 0.79North West ............................................................... 0.80Great Britain ............................................................. 0.83

JSA claimants per unfilledjobcentre vacancy

West Lancs............................................................... 16.6Merseyside ............................................................... 11.8Lancashire................................................................ 7.3North West ............................................................... 8.9Great Britain ............................................................. 8.5

Gross weekly pay(full-time workers)

by residence by workplaceWest Lancs.............................. £480.60 £462.10Merseyside .............................. £452.60 £460.60Lancashire............................... £460.00 £454.30North West .............................. £460.20 £460.00Great Britain ............................ £491.00 £490.20


30

HOW GREEN IS YOUR BUSINESS?IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Airbus displays biodiversity logo on A380 superjumboAIRCRAFT manufacturerAirbus has agreed to showsupport for the UnitedNations International Yearof Biodiversity by featuringthe official logo on its A380superjumbo.

The A380 is the world’slargest passenger plane inservice, and the wings foreach model aremanufactured at thecompany’s huge plant at

Broughton, near Chester.Airbus is using its globalreach to back the UNSecretariat of theConvention on BiologicalDiversity’s (CBD) GreenWave initiative, designed toeducate young peopleabout the importance ofbiodiversity.

Spokesman Rainer Ohlersaid: “The aviation sectorremains committed to

tackling the 2% itcontributes to man-madecarbon dioxide emissions,having already reducedaircraft emissions by 70%and noise by 75% in thelast 40 years.

“However, as a globalcompany, Airbus is alsocommitted to using itsglobal outreach to supportthose tackling the other98% of emissions.”

The A380 will carry thelogo throughout 2010during its scheduledactivities. Airbus claims theA380 is one of the mostfuel efficient passengeraircraft ever made.

Its fuel consumption isless than three litres per100 seat kilometres (km),corresponding to less than75g of CO² per passengerper km.

An Airbus A380with the greenlogo displayed

Hotel keeping guests’ feet dryPavinghelps cut risk of flooding andprotects theenvironmentA NEW hotel in Wirral has installeda set of paving outside that will helpthe environment and keep guests’feet dry even when it rains.

The recently-completed TravelodgeHotel, in Bromborough, has beenbuilt in an area that has a history offlood risk.

So a permeable paving system hasbeen installed called Hydropave,produced by Irish firm Tobermore,which has its North West base inPreston.

Hydropave allows any water toescape below the paving to a gravelbed where it is stored and released ina controlled manner, either back intothe ground or into the existing stormwater system.

The water is filtered as it goesthrough the system and harmfulpollutants are also removed.

The firm also claims Hydropavecan remove more than 90% ofhydrocarbons and heavy metalpollutants which are dangerous toflora and fauna if they are allowed toenter the streams and waterways.

The architect in charge of thedesign of the £2.3m hotel, SimonHalliwell, of Paddock JohnsonPartnership, recommended theinstallation of the paving.

Tobermore’s specification salesexecutive for the area, RobertDavenhall, said: “We are delightedthat Simon Halliwell and theTravelodge decided to use ourHydropave permeable paving systemin this major scheme, and that it wasable to solve a problem for them

“It is still a relatively new system.However, more and more architects,engineers and contractors acrossBritain and Ireland are seeing boththe environmental benefits and alsothe cost effectiveness of this type ofdrainage system.

“In addition to its immensepractical advantages, the Hydropaveblocks used at the Travelodge lookfantastic and complement theattractive look of the hotel, to givevisitors an excellent first impressionwhich is now so important in thehospitality industry.

“The fact that it is alsoenvironmentally friendly was anadded bonus for the area and itsresidents.”

Tobermore says this type of pavingis increasingly being used across theUK in areas where there is a highrisk of flooding.

It can be found in largecommercial projects includingschools, car parks, retail parks,

housing developments, commercialbuildings and other hotels.

The 60-room BromboroughTravelodge, in Pool Lane, opened itsdoors in February and saw 10 newjobs being created.

It was built by ParklodgeDevelopments and is situated at theentrance to Wirral InternationalBusiness Park.

Funding for the project wasprovided by NatWest.

■ COMPANIES across the NorthWest have just a few weeks until theyneed to start complying with theGovernment’s new Carbon ReductionCommitment (CRC), or face penaltiesthat will hit their bottom line, warnsaccountancy firm KPMG.

From April 1, organisations withannual electricity bills of £1m ormore must start measuring andaccurately reporting their energyusage to Government auditors.

Those that submit late or inaccuratedata could be penalised and publiclychastised for those failures.

KPMG’s work with organisationsacross the North West who arepreparing for the CRC has found thatcompliance failures – such asincorrect reporting – pose thegreatest immediate risk to bothreputation and the bottom line.

The firm claims two-thirds ofbusinesses in the region are

currently mis-stating their carbonnumbers by a margin that will incurfines.

From April, 2011, the Governmentwill publish league tables rankingparticipants on their success atmanaging and reducing their carbonemissions.

This will inform a bonus andpenalty system which will see moneyfrom the worst performers given tothose nearer the top.

Travelodge manager Ksenija Solovjova and Simon Halliwell, front, with Carl Pagel (Paddock Johnson Partnership) and Robert Davenhall, back

31

HOW GREEN IS YOUR BUSINESS? IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Liverpool One converts used fat into biofuel for vehiclesWASTE cooking oil from therestaurants at Liverpool Oneis being turned into biodieselto run the retail and leisurecomplex’s fleet of vehicles.

A purpose-built biofuelsroom underneath the site willconvert the oils in less than 24hours.

The benefits are two-fold:the process uses cooking oilthat would have otherwiseended up in landfill sites andalso saves on the energy usedup transporting them there.

And by using biodiesel inthe fleet rather than ordinarydiesel, Liverpool One will savean estimated 54 tonnes of CO²-in the first year of activity.

Used cooking oil is fed intothe fuelpod via a series offiltered pumps and is heatedover night to 65°C.

The warm oil is then mixedwith methanol and potassiumhydroxide (the potassium usesthe methanol as a carrier andbinds the fats within the oil)the products of which are

biodiesel and glycerine ladenoil, which can be safely usedto accelerate compost.

One hundred litres of usedcooking oil yields 100 litres ofbiodiesel and Liverpool Onehopes to produce 200 litres ofbiodiesel a week.

The biofuels initiative ispart of Liverpool One’songoing commitment to lowerits carbon footprint.

It forms another strand ofan extensive recyclingprogramme that involves

paper, card and plastics.Estate director Chris Blisssaid: “As a vital part ofLiverpool’s economy, we feelthat Liverpool One shouldplay a role preserving theenvironment.

“The biofuels initiative willhelp lower the carbonfootprint of Liverpool One andindividual retailers.

“It also forms anotherelement of Liverpool One’soverall environmentalstrategy.”

Leading drive to cut transport emissionsMerseyside Transport Partnership appoints newclimate changeofficerA NEW climate change officer hasbeen appointed by the MerseysideTransport Partnership (MTP) to helpcompanies and organisations cuttheir emissions.

Sarah Jolly’s mission is to helpMerseyside reach its goal of cuttingcarbon emissions by 31% by 2022.

Transport has long been identifiedas an area where businesses andorganisations can make a realdifference to the environment.

Ms Jolly, who lives in Halewood,has a masters degree inenvironmental management andcomes to MTP after spending twoyears at Envirolink Northwest.

She will support existing worktaking place across the region toaddress climate change by helpingreduce the impact of transport on

carbon emissions. Her particularfocus will be the preparation of theclimate change strategy for the nextLocal Transport Plan (LTP), whichwill run from 2011.

Working in partnership with local,regional, national and Europeanbodies, she will develop integrated,low-carbon transport solutions forthe region.

She will help Merseyside to meetnational climate change targets andfurther the city region’s ambition tobecome the UK’s biggest low-carbongoods and services city regioneconomy.

She said: “Climate change is avery topical issue and an excitingarea to be involved in.

“MTP is already placing climatechange at the heart of its work to

support the continuing regenerationof the city region, which is fantasticnews.

“My focus is on preparing astrategy for the submission of thenext draft LTP, in March, 2011 – it’sreally satisfying to know that mywork will have a clear influence ofthe future direction of climatechange policy for Merseyside.”

Neil Scales, chairman of MTP andchief executive of Merseytravel, said:“The need for climate change actionoverall, and from the transportsector in particular, has beengrowing in recent years.

“Work taking place at a local levelacross the region is helpingMerseyside work towards its targetsfor climate change and carbonreduction and is already playing an

important part in shaping nationaland regional policies.”

MTP’s TravelWise Merseysideinitiative has been instrumental inhelping companies devise moreenergy efficient ways of usingtransport.■ THE Northwest DevelopmentAgency (NWDA) has addressed amajor UK conference on its efforts tomake the North West a nationalleader for waste managementpractice.

The NWDA made a presentation tothe Environment Agency’s WastingOpportunities conference.

The updated Regional WasteStrategy provides a framework thatwill deliver the necessary wasteinfrastructure and skills to meet theregion’s short, medium and long-

term needs, and support sustainableconsumption and production.

It will form part of a much widerprogramme of activity including theNorthwest Sustainable Consumptionand Production Action Plan, whichidentifies actions to transformresource use, inspire sustainableproduction and using waste as aresource.

Building on the previous RegionalWaste Strategy, which was publishedin 2004, the new strategy will focuson preventing and avoiding thegrowth in waste, minimisingresource use and reducing thehazardous content of waste.

A key element of the strategy is tofind waste management solutionsthat do not impact on economicgrowth.

Biofuels initiative – Chris Bliss, estate director forLiverpool One

New climate change officer Sarah Jolly – her mission is to help Merseyside slash its carbon emissions by 31% by 2022

32

TRANSPORT in association with

NEILSCALES

Safety milestoneEllesmerePort plant sets Europeanaccident-free recordELLESMERE Port’s Astra car planthas confirmed its status as one of thesafest in the European Vauxhall/Opel network.

The General Motors-owned sitecelebrated the milestone of achieving20m hours without a “lost work daycase”, at the factory, which employsaround 2,000 staff building the newAstra model.

A lost work day case relates towhen an employee has been injuredwhile at work and is unable to worktheir next shift.

It has taken nearly five years toaccrue the 20m working hours

without a serious incident resultingin a lost work-day and EllesmerePort is the first plant withinVauxhall/ Opel to achieve this.

Bob Holmes, the company’s UKand Ireland health and safetymanager, said: “This achievementhighlights the commitment, hardwork and dedication of employees atthe plant.

“Safety is and must continue to beour first priority.

“Good safety is no accident.”The company said that Ellesmere

Port takes great pride in thisachievement, and puts it down to the

continuous effort of its employees to“build high-quality vehicles at thelowest cost by working together” inthe safest environment.

Since Vauxhall’s US parentcompany General Motors decidedagainst selling its EuropeanVauxhall/Opel network to Canadiancar parts maker Magna lastNovember and retain the business, ithas backed the Ellesmere Port site’sfuture by confirming the addition ofa third production shift.

The plant is also in the running tobuild the company’s new Amperaelectric vehicle.

THE first moves to shape ourregion’s public transport overthe next two decades areunder way. Publicconsultations to establish thechallenges and opportunitieshave begun.

This is the first step inproducing our next five-yearLocal Transport Plan (LTP),drawn up by the MerseyTransport Partnership whichcomprises the five districts ofMerseyside andMerseytravel.

Our previous LocalTransport Plans wererecognised as among thebest in the country anddescribed as “excellent” bythe Department forTransport.

The new LTP, which runsfrom 2011, will not be judgedby the same criteria, andanother “excellent” rating willnot influence the amount ofmoney we receive.

The Government has yet toannounce how funding willbe allocated, but we aredetermined thatour new LTP willremain among thebest, even withouta financialincentive.

Over the pastten years, we havemade great stepstowards providinga modern andextensivetransport network.It is now time tobuild on these successesand prepare for the future.

The world will change agreat deal in the next twodecades and we must adaptto make the most of theopportunities that will beavailable to us.

Transport has an importantrole to play in supporting thegrowth of the economy,helping tackle climate andencouraging people to leadhealthier lifestyles. Our newLTP will play a key role inhelping Merseyside achieveits vision of becoming athriving international cityregion by 2030.

Transport affects us all andit is absolutely crucial that asmany people as possible areinvolved in the process ofplanning for the region’schanging transport needs.

At this stage in theconsultation, people arebeing given the opportunityto comment on four key

themes – the work that theTransport Partnership isalready doing to provide asafe and efficient transportsystem; goals for the future;the concept of creating anew “mobility culture” andthe challenges andopportunities that transportin Merseyside faces.

Creating a “new mobilityculture” will be high on theagenda in a bid to close thegap between the “mobilityrich” and the “mobility poor”.

The “mobility rich” aredefined as people who haveaccess to a car to get from Ato B, while the “mobilitypoor” do not always have thesame opportunities and thecost of travel can be a realburden.

We have carried outin-depth research, whichrevealed that Merseyside’stransport network compareswell with other cities aroundthe world but, in commonwith many other places,Merseyside has its problems.

Some areas arerelatively poorand manyteenagers leaveschool with fewqualifications. Incomparison tothe rest of theUK, a highnumber of peoplesuffer from illhealth.

By encouragingmore people to

cycle, walk or choose publictransport, we can helpimprove health, create a low-carbon economy and providecheap and convenientaccess to jobs and services.

This, combined with ourstrategy to keep goodsmoving around our region,will help attract employersand additional investment tothe region.

The initial publicconsultation on our next LTPends on April 12 with asecond consultation stagelater this summer before wedraw up a final strategy.

Government funding islikely to be restricted goingforward, and there will be norating for the new plan fromthe Department for Transportbut, as chair of the MerseyTransport Partnership, Iguarantee that we willendeavour to deliver anexcellent LTP for the peopleof our region.

Vauxhall staff celebrate their accident-free achievement at the Ellesmere Port Astra manufacturing plant

‘Transportsupportsthegrowthof theeconomy’

33

Remploy helps HGV driver get back to workLORRY driver JohnDavies, 54, is set toreturn to work through apartnership funded byWirral council.

The former HGV driver,from Birkenhead, had togive up work due tolower back problems.

With 16 years’experience and more

than a million miles underhis belt, he wanted toretrain as a Class 1 HGVinstructor.

But he was unable toobtain enough cash topay for his training untilhe approached theBirkenhead office ofRemploy which helpspeople facing complex

barriers to work. Underthe umbrella of thecouncil scheme, he wasawarded a training grantfrom “Linking People intoEmployment”.

The initiative is beingdelivered by Remploy,The Social Partnershipand Voluntary andCommunity Action Wirral

and John is now trainingwith P&G LGV DriverTraining in Flintshirewhich will employ MrDavies when he qualifies.

He said: “I still wantedto be part of the industryI know and love. Trainingothers to drive wouldseem to be the idealsolution.”

Capacity boost for key routeGovernment funding allowsEastMidlandsTrains to add1,500extra seats adayonLiverpool linkEXTRA capacity of up to 1,500 seatswill be added to the key Liverpool-Norwich rail route after agovernment funding boost.

Route operator East MidlandsTrains announced the increase, fromMay, 2011, after agreeing terms withthe Department for Transport whichwill enable the company to lease fouradditional Class 156 trains from May,2011.

These extra trains will be used onservices between Nottingham andSkegness and from Lincoln toLeicester.

This will then allow a number ofrefurbished Class 158 trains to becascaded to strengthen services onthe busiest section of East MidlandsTrains’ Liverpool to Norwich route.

So, from May next year, anadditional 10 services every weekdaywill be strengthened betweenNottingham and Liverpool fromtwo-car to four-car trains, providingan additional 1,500 seats a day.

And, after passenger andstakeholder feedback, the 13.52Liverpool to Nottingham service willbe extended through to Norwich,while the 05.50 Norwich to Liverpoolservice will operate as a four-cartrain throughout, providing morecapacity on this busy commuterservice.

East Midlands Trains commercialdirector David Horne said: “This isfantastic news for our passengersand brings a successful conclusion toalmost two years of partnershipworking with stakeholder groupsalong the route to secure theseimprovements.

“We have been determined toincrease capacity on our busyLiverpool to Norwich route, a routewhich covers some 250 miles andserves cities with a combinedpopulation of more than 7m people.

“The additional funding securedwill allow us to provide over 1,500extra seats on the route every dayfrom 2011, and will go a long way toalleviating the current overcrowdingon many services.

“The extra capacity will alsoenable us to increase the number ofdiscounted tickets we offer onoff-peak trains on the route.”

He added: “We would like to thankour passengers and stakeholders fortheir steadfast support in helping usto bring about these improvements.”

From December, 2012, all of theservices between Nottingham andLiverpool should operate as four-cartrains. One of the East Midlands Class 158 trains which will be used on the enhanced Liverpool-Norwich route, from May next year

TRANSPORT

HGV driverJohn Davies –back in thedriving seat

35

MORE than 100business people andprofessionals fromacross Merseysideattended the

inaugural meeting of the newBusiness Network Liverpool, at thecity’s Atlantic Tower Hotel.

And almost a third of thosepresent have now applied formembership of the concept innetworking which organisers claimhas generated tens of millions ofpounds’ worth of business forentrepreneurs in other parts of thecountry.

Len Rainford, the man whobrought the concept to Liverpool,said: “I am absolutely delightedwith the attendance figures and Iam very happy to see membershipbuilding so healthily at the launch.”

Directors, partners and ownersfrom law firms, accountancypractices, retail businesses,manufacturers and serviceproviders attended the lunchtimeevent and heard how membershiphad helped the enterprises ofexisting members from theManchester Network.

Media consultant AlistairMacdonald said: “The Network hasgiven me a vitally importantsupport group, many of whom arevalued suppliers, clients andfriends. Membership has helped mybusiness significantly. That’s why Ihave stayed with this organisationfor 13 years.”

Mr Rainford, who is alsomanaging director ofNewton-le-Willows based parceldelivery company Sameday UK,added: “The Business NetworkLiverpool’s monthly luncheonmeetings will now become regularevents on the Liverpool businessscene and I am looking forward towelcoming many more businessesin the coming months.”

He also presented a cheque toMarie Curie Cancer Care, to markthe adoption of the organisation asthe Business Network Liverpool’schosen charity.

City networking ventureattracts newmembersMore than100businesspeople attend inaugural Liverpool event

Len Rainford at the launch of Business Network Liverpool

CONFIDENCE amongbusiness professionals inthe North West hascontinued to improve, butthe region’s economicrecovery may be moresluggish than originallyexpected, according tothe Institute of CharteredAccountants in Englandand Wales (ICAEW).

The ICAEW surveyed 99business professionalsfrom across the region inits latest ConfidenceMonitor (BCM).

The respondentsrecorded a confidenceindex score of 24.3points, up 2.4 points fromthe last quarter and 1.5points behind the UKaverage.

In line with a rise inconfidence, North Westfirms expect a significantimprovement in the mainindicators of businesshealth over the next 12months.

Robust growth isexpected across key

financial indicatorsincluding turnover (3.3%),gross profits (3.6%) andsales volumes (4%).

However, companies’turnover, profits andsales growthexpectations have allmoderated slightly sincethe last BCM whichsuggests the region’seconomic recovery maybe slower that originallyenvisaged.

Melanie Christie,ICAEW North West

regional director, said:“Firms may have revisedtheir forecastsdownwards after datashowed UK economicoutput growth wassignificantly belowexpectations during thelast two quarters.

“That said, confidencecontinues to improve,suggesting the NorthWest is moving in theright direction and isfirmly on the road torecovery.”

NWconfidence up– but ‘sluggish’ recovery expected

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

LEGALLYSPEAKING

By Rob Coward,partner in employmentpractice group atHill Dickinson

QI HAVE read in thenewspapers that theGovernment isbringing in a law thatwill allow employers

to positively discriminate inorder to increase the diversityof their workforces. Aminister stated that one of thereasons they wanted to bringin the change was becauseonly 12% of board directors inthe UK’s top 100 companiesare women. What does thechange mean for business?

APOSITIVE action inemployment law hastraditionally beenviewed as a range ofmeasures which

employers can lawfully take toencourage and train peoplefrom under-represented (forexample, racial and ethnicgroups) in order to help themovercome disadvantages incompeting with otherapplicants for a job.

This limited exception tothe prohibition ondiscrimination in employmentdoes not allow anypositive discrim-ination in theactual recruitmentof employeesunder current law.

For instance,employment lawdoes not currentlyallow an employerto take under-representation ofwomen, forexample, intoaccount when itcomes to choosingbetween twoequally-qualifiedcandidates.

Positive action, notpositive discrimination, isto become lawful

Positive discriminationremains unlawful under theBill. For instance, if anemployer were to favour anAsian candidate who waspoorly qualified incomparison with a whiteapplicant who was betterqualified, that would bepositive discrimination.

An example of positivediscrimination was providedin the House of Lords debateson the Bill, where it wasstated the new law will: “. . .not permit an employer torecruit or promote a candidatewho is less qualified thananother just because theemployer wants to addressdisadvantage orunderrepresentation – in anyevent, this would make nobusiness sense.

“Where the assessmentprocess, in whatever form it

takes, evaluates one candidateas having scored, say, 95% andanother 61%, those candidatescannot be considered as beingas qualified as each other toundertake the job.

“It is immaterial whetherthe pass mark was set at 60%,50% or 40%; the clearlysuperior candidate mustalways be offered the job.”

Positive actionThe Equality Bill will allow

employers to take positiveaction, not positive discrim-ination, if they choose to doso.

The Government statedthat: “Positive action will beentirely optional, andabsolutely not about quotas(permissive rather thancompulsory).

“It will help organisationsthat want to increase thenumber of employees from acertain under-representedgroup, so that they betterreflect their local communityor customer base.”

How this will work inpractice is stillto be decided.The Bill issubject toamendment inParliament;however, thefollowingexample may beuseful indiscerning howit may work.

An employeris recruiting aworker and he isconcerned thatmost of hisworkforce is

white. He is aware that theethnicity of his workforcedoes not reflect the populat-ion, in the region he is in ornationally, because there areno employees from ethnicminorities.

The employer initiates arecruitment process and, afterinterviewing the short-listedcandidates, he is left with twoapplicants who are equallyqualified for the post. Themain difference is that one iswhite and the other is from anAsian background.

Considering the under-rep-resentation of Asian employ-ees, and the equal merit ofboth candidates, the employerwill be allowed, when the Billbecomes the Equality Act, tomake the decision based onthat under- representation.

The employer will not be inbreach of discrimination lawsif he chooses to employ theapplicant from an Asianbackground, because of hisAsian identity, over a personwho is white.

‘Positiveactionwillbe entirelyoptional andnot aboutquotas’

36

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The MFlow system was designed by Human Recognition Systems to help airports monitor passenger movements

ADVERTISEMENT

Biometric ID firmgoes with the flow

Merseyside companyputs airport passengers in the fast laneA TOP Liverpool-based biometric andidentity management consultancy willsupply a leading UK airport withequipment to automatically managepassenger movements.

Human Recognition Systems has wona contract with Newcastle InternationalAirport to deliver MFlow – an automatedexit lanes system to manage passengerflow.

The scheme will monitor the exitroutes from the international anddomestic baggage collection areas.

This means it will significantlyenhance service, security and efficiencyat the airport.

Newcastle Airport was used by morethan 5m people last year.

The new system will increasepassenger through-put and improvereliability, while lessening the relianceon security officers.

The MFlow system combines humanbehavioural analysis technology with“smart surveillance” CCTV and system-controlled doors to manage passengerflow.

It also identifies people moving in thewrong direction or standing still in thevicinity of exit lanes.

The technology also identifies andalerts security staff to unattended objectsand objects being passed from landside toairside.

Jim Slevin, Human RecognitionSystems business development

consultant, said: “We have been workingwith the aviation industry for the lastfive years.

“This is to understand how biometricsand video analytics can improve security.

“We’re also involved in how it canstreamline processes and enhancepassenger experience whilst returningon the airport’s investment.”

MFlow Exit Lanes is the latestcomplete solution designed and deployedby HRS to meet and exceed EU andDepartment for Transport’s (DfT)rigorous airport security regulations.

Mr Slevin added: “MFlow Exit Laneshas been designed and delivered tocustomers to provide return oninvestment measured in months.”

Student’s savings at top chemical plant fit the billBOSSES at a Runcornchemical companypraised the Year INIndustry (YINI) scheme,after a student onplacement identifiedsavings of more than£27,000 in energy bills.

Claire Dillon, 19, fromChorlton, Manchester,evaluated cooling towercost reduction, forchemical company INEOS

ChlorVinyls as part of heryear-long studentplacement.

She identified optionsfor combining coolingtower units, isolatingpumping capacity nolonger required andreducing pump-impellersizes to reduce powerconsumption.

Claire, who was oncetold by her chemistry

teacher that a career inChemical Engineeringwould be too difficult for awoman, personallyre-designed the system toreduce its energy usageby more than 25%.

As part of a wide rangeof projects, Claire alsore-designed a criticalsafety fire deluge system.

Aspects of her finalproposals are now to be

implemented at theRuncorn site. INEOSChlorVinyls’ bosses wereso impressed with Claire’swork that they aresponsoring her throughher chemical engineeringdegree at LeedsUniversity.

“It was really rewardingthat my recommendationswere accepted by thecompany,” she said.

37

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Eco-house steps up for awardNational prize-winning heating technologywill be installed in 75housesonNorth East estate

Canadian hi-tech firmmoves to Science ParkLIVERPOOL SciencePark’s soft landingcentre has welcomed itslatest internationalresident.

Canadian-basedComponentXS visited anumber of locations andoffice solutions beforesettling on LiverpoolScience Park.

The company, whichprovides innovativesolutions for theelectronics market,provides expertiseranging from theaerospace, military andmedical sectors.

Gary O'Hare,ComponentXSmanaging director, said:“The strength of theacademic research baseand concentration ofrelevant companiesmade Liverpool anobvious choice for us.

“As soon as we were

aware of the benefits ofLiverpool Science Park’ssoft landing centre, inthe heart of theKnowledge Quarter, weknew it was the rightlocation and facility inwhich to grow ourbusiness”.

Chloe Young, LSPbusiness developmentdirector, said: “We aredelighted to welcomeanother internationalcompany to our growingcommunity. We have anexcellent offer whichallows companies to testout the market in a low-risk, cost-free way. Asawareness increases, weexpect the facility toattract more commercialknowledge-basedbusinesses to the city”.

LSP is a Liverpool CityCouncil, John MooresUniversity and LiverpoolUniversity joint-venture.Liverpool Science Park – focused on attracting international companies to its new building

A MERSEYSIDE renewable heatingcompany has won a national carbonfootprint award for a North Easthousing project.

Warmer Heating is part of awinning team which won theNational Energy Action’s Footprintaward for the project.

This was initially to transform athree-bedroom house into aneco-show home.

The presentation was made by EdMiliband, Secretary of State forEnergy and Climate Change.

The Renewable Energy ShowHouse was officially launched inSouth Tyneside last week, afterbeing named as the regional winner.

The competition is to highlightexcellence by organisationsworking to tackle fuel poverty andreduce carbon.

In partnership with SouthTyneside Homes, Warmer Heatinghas installed green technology intoa house in Hebburn.

Work included an air source heatpump, solar panels to power thewater heating system, cavity walland loft insulation to preserve heatwithin the house – all to cut energybills by up to a third.

The project is being rolled out in75 houses at Lukes Lane estate, withWarmer Heating leading oninstallation.

The show house is now beingused as a respite facility for tenantswhile contractors install the heatpumps and solar thermal panels intheir homes. Once the scheme hasbeen completed, the house will beavailable for let.

Warmer Heating, with a base onMerseyside as well as the North

East, is an industry leader in eco-initiatives and is a major contractorfor Community Energy Solutions.

Community Energy Solutions, anon-profit distributionorganisation, is run to help bringaffordable warmth to those inoff-gas communities.

The aim is to assist such off-gasnetwork householders by helpingwith funding for renewabletechnologies, with Warmer Heatingdoing installations.

Warmer Heating also operate inpartnership with Eaga Plc, theorganisation which manages theWarm Front grant Scheme for theDepartment of Energy and ClimateChange (DECC) for those receivingincome or disability benefitpayments.

Bryan Glendinning, of WarmerHeating, said: “Coming at the end ofa week when the Government hasannounced grants to help pay tomake your home greener, it hasnever been easier to show how youcan reduce your home’s carbonfootprint.

“We are delighted to be part ofthis award-winning project and tobe continuing our commitment toleading the way in making theheating industry a green industry.”

National Energy Action’sFootprint Award aims to award andcongratulate excellence byorganisations working to tackle fuelpoverty and reduce carbon.

Entries are received from allnot-for profit organisationsundertaking work to tackle fuelpoverty and promote affordablewarmth to vulnerable householdsin England.

From left: Nick Huston and Leon Cowley, of South Tyneside Homes; Bryan Glendinning, of Warmer Heating; EnvironmentSecretary Ed Miliband; National Energy Action chief executive Jenny Saunders; and Phil Warren, of Warmer Heating

38

EDUCATION

JMU looks for swashbucklingLiverpool JohnMooresUniversity’sMaritimeAcademybossesexplain toNeil Hodgsonhow they

PIRACY on the high seas is aproblem currentlyoccupying the minds ofspecialists at LiverpoolMaritime Academy.

Established by Liverpool JohnMoores University in 2008, theacademy provides a myriad ofservices to the nautical industry,including risk assessment.

And Dr Stephen Bonsall, head ofmaritime, transport andmanagement, revealed: “We have juststarted to look at piracy as a riskassessment. We need to lessen therisk.”

The threat of piracy in the IndianOcean has risen in the past five yearsafter the Somali civil war.

In 2008, it was estimated piratesextorted more than £70m in ransomsfrom shipping lines, and last Aprilfour Somali pirates seized theMaersk Alabama off the Somaliaport city of Eyl.

A British couple, the Chandlers,

are still being held by pirates afterbeing seized last year.

Dr Bonsall added: “It’s not an areathat has been researched veryheavily before, so it’s still in theearly stages, and we’re strugglingwith what specifically we have tolook at.

“We know the problem is takingthe ships, but it’s how you combatthat problem.

“That’s what people are strugglingwith at the moment.”

The academy boasts a simulator inBirkenhead which is the only one inthe UK to offer 360 degree bridgevisibility. Dr Bonsall said this couldbe used to plan against piracy,adding: “We need to bring in otherpartners to develop an effectivescenario for managing piracy. Youneed an expert for that side.”

He cautioned: “We could only doresearch into it if there’s an areawhere we can gain a grant to be ableto do it, or sponsorship, and it is this

kind of thing we are looking for.”This May, a large port operatorsconference will convene in Liverpool,and Dr Bonsall said it could be theideal opportunity to float the idea ofa specialist study of the piracy risk.

The first nautical college inLiverpool was established in 1892,but its values and traditions are nowin the more-than-capable hands ofLiverpool JMU’s Byrom Streetacademy, headed by Prof IanJenkinson, director of the school ofengineering, technology andmaritime operations, and Dr Bonsall,who was at sea for 10 years, in portmanagement for 12 and has beenwith JMU for 20 years.

The academy offers JMU’sinternationally-recognised researchin maritime technology and risk andsafety management, undergraduate,postgraduate and professionaltraining courses, and its advancedsimulation facilities at the Lairdsidecentre provides training for pilots

and captains of the future. About 300students – 60% of whom are overseaslearners who can combine theirnautical studies with Englishlanguage studies – are currently atthe academy, and for the majority itis the first step on the rung to notonly a nautical career, but also aroute into the boardroom.

Prof Jenkinson said their vastalumni would show a wealth ofsenior managers and directors inshipping lines throughout the world,such as former Mersey Docks andHarbour Company chief executiveBuddha Majumdar, who has workedin various international roles and isnow a consultant.

“People have taken their sea-goingexaminations here, and as timemoves on they have moved intomanagement positions of themaritime sector and across thewhole sector.

“Liverpool has a great name forsea-going courses, and the reputation

for Liverpool still lingers. There arequite a few ex-students in seniormanagement positions around theworld in shipping and portsmanagement, such as Buddha andIan Mathison (marine and safetydirector at Liverpool’s Bibby ShipManagement).”

Dr Bonsall added: “We are long-standing within the maritimebusiness, so in Liverpool, if you go tothe big companies here like BibbyLine, Meridian, CMA or Maersk, youwill find ex-students from JMU at allthe main lines. The roots areincredible.

“The John Moores name is highlyregarded around the world. We have,for 10 years, distance taught ourmasters courses over in Greece andIran.”

Academy resources are in demandthroughout global shipping quarters,as well as other shipping-relatedfields, as Prof Jenkinson explained:“We do research and as part of the

Dr Stephen Bonsall, left, and Prof Ian Jenkinson, who are at the helm of Liverpool John Moores University’s world-renowned Liverpool Maritime Academy

39

EDUCATION

answer to 21st-century piracycanoffermanagement training to thenautical industry, fromboardroom to sea-going captains

Lairdside Maritime Centre we offertraining to industry.

“It’s been a problem for industryto access the combination of trainingand education that is needed forseafarers and we have managed toproduce a package that is a lot moreaccessible to commercial clients.

“As a result of that, we havecontracts with a number of majoroverseas organisations, such asSaudi Arabia.”

Dr Bonsall explained Saudi sendsstudents to study for their pilotingdiploma, supported by the Lairdsidesimulator, which exclusively offerseight Saudi ports in its programme,enabling students to learn localpilotage for their own ports on thebanks of the Mersey.

Prof Jenkinson said: “The 360degrees vision is essential for pilottraining and a unique offering withtraining and education.”

A masters degree in portmanagement also proved a draw for

the Saudis. Dr Bonsall said: “Portsare a business, the same as anybusiness, whose speciality isworking with ships and themanagement of the land. Portmanagement is looking into howthose assets can be used, taking inpersonnel management and financialmanagement.

“It is an operational managementcourse for ports which could also gointo the civil engineering side.

“The Saudis were looking for anofficer of the watch course at adegree level, which is not offeredeverywhere, and operationsmanagement and languagequalifications. So we were able tooffer the four strands they werelooking for.”

Prof Jenkinson added: “We haveexperience with a variety of nations,including Kuwaiti business training,landside.

“This year we went to the MiddleEast with Peel Ports and a number of

other civil engineering companies.We’re quite keen to collaborate withpartners and put courses together,and there’s opportunities in SaudiArabia for courses that are all-inclusive that include education andtraining aspects.”

The academy’s links with Port ofLiverpool owner Peel Ports are avital element in the training ofshipping and port management ofthe future, said Dr Bonsall.

“The Port Management MSc wehave was drawn up in collaborationwith them, and we do harbourmaster courses with them.”

He said: “We have used them forplacements and because they are afunctional port it is very useful andis an ideal collaboration.”

Liverpool JMU has had contactswith Peel Ports and formerly MerseyDocks and Harbour Company formore than 20 years.

“It’s a long-standing collaborationarrangement. But we hope in the

future to work closer with them.” DrBonsall added: “I would say we areunique in the UK, because you wouldbe hard-pressed to find anotheruniversity that has the scope we havehere under one roof.”

One of its specialities is riskassessment, such as the piracyproject.

But it also extends to wider issuesin the maritime industry. Dr Bonsallsaid: “The team here have developedspecial ways of looking at risk.

“Risk is involved in everything,and we do risk assessments foroffshore industries like the oil andgas industries.”

Prof Jenkinson said: “Any offshoreinstallation would require a riskassessment – for the safety of itspersonnel and also for insurancepurposes, as well as engineeringrisk.”

Another area of expertise couldprovide welcome income for theacademy through the automation of

small ports for container and ro-ro(roll-on roll-off) cargo shipping.

Prof Jenkinson explained that a£6.4m European Union (EU) grant isavailable to improve port efficiencyfor short sea shipping and movinggoods by sea between EU countriesto make it more attractive foroperators to use ports for short seashipping. Currently 40% of Europeantrade is handled by waterways.

Dr Bonsall said: “The grant isworth £6.4m in total, but our bitwould be worth £900,000 workingwith the technical university of Lille,Dublin, le Havre, Rouen and Ostend.

“We’re the only UK universityincluded on this four-year project.”

He said it was all part of acomprehensive offer the academycan boast that has established it as akey player in the industry.

He explained: “The make-up ofmaritime here at Liverpool JohnMoores is stronger now than it’s everbeen, because it is multi-functional.”

The ‘bridge’ of the Lairdside simulator, showing a vessel steering a course up the River Mersey

41

Tate Liverpool CaféAlbert DockLiverpoolL3 4BBTel: 0151 702 7400www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/Cost: £21.45

THE NETWORKER

BUSINESSLUNCH

DETAILS

KevinMcManus

The café at the Tate in Liverpool is a work of art itself, as well as a relaxing lunch venue

Alistair HoughtonmeetsKevinMcManus,director of creative industries supportagencyMerseysideACME

IT’S based in one of thecity’s key culturalinstitutions, and its wallsare works of art inthemselves – so wherebetter to meet the mancharged with promotingMerseyside’s creativeindustries than the Tate

Gallery Café?The café is a striking space, with

its multi-coloured banners andslogan-splashed walls. Its decor isthe work of German artist TobiasRehberger, who transformed theroom into an art installation calledGet a New Liver.

And, through its floor-to-ceilingwindows, diners get a glorious viewof an engineering work of art – JesseHartley’s Albert Dock – and the cityskyline beyond.

It was a view I shared with KevinMcManus, the director of MerseysideACME, who works with the region’screative and digital businesses tohelp them grow.

Kevin wrote for the NME andpenned books on Liverpool’s musichistory before joining ACME in 1997.

Since then, he has seen the city’screative sector, which encompassessectors from advertising to fashionand web design to video gaming,grow steadily. The recession hit somefirms hard, but Kevin saidcompanies he worked with weregenerally upbeat about theirprospects.

“Creative firms are more resistantthan those in a lot of other sectorsbecause they tend to be small andfairly flexible,” he said.

“We did see some marketing andadvertising companies who had a lotof clients in the financial sector whostruggled, but the reaction of mostcompanies was to look for steadiness.

“If they had planned forexpansion, people settled formaintaining where they were.

“People now are starting to expandagain. They seem more positive.”

The Tate Café is an informaleaterie rather than a formalrestaurant, but makes for an unusualand relaxing lunch venue.

Diners grab a table and order atthe counter, where they are given anumber to identify their table. Wewere, appropriately, given ourimminent music-themedconversation, allotted number one.

As we waited for our food, Kevintalked about how small creativefirms in Merseyside needed to worktogether to win big contracts thatcould otherwise go to larger firmsfrom London or Manchester.

He said: “If you’re a televisioncompany looking to win work atMediaCity, you may need to workwith somebody who does gamingapplications or mobile applications.

“The relationships could be one-offprojects or more sustainable. It’sabout finding the right kind ofpeople for the right jobs.

“Lots of PR companies, forexample, will have digital companiesthey work with regularly. That’swhat BBC commissioners, forexample, are looking for – peoplewho can bring in other elements andother revenues.

“Do you build a digital departmentyourselves, with all the overheadsthat go with that, or do you workwith the good people around that youhave a relationship with?”

MediaCity UK, the £500mdevelopment in Salford Quays, opensits first phase next year.

It will house five BBC departmentscurrently based in London – Sport,Radio Five Live, Children’s, Learningand parts of its Future Media andTechnology team.

Some fear the complex will takesuch creative and digital investmentaway from Liverpool, but McManussays Merseyside creative firms mustinstead be positive and try to winbusiness from the BBC.

“I can only see MediaCity as anopportunity,” he said. “It’s only a fewmiles away. But for it to be anopportunity, we need to work withcompanies to make sure they’reready for it.

“Good companies will takeadvantage of it. I don’t think there’sany use moaning about it.”

Next, our food arrived. I hadchosen the “smoked un-dyedhaddock and salmon fishcake” –which, despite its modest name, wasseveral times larger than your streetcorner chippie fishcake.

It was served on tartare sauce anda sweet pea puree – high-class mushypeas, essentially – and, despite itsintimidating size, boasted a delicatesmoky taste.

One warning – the fishcake doesn’tcome with chips or potatoes, but itdoes need a side dish. I canrecommend doing as I did andbuying a side order of the Tate’stasty chips to make a great meal.

Kevin relished his open steaksandwich, saying the meat wasperfectly cooked and the dishbeautifully presented. He alsopraised the café’s “lovely” service.

We moved on to discuss BalticCreative, the £5.2m plan totransform empty buildings inLiverpool’s Baltic Triangle into acreative quarter.

Kevin and ACME spearheadedthe project, which is now in thehands of an independentmanagement board.

“There’s been a lot of curiosityand interest from prospectivetenants,” he said.“There’s a lot ofinterestnationally inhow this isgoing towork.Hopefully,the spacewill be

used for many and varied things. Myambition has always been to try tocreate something with BalticCreative that people will look at as amodel for similar projectselsewhere.”

Bootle boy Kevin fell into themusic industry at a young age. Hestarted writing for the NME at 18,after becoming a regular visitor tolegendary Mathew Street club Eric’s.

He said: “I saw everyone from TheClash to Iggy Pop and Joy Division toBig In Japan – they were legends.The NME was a dream job because itcombined music with writing. I didthe first national reviews for people

such as Frankie Goesto Hollywood.”

Kevin wrote onmusic throughoutthe 80s for the NMEand otherpublications,including The Faceand MixMag.

He said: “I met alot of interesting

people, got lots of freerecords and went

to lots of gigs.”He moved

into bandmanage-ment,

working with Liverpool bandsincluding The Tambourines, andbecame a researcher at Liverpool’sInstitute of Popular Music. There hewrote or co-authored four books,including one about Liverpool’scountry music scene, calledNashville of the North.

Kevin joined ACME when itlaunched in 1997. Its projects haveincluded the launch of the Kinnetwork (kin2kin.co.uk ), the onlinecommunity for creative companies.

ACME was initially funded bylocal authorities and Europeangrants. Last year, it became part ofregeneration body Liverpool Vision.

At the same time, Kevin becamehead of music at regional agencyNorthwest Vision and Media.

Events such as Liverpool MusicWeek, Liverpool Sound City andCreamfields already attract manythousands of visitors to the region –and Kevin says the North West needsto make more noise about thesuccess of its music industry.

We met for lunch shortly beforeKevin headed for the South bySouthwest (SxSW) music festival andconference in Austin, Texas, with therest of a North West delegation.

“It’s probably the most importantmusic industry event and showcasein the world, certainly forguitar-based music,” he said. “It’s akey gateway to the North Americanmarket.

“We support businesses goingthere to help them break into that

market. That could mean themgetting a record deal, a publishingdeal or a US agent.

“As with any industry convention,it’s hard work. It’s not just a series ofglamorous events and gigs.”

Kevin is still a regular gig-goer,despite the demands of his job. Andwhile he never harboured anyambitions to be a rock star himself,instead preferring to stay behind thescenes, he made the charts last year.

He was one of the team behind lastyear’s Hillsborough tribute singleThe Fields of Anfield Road, workingwith the likes of The Farm frontmanPeter Hooton, Cast singer JohnPower and then Lord Mayor ofLiverpool Steve Rotheram.

“Twenty years too late, I wasinvolved in a Top 20 hit,” he said.“But the serious point is that weraised a lot of money for theHillsborough Family SupportGroup.”

42

THE NETWORKER

THEBUSINESSLISTFRIDAY, APRIL 16 / SIXTY REALLY USEFUL MINUTES TO AVOID FAMILY BUSINESS MELTDOWN

Husband and wife team Gaynor and Steve Lyth, from lifestyle financial planners Alchemy Advisory Services

Plans – Riverside Park, Bromborough

Rod Davies – speaking atLiverpool Chamber ofCommerce on Friday, March 26

Friday, March 26The Daresbury business breakfastbrings together around 100 peopleworking for hi-tech companies andtheir supply and supportcommunities.

The breakfast is at DaresburyInnovation Centre, starting from8am. For more details, see www.daresburysic.co.uk/events

Friday, March 26A briefing at St Helens Chamber onthe opportunities at the World Expoin Shanghai, which runs from Mayto October.

Guest speakers from LiverpoolVision, the China-Britain BusinessCouncil and the Head of AsiaPacific Development from UK Trade& Investment North West will beattending to provide furtherinformation about the opportunitiesavailable for St Helens businessesto get involved and promotethemselves on an internationalscale.

It is from 8.30am-10am. Fordetails, call 01744 742000.

Friday, March 26The 60 Really Useful Minutes seriescontinues at Liverpool Chamber ofCommerce with an entrepreneurialbootcamp.

Business Doctors Matt Levingtonand Rod Davies will focus on thekey to success – how companiesre-engineer their businesses foroptimal performance, laying thefoundations for future growth.

It is from 9am-10am, and is freefor members and £5 fornon-members. To book, call 0151227 1234.

Wednesday, March 31Wirral’s Digital and Media BusinessForum is holding its latest event atRiverside Park, Bromborough, from8am-9.45am.

The guest speakers include IPspecialist Joanne Shelley of HillyerMckeown Solicitors and AlistairHoughton, LDP Creative reporter.

Daniel Clutterbuck and CarlLewis will also discuss the plans forRiverside Park Digital BusinessCentre.

For more information, contactSharon Stanton at

[email protected] ortelephone 07742 442503.

Tuesday, April 6The next 1stuesday breakfast eventis at 7.45am at The HeathRestaurant, The Heath Businessand Technical Park. It is £5 forHalton Chamber members and £10for non-members. To book, contactNicola Holland on 01928 516142 oremail [email protected].

Tuesday, April 20The West Cheshire and North WalesChamber is holding a businessbreakfast at Mollington Banastre. Itis from 7.30am-9am and costs £15for members and £23 fornon-members. To book, call 01244669988.

Tuesday, April 20The Halton Women in Business

Network’s next monthly event is atThe Heath Business Park, Runcorn,from 12pm to 2pm. It is £5 forHalton Chamber members and £10for non-members. To book, contact

Nicola Holland on 01928 516142, oremail [email protected].

Thursday, April 22Knowsley Women in BusinessNetwork is hosting a seminar onmarketing your businesssuccessfully. Presented by EileenBaines-Sutton, of Pure Change, shewill give advice on how to marketyour business and also share withyou the challenges she hasexperienced and how she stayedmotivated.

It is at Suites Hotel, Knowsley,from 11am-2pm and costs £17.50for members and £20.56 fornon-members. For more details,visit www.knowsleychamber.org■ TO GET details of yourforthcoming diary events includedon this page, please [email protected]

FAMILY businesses whowant to learn how tosuccessfully manage themulti-generationaltransfer of their businessempire are invited to aone-hour seminar atLiverpool Chamber ofCommerce.

It is estimated that only

five in 100 familybusinesses survivebeyond the thirdgeneration and evenfewer the fourthgeneration.

In many cases, it is notonly the business thatdisappears, but thepersonal wealth of the

family, too. Sixty ReallyUseful Minutes To AvoidFamily BusinessMeltdown is beingpresented by Gaynor andSteve Lyth, from lifestylefinancial plannersAlchemy AdvisoryServices, and IanHodgkinson ,from Mace

& Jones, Solicitors. It willcover issues from therelationship betweenfamily and business andhow this changes withtime, the benefits ofimplementing structuredgovernance in the familybusiness, how to protectfamily businesses

beyond the thirdgeneration, and how tofoster financialresponsibility in futuregenerations.■ IT IS from 9am-10amand is free for membersand £5 for non-members.To book, call 0151 2271234.

44

ALISTAIRHOUGHTON

THE NETWORKER

. . . in which we ‘netwalk’ past stone Titansand broken cashpoints, while taking onall-comers in a networking treasure hunt

MARKTWAINonce saidgolf was agood walkruined. Sowhat, onehas to ask,would he

have made of netwalking?Netwalking, for the uninitiated, is

networking while taking a walkaround the sights of yourneighbourhood.

If you work on a business park onthe outskirts of Swindon, where theonly sights to be seen are Brenda’sCaravan of Sausages and the faintoutline of another big shed callcentre on the horizon, then it maynot be an appealing prospect.

But – and we can brag here – if youwork in central Liverpool, there’s alot of potential.

When you work in or around thecity centre, it’s easy to take thisconcentration of great architectureand stunning vistas for granted.

It’s easy to hurry from yourwindowless, air-conditioned office tothe Sainsco Express-Metro and back,so familiar with the streets whereyou work that you no longer even

need to look where you’re going.And, yes, the incessant drone fromour quango regiment about“Liverpool’s World Heritagewaterfront” has made many peopleso bored with that skyline that theysometimes feel they’d rather glue twoof Brenda’s sausage baps to theireyeballs than look at it again.

Yet, whenever I do actually botherto take a proper lunch break andtake a fresh look at this corner of thecity, it always fills me withsomething terribly close to joy.

Raise your eyes above thesandwich shops to peer at the gloryof Oriel Chambers. Look withwonder at the immense bulk ofMartins Bank, and ponder at howearly 20th-century bankers couldraise such massive monuments tocommerce while modern bankersjust raise hackles.

Imagine what it must be like towork in the Royal Liver Building –the Scouse equivalent, surely, oflooking out of the eyes of the Statueof Liberty?

Or – a particular favourite of mine– ignore the big ticket history stuff,and go and have a look at thebattered, tiny old Williams andGlyn’s cash machine, surely one of

the earliest of its kind still in situ.It’s got 10 chunky buttons, a slot foryour card, and that’s it.

The forlorn machine bears aboutas much resemblance to the modernvideoscreen cashpoints as my 1992vintage cheap plastic Radio Oneradio (shaped like a number one,Hairy Cornflake fans) has to myiPhone. And it’s generally covered inrubbish – this is 21st-century Britain,after all.

Yet it is, in its own way, a littlesnapshot of history. No, I’m nottelling you where it is – go and find ityourself. Get some fresh air, exploreyour city, and remember whatlunchbreaks were made for.

AND now I’ve given you alla health tip and a dose ofculture, it’s back to thebeer. Because all that talkof netwalking has

reminded me of anotherChamber-related networking event acouple of years ago – theeagerly-contested Business CrimeDirect pub quiz treasure hunt.

It saw groups of business types –including my team from the DailyPost – scrambling round the cityhunting for clues in pubs from thePhilharmonic to the waterfront.

The format was simple. TheChamber told you at which pub youshould begin your quest. On arrival,your cheery landlord gave you aquestion sheet.

Teams first had to answerquestions to reveal the identity of theother pubs to which they would haveto trudge that night.

Then, as they went along, they hadto answer trivia questions abouteach individual hostelry.

Sometimes you needed to peer atthe pictures of old Liverpool on thewall to see, for example, how much atrio of electric corsets cost atBobbins & Balderdash in 1897.

Or they might be about the pubitself – just how many dusty bottlesof Old Cobbler’s Bottom weresuspended from that glass aardvark?

Teams of largely besuited businessfolk always stood out in some of themore out-of-the-way establishments,so all attempts at subtlety weredoomed to failure. Plus, of course, ifyou saw another team at all, then youknew you’d found the right pub.

Yes, we were – ahem – forced todrink beer as we went along. Itwould have been rude not to.

But that wasn’t the main point ofthe exercise. Instead, the quiz sawteams explore different parts of thecity, visiting pubs whose thresholdsthey would never otherwise havecrossed.

Plus, of course, we could alwayschat to our rivals as we went along.Netwalking, some might say, parexcellence.Dave Lee Travis, the ‘Hairy Cornflake’, in his 1979 pomp

46

CAROLYNHUGHES

SOCIAL DIARY THE NETWORKER

Phillip Ramsey (Clarity Creation), Helen Raghu (Roy Castle Lung Foundation), andMarius McGovern (Liverpool Dental Spa), at the products launch

Nikki Comber (producer, Channel 4), Claire Smithwick (Passion Jewellery), andKatie Powell (researcher, Channel 4), at the Forward Ladies event

Paul Burgess, with Katherine Atkinson (Patient Careco-ordinator, Liverpool Dental Spa), and Mark Castle, atthe Dental Spa products launch

Michael Starke, right, as Ronnie, with the rest of the castof Lucky Numbers, on stage at the Royal Court, Liverpool

Kilted Ken Alexander, director of Lucky Numbers, withwriter Mike Yeaman, at the launch of the new comedyplay at the Royal Court

Lawrence Gregory (Saturn Security) and Kurt Kershaw(Panorama Kitchens), at the Downtown Liverpool inBusiness dinner

Etta Cohen (Forward Ladies) and Esther McVey(Conservative PPC, Wirral West) at the Forward Ladiesevent

Frank McKenna (Chairman, DLiB) and Mike Askew (CBGGroup), at the DLiB Chairman’s Dinner

DOWNTOWN Liverpool inBusiness held its secondChairman's Dinner of 2010at the fabulous NobleHouse in the heart of thebusiness district. Guestswere treated to a superbmenu and a selection offine wines, whichdelightfully complementedthe calibre of guests.■ FORWARD Ladies, whohave recently acquiredWirral West PPC EstherMcVey’s Winning Womennetworking organisation,held their first event at theAdelphi Hotel last week.Forward Ladies member-ship embraces womenfrom all sectors and stagesof professional life andoffers a community for

women to learn, share andencourage one another in asupportive environment.■ LUCKY Numbers, thelatest hilarious comedy totake to the stage at theRoyal Court Theatre, tellsthe tale of a granny whowins the Lottery. Written byMike Yeaman and Directedby Ken Alexander, the comic-al tale runs until April 10.■ LIVERPOOL Dental Sparecently launched a rangeof products designed tostraighten teeth at theirnew flagship practice inBrunswick Street. Guestsat the Spa were treated toChampagne and canapés.New products include theInman Aligner and Simpli5clear aligner system.

47

For more information about investing in St.Helensplease contact the St.Helens Business Location Team.Tel: +44 (0)1744 742 041Email: [email protected]

www.investinsthelens.com

Connectivity,Catchment, Cost.

M53

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M60

London

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St.Helens M6

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M56

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• Direct access to thearterial M6 & M62

• The most car-friendlyplace in the wholeregion*

• Within 45 minutes oftwo, expanding,international airportsand the UK's largestFreeport zone

• Within an hour's driveof 4.3 millionprospectiveemployees & 6.8million potentialcustomers

• A relatively low cost& cost-effectivelocation in terms ofpremises, houseprices, & labour*2009 Virgin Money Survey

48 DAILY POST Thursday, March 25, 2010

MEREA570 ST HELENS LINKWAYOFF J7 M62, ST HELENS

TO LET / FOR SALE

MAJOR NEW OFFICE PARK

SELF-CONTAINED OFFICES2,500 - 10,100 SQ FT

DESIGN & BUILDOPPORTUNITIES

PLANNING PERMISSIONFOR UP TO 300,000 SQ FT

To find out more aboutMere Grange visit

www.meregrange.co.uk

50% OFFIN THEFIRST YEAR(T&CS APPLY)

For enquiries contact:

In partnership with

JOIN OUR LATEST

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GEOTECHNIQUE

ldp business magazine, april 2010

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