In this issue
A MAN WITH A PLAN
What Mayor Anderson Did Next
THE WONDER STUFF
Creating Alternative Universes
THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL
Cruise Terminal Success
ISSUE ONE I SUMMER 2012
FORWARD THINKING
Why the car in front is from Liverpool
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Golf As An Economic Driver
2
Welcome
Five years ago it was impossible to visit Liverpool and not see how much the city was
changing. Our skyline had been invaded by cranes as the city saw unprecedented
regeneration - with Grosvenor’s £1billion Liverpool ONE development and the Arena and
Convention Centre Liverpool powerful symbols of a city on the rise.
If you were looking for a physical manifestation of the renewed confidence in Liverpool, our
rapidly changing city centre wrote a message high into the sky.
But there is more to the message than our changing skyline. It’s about the re-emergence of our
creativity, and the return of our entrepreneurial spirit. And it’s a story that continues to unfold each of us adding a new chapter.
You can sense our renewed confidence in the electrifying pulse of our great cultural
institutions: from the pitch-perfect Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to the five-star
reviews at our theatres and galleries.
You can hear it in the rattle and hum of our re-energised manufacturing industry - the engine
behind the world’s hottest new car, in our ambitious financial services sector and the city’s
determination to generate prosperity and jobs.
And you can feel it in the thrill of our world-class science community, whether delving into the
beginnings of the universe at CERN, or developing futuristic new technologies for the digital
and gaming industries.
The city may be changing at an accelerated pace, but some things will always remain.
Liverpool’s story has always been about its people, and its passions. We’d like to share some of
them with you in our new magazine.
Max Steinberg,
Chief Executive, Liverpool Vision
3
4
CONTENTS
6
8
SIX APPEAL Your Instant Briefing On The City
THE CAR IN FRONT The Success Of The Evoque
12 BACK TO THE FUTURES
Investing In The City Pays Off
14 THE SEEDS OF CHANGE International Urban Designers Have
Plans For Everton Park
8
18 THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL Cruise Terminal Return
22 NO ORDINARY JOE
The Mayor Of Liverpool’s Ambitions
25 OPEN FOR BUSINESS Golf And The North West Economy
14
28 THE WONDER STUFF
Milky Tea Create Alternative Universes
www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
Twitter: @LiverpoolVision
32 CHINA IN OUR HAND
Front cover: Editorial Team: Photography: Range Rover Evoque
Mike Allanson, Peter Smith,
Jonathan Caswell, Ailsa Horne, David Lloyd
Pete Carr, Mark McNulty and Jonathan Caswell.
Golf images courtesy of Trinity Mirror.
Mayor Anderson images courtesy of Liverpool City Council and Mark McNulty.
Evoque images courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover.
33 NORTHERN SOUL
Published by: Liverpool Vision
The Capital
39 Old Hall Street
Liverpool L3 9PP
Tel: +44 (0)151 600 2900
© Liverpool Vision 2012. All material is strictly copyright and all
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written
permission of Liverpool Vision is strictly forbidden. Care has been
taken to ensure the accuracy of the information in this magazine
at the time of going to press, but we accept no responsibility for
ommissions or errors. The views expressed in this magazine are not
necessarily those of Liverpool Vision.
This document is printed on Essential
Velvet, FSC, ISO 14001 accredited.
Sourced from fully sustainable
forests. Printed using vegetable
based inks.
The International Trade Centre On The
Banks Of The Mersey
Stanley Dock Regeneration
18
34 A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Liverpool-London Partnership
35 RAISING THE BAR
Bronze Medallist Steve Smith On Life
After The Olympics 22
5
SIX APPEAL
Your instant briefing on the city...
CULTURE
BUSINESS
SPORT
Seeing Is Believing
Welcoming The World
It’s Our Round
Have your eyes peeled this autumn - for 10
weeks every two years Liverpool is host to
an extraordinary range of artworks, projects
and a dynamic programme of events.
Liverpool Biennial is the largest international
contemporary art festival in the UK and from
15 September – 25 November it will unfold
through art, film, performance, dance,
music, poetry, archaeology and expeditions
in diverse locations and unexpected public
spaces as well as in galleries, museums and
cultural venues.
For further information on the programme
and the Young People’s Biennial go to: www.biennial.com
Oded Hirsch. The Mad Lift, 2012. Illustration: Miki Golod
6
Hot on the heels of the successful Global
Entrepreneurship Congress, Liverpool
and Wirral are joining forces to host an
International Business Festival in 2014.
THE Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake
plays host to the best women golfers on the
planet for the Ricoh Women’s British Open
Championship from 13 -16 September.
The event could generate as much as £100m
for the local economy - attracting blue chip
brands and businesses to the waterfront in
an event inspired by Shanghai’s World Expo
2010 (in which Liverpool was the sole UK city
to exhibit).
Yani Tseng from Taiwan aims for a hat trick of
wins over one of the toughest links courses
in world golf.
The month-long festival will be the
largest event of its kind in the UK since
the Millennium Fair of 2000, held at the
Millennium Dome, and the Festival of Britain
in 1951.
Tickets £20/£25; children under 16 free with
an adult. Practice Days & Pro-Am Day free
entry (10th, 11th, 12th September).
For further information go to www.ricohwomensbritishopen.com
Picture: Yani Tseng, coutesy of Ladies’ Golf Union
INVESTMENT
EVENTS
MUSIC
In Good Health
Sail Away
Raising The Roof...
Liverpool-based pharmaceuticals
firm Redx Pharma is to create 119 jobs
at a £10.8million centre, specialising in
researching treatments for multi resistant
bugs such as MRSA. Its bid for Regional
Growth Fund grants was backed by Mayor Joe Anderson.
“As we grow the business and create this
focused subsidiary, we want to locate in an
area where we’ve got significant support,”
says Chief Executive Dr Neil Murray.
For further information go to www.redxpharma.com
The Mersey is set to welcome the world’s
most beautiful tall ships again this summer,
when the Irish Sea Tall Ships Regatta returns
on 31st August.
A fleet of tall ships including the stunning
Class A square rigger Pelican of London will
make a spectacular return as they race to
the city for the first time since The Tall Ships
Races 2008, which attracted around 450,000
visitors. Let’s hope the wind is blowing in the
right direction, and they can hoist their sails high.
For further information go to www.liverpoolonthewaterfront.co.uk
The resurgent Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the baton of celebrated
conductor Vasily Petrenko is receiving the
sort of rave notices you just don’t see that
often in the reserved quarters of classical
music. Sell out seasons, five-star recordings
and rapturously received concert tours speak
of something very special happening up
Hope Street way. And, again, this season,
the RLPO have been invited to take part in
the BBC’s Proms season.
You can catch their Albert Hall performance,
when it’s broadcast live on Radio 3 on
August 23rd.
For further information go to www.liverpoolphil.com
Picture: Pelican of London, coutesy of Adventure Under Sail
Picture: The Royal Albert Hall, courtesy of Mark McNulty
7
THE C
The E
VOQU
8
E has
turne
AR I
d aroun
d the
fortunes
of the
city’s
prou
d an
d
IN FR
innovative
car p
roduction
industr
y, an
d
singl
ONT
e-han
dedl
y sho
wed
us the
shap
e of
thing
s to
come
9
Making headlines, and winning awards
where the company makes the Land Rover
ensured a bright future for the company’s
around the world, the stylish new
Freelander and the Range Rover Evoque.
Halewood operations - with 1,000 new
Range Rover Evoque has transformed
the fortunes of one of Liverpool’s most
It is, of course, the Evoque that is winning
manufacturing posts announced this spring.
gongs left, right and centre in the
The new positions, which will support the
automotive world; a compact crossover
on-going significant demand for the Range
SUV that sells from £28,000, and is the next
Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander 2,
The World Car of the Year 2011 is built in
step of Land Rover’s efforts to move the
take the workforce at Halewood to almost
Liverpool. Did you know that? For all of
brand to a new market; appealing both to
4,500 - treble the number employed there
its music-and-football glory, Liverpool’s
mud-pluggers, company car drivers and busy
just three years ago.
contribution to the world of car-making is
mums on the school run.
cherished industries. The shape of things
to come? You wouldn’t bet against it.
rarely mentioned.
the Range Rover Evoque
continues to set standards
for design, engineering and
performance right around
the world
“These 1,000 new jobs are further evidence
But it’s winning praise not just for its head
of JLR’s clear ambition for continued growth.
turning looks, but for what goes on under the
We are moving Halewood to three shifts
bonnet too.
and a 24-hour operation to meet increased
“We are delighted that the Range Rover
Evoque continues to set standards for
global demand for our products,” says
Jaguar Land Rover HR Director, Des Thurlby.
design, engineering and performance
“JLR’s supply chain is also set to benefit,
The city’s links with the British car industry
right around the world,” says Land Rover’s
with thousands more jobs expected to be
are deep and proud – having rolled out
Marketing Director, Laura Schwab “With
created,” he added. “Our commitment
cars for Triumph, Ford, Vauxhall, Jaguar and
the lowest CO2 figure of any Land Rover of
to expand the Halewood workforce and
Land Rover over the years. Down the road is
129g/km, from the efficient 2.2 eD4 diesel
increase production is great news for JLR, for
Bentley’s plant, where it makes all of its cars
engine, it’s a further demonstration of Land
Merseyside and for the wider UK economy.”
by hand.
Rover’s continuous focus on technology and
Wind the clock back just a few years and
Just over the water is Ellesmere Port – the
customer requirements.”
self-styled Home of the Astra. And just a few
And not only is it British, it is built in
stops down on the bus from the city centre
Liverpool, by British hands and conceived by
is Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant
British minds. The success of the model has
the fate of Jaguar Land Rover seemed less
than assured. Where once it was the world’s
biggest car factory under one roof when
opened by Ford in 1963, the plant appeared
vulnerable as high-end car-makers felt the
pinch in the 2008 recession.
New owners Tata saw the potential in the
brands and in Halewood, pumped money
into the plants, and revitalised the product
line-up. The company announced a £1.5bn
profit in 2011 with the success of the Evoque;
money that will flow down through the local
supply chain and create more jobs indirectly.
10
Halewood’s location isn’t just a quirk of fate
either. Served by excellent road, rail and
maritime links it is well placed to send cars
around the country – and around the world.
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) are major new markets, desperate for
high quality and good-looking cars with an
injection of British style. It’s in these markets,
more than homegrown ones that are really
fuelling demand.
But people in Liverpool have taken the car to
their hearts. They’re used to seeing it on the
city’s streets over the last two years. Not only
has the car been extensively tested here,
Jaguar Land Rover also chose to launch the
car in its home city for the international press
- and used Liverpool as the backdrop for its
super-stylish press shots.
It’s not hard to get a sense of the company’s
pride in the Evoque - and the feeling that the
city played a vital role in its success. The World Car of the Year the Evoque
has been good news for Jaguar Land
Rover and Liverpool at a difficult time for
manufacturing.
“The Evoque is an incredibly exciting
vehicle that joins a product range which
across both of our brands is the strongest
we have ever had - and it fits in perfectly,”
says Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover Chief
Executive Officer. “The teams that have
designed, engineered and built the new
Evoque, working together with our research
and supplier partners, can be immensely
proud of their achievement. It really is a
groundbreaking product.”
And the ground it came from? It’s Liverpool.
Our commitment to expand
the Halewood workforce
and increase production is
great news for JLR
UNDER THE BONNET
So what exactly is this world-beating
car? The Evoque was referred to
unofficially as the baby Land Rover in
development - a ‘green’ car for a new
market that valued looks and comfort
as much as formidable off-road ability.
The Evoque can return 50mpg
combined and emit as low as 129g/km
– superior to many family cars and by
far the greenest car in the Land Rover
line-up. But it is certainly the best car
in its segment in the rough stuff – no
Range Rover was every going to hit
dealerships without the ability to leave
the tarmac.
Available in three-door coupe or
five-door formats, the Evoque
eschews the typical image of the 4x4
as a fuel-guzzling anti-social monster
responsible for melting ice caps
and concreting semi-detached front
gardens. Available with an efficient
and low-CO2 diesel engine that puts
it on a par with some small cars, it’s
cheap to run, no larger than a small
family car and is the greenest car from
the Jaguar Land Rover stable ever.
But if you order one today, such is the
demand that you won’t take delivery
until some time next year...
For more information go to
www.landrover.com
11
Back to the
FUTURES
One young investment company is continuing the city’s rich
heritage of wealth management and giving the big financial
boys a run for their money...
12
INVESTING in Liverpool has always been
a shrewd move. And, increasingly, the
city’s financial sector is proving equally
fruitful, thanks to the new Liverpool office
of one of the UK’s brightest young asset
management companies, Cheviot.
We’re not shy about singing our praises
around these parts, but Liverpool still
harbours plenty of well kept secrets that
might surprise you.
Did you know that Liverpool’s wealth
management industry is the UK’s largest,
outside of London?
Nigel Hibbert, partner at Liverpool’s Cheviot
Asset Management did. And it’s no surprise
to him that his young team - the northern
outpost of Cheviot’s City of London HQ, is
punching above its weight, just 12 months
after setting up office in St Paul’s Square.
Nigel, originally an investment fund manager
at one of Liverpool’s most venerable asset
management companies, Tilney, set up the
Cheviot office when Tilney’s was taken over
by Deutsche Bank.
“My clients didn’t like their assets being
managed by a huge multinational company,
so I set about trying to find a way to stay
in the city, keep my clients, and start up a
leaner, more client-focused company,” Nigel
tells it’s magazine.
Fortunately, Nigel’s aims - and values - fitted
Cheviot’s perfectly (they too set up along
similar lines, just five years previously in
London), and, last May, Cheviot’s partners
personally financed their move north.
“It’s unusual and exciting to be able to
work for an independent company,” Nigel
says, “as, these days, more firms are being
aggressively taken over by large firms with a
raft of products and services they’re keen to
cross sell. We never wanted to operate like
that.”
As Nigel explains, Cheviot’s approach is
different - their client-focused mantra allows
him and his team to get to know their
customers, understand their objectives, and
give that personal service that ‘everyone in
this business talks about but few can give’.
And he was fortunate to pull together a
strong local team, thanks to Liverpool’s pool
of financial services talent.
“We’re here for people who want to invest
anything from around £250,000, who value
performance, and who appreciate the
flexibility and direct contact you get when
you chose an independent company to
manage your assets,” Nigel says.
It’s a formula that seems to be working. In
just under a year, Cheviot has amassed a
fund value of around £170m: “We’re beating
our targets comfortably,” Nigel says, “and
we’re doing that while knowing every single
holding we invest in - the vehicles, the
market condition, our clients. We’re here to
stay. We’re not about grabbing the cash and
running. We want to invest in this city, for the long run.”
With over 10 years’ experience in asset
management behind him Nigel, and his
young, energetic team, are showing the City
that there is another way.
“We held a symposium at the Town Hall
earlier in the year, and invited City traders,
Independent Financial Advisors and clients
to meet the team, and talk about how we do
business up here,” Nigel says.
“It was a huge success. I remember one Unit
Trust Manager from the city saying what a
great showcase for Liverpool the event was.”
Following the event, the financial press
have been monitoring Cheviot’s bullish
performance - and bright prospects. Add
to that the odd Financial Services award
scooped up along the way, and Cheviot’s
partners must be feeling very pleased with
their northern investment.
“We’re definitely waking the competition
up,” Nigel says, “Liverpool’s business
community is a tight knit one, but we’ve
been positively received and there’s a real
hunger here for success that is inspiring and
can only lead to better things to come.”
It’s never easy to set up a wealth
management company in a storm-wracked
economy. But Nigel and his team have
proved that, in the right environment (that’s
Liverpool, by the way!) you can still make
waves.
“The effort Liverpool is making to drive the
city forward really is very exciting, for us,
our clients and the wider community,” Nigel
says, “I sometimes wonder, where can we go next?”
For more information about Cheviot Asset
Management go to www.cheviot.co.uk
Cheviot’s ten tips to get the
best out of your investments:
Make sure you get
on with and feel trust in your
investment manager. A good
working relationship is key if they are to
understand fully – and carry out – your objectives.
Before you invest, work closely with your investment
manager to get to know exactly what your
appetite for risk versus
security really is.
Ensure you establish firmly
what you expect of your investments –
what are your goals?
Whatever your aims, it’s always best
to balance your exposure. Don’t
put all your investment eggs in
the one basket.
Thinking long
term gain rather than short term profit is
always the best practice. Future needs should
always be the prime focus of your investments.
Make sure your investment
manager has the best access to as wide a
range of investment opportunities as possible.
If close contact and good relationships are
important, choose an investment company
that listens and responds
to their clients.
Be composed. Your investments will rise and fall.
Hold your nerve and don’t be pushed into
or make
snap decisions.
Understand the overall plan being advised.
Choose a manager who can explain
to you what they are investing in and
why they are
doing it.
Review your investments regularly and be ready to
make necessary changes. Your circumstances
change and your portfolio
should change with you.
13
The
Seeds of
Two of America’s most respected landscape artists
are heading to Everton this summer. But not to the
hallowed turf of Goodison. They’re headed to a
windblown park at the top of the town...
14
EVERTON Brow - that breezy, elevated
park north of the city centre - enjoys
one of the best views of Liverpool: its
rooftops, towers and spires sloping
inexorably towards the waterfront. At
sunset, it’s just beautiful.
But Everton Brow is more than just a vantage
point: a place to pull up in the car for a quick
survey of the scene. It is one of the city’s
precious green lungs - a space for locals and
city users to come and unwind, recharge and
reconnect with the natural world.
Trouble is, few people in the city have been
doing that lately. But things are about to
change.
challenging brief: “Everton Park is a complex
out core, a grassy bank cordons in a
This year, as part of the Liverpool Biennial,
site. Terraced houses were once there but
featureless bowl. A drive loops the outer
Landscape Architect James Corner, and
the community was voided. It lies between
edge, allowing motorists to simply skirt its
environmental artist Fritz Haeg (both US
two disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the
perimeter, drink in the view from the safety
based, with clients around the globe) are set
city centre, but despite its spectacular site it
of their car seat, and leave: never once
to decamp to this lofty spot above the city,
is regarded as a negative thing.”
having had the feel of grass underfoot. A
to make us look again at the beauty in He adds: “Public spaces used to follow
our midst.
investment but now it is the other way
drive thru-park, you could say. Fritz plans on
changing all that.
Elevated parks are something Corner knows
around and public space attracts and
“The history of this park is so fraught,” says
about only too well, having re-greened
improves the quality of the development.
the man who, with his Edible Estates project,
and re-animated an elevated stretch of
the westside rail route that soars above
Manhattan Island. Turning a rusting no-go
zone into an aerial, botanical wonderland
earned Corner kudos around the world.
Now he’s in the city, with the help of
Haeg (pictured left), to help us look again
at Everton Brow - and, hopefully, start a
dialogue between us and the world around
us. …The world under our feet. But why
“People do not realise Everton Park is at the
city’s epicentre. Like Guell Park (in Barcelona)
it is on a hill and looks back onto the city.
Guell is also a neighbourhood park which is
integrated with dense housing.
“It belongs to the locality but also the city.
This is what we want to do in a provocative
way for Everton. Parks were regarded as a
luxury but they add value.”
is cool, there are hundreds of years of history here.”
James Corner (pictured overleaf) knows a
I agreed to do this project
because Liverpool is cool,
there are hundreds of years
of history here.
up a role as a student intern at Liverpool’s
original International Garden Festival site in 1984.
Good Life, to make the process visible,
communal and sociable. And it’s these
qualities he hopes to transplant here, at the
top of the city.
“The site was once a vibrant community
of narrow little streets, and these
neighbourhoods have been uprooted,
dispersed and violently wiped from the map.
People’s Park, is a chance for people to
reconnect again.”
But Haeg comes with no agenda. No lofty
plans to parachute in some allotments
and disappear again. His approach is far
thing or two about the city. He was born in
Preston and studied in Manchester taking
vegetables in their front gardens, à la The
The park, which we’re renaming Everton
Liverpool? Without hesitation he says: “I
agreed to do this project because Liverpool
introduced the idea of people growing
Meanwhile on a whistlestop tour to
survey the park and start planting, Fritz
Haeg concurs with his colleague on this
more nuanced: he simply wants to start a
dialogue, and harvest ideas which may or
may not bear fruit.
commission: “It’s a strange place”, he
“My process is all about experiments and
He’s in the city to learn more, what the
admits, “It’s not like your regular city park,
expeditions,” he says, “it’s about going into
communities want and how he can bring the
with high density growth at the perimeter,
unknown territory, with local communities,
vision to fruition.
prime real estate around it and a real sense
and asking, ‘what are the possible future
of purpose.
land uses for this space?”
open spaces can bring to a city and
The site’s dimensions are curious and
Working with Corner, Haeg plans a root
its people, while acknowledging it’s a
challenging. Rising from a hollowed
and branch approach to turning over this
He understands what dynamic, integrated
15
neglected, but beautifully situated corner of
seeds and tangled roots, but stories,
the city. And the pair have form - breathing
memories...catalysts for change.
new life into plots from Budapest to
Otterspool.
“I want to create a critical mass of people
coming together, and celebrating what’s
To this end, Haeg will be trialling a range
already in their midst. Sometimes, it takes a
of different approaches, with the help of
stranger to cut through the complex history
Liverpool’s National Wildflower Centre, the
of a place and see what potential there is for
urban food producing collective Squash
the next chapter to begin,” he says.
Nutrition, and National Museums Liverpool.
This autumn, a geodesic tent and huddle
“We’ll be conducting an archaeological dig,
of structures rising from a platform in the
planting wildflowers, seeing what happens
bowl will be James and Fritz’s makeshift
when the grasses are left to grow untamed,
basecamp. From here, with residents, they
and mowing natural pathways through it.
will begin to explore, again, the city beneath
But this project, Haeg is keen to point out,
isn’t about civic gardening - it’s much more
personal than that. It’s about asking ‘what is
a native landscape? And what makes a green
our feet. Reclaim it. Reanimate it. And, with
a good wind behind them, make this airy
spot much more than just a great view, make
it fertile territory once again.
space loved by those who use it?”
16
In a city with as many layers as Liverpool, it
For more information about the plans
won’t be hard to scratch beneath the loamy
for Everton Park visit soil of Everton and find, not just dormant
www.fritzhaeg.com/everton park
Park Güell is a garden complex with
architectural elements situated on the hill of
El Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona.
It was designed by the celebrated Catalan
architect Antoni Gaudí and built between
1900 and 1914. The park was originally part
of a commercially unsuccessful housing
site and inspired by the English garden city
movement. It has since been converted into
a municipal garden and skillfully designed
and composed to bring the peace and calm
that one would expect from a park.
The large cross at the Park’s high-point offers
the most complete view of Barcelona and
the bay.
17
THE LEAVING OF
LIVERPOOL
Is the age of the great ocean-going liners about to return to our shores? We meet Liverpool’s Cruise Operations Manager, Angie Redhead as the city’s turnaround
facility opens for its first season.
18
IN Liverpool a lot can happen in five years.
A scant half decade ago our waterfront
opened up to the burgeoning cruise
market. In doing so, it returned us to the
river, and the world to our shores.
In record time, we’ve seen our city’s fortunes
turn around, as the world’s greatest liners
- including Cunard’s flagship, Queen Mary
berth along our shores again. Back to their
spiritual home.
The transformation might have looked calm
and ordered - but, as with those mighty,
mountainous new liners, it’s all the effort
going on below the surface - the stuff you
don’t see - that make these manoeuvres
possible.
For Liverpool’s Cruise and Operations
Manager, Angie Redhead, this summer’s
inaugural turnaround cruise - by Cruise and
Maritime - is the culmination of five years
spent full steam ahead. A time when we
dared to dream of mighty liners leaving
Liverpool to ply the world’s oceans again.
“Liverpool’s waterfront was always the
gateway to the city. It’s great to think that it
will be again,” she says.
There is a sea change in cruising. Whereas
once the pursuit was the preserve of retired
company execs, Americans on a grand tour
and empty nesters, now - with their decks
concealing state of the art sports facilities,
luxury spas and West End shows - they’re
one of the travel world’s fastest rising
sectors. In the UK they’re a £2billion industry.
They’re statistics Angie knows only too well.
And they’re why she and her team have
been working tirelessly to transform our
£21 million Pier Head terminal into a full
turnaround facility (allowing ships to start
and finish here, rather than just call in for a
day’s shore leave).
It’s a change that’s seen the semi-permanent
baggage handling structure rise from St
Nicholas Island (next to the Crowne Plaza
Hotel) - but it’s more than just rearranging
the furniture on the decks. It’s about
Liverpool extending a hand of friendship
out to the world, and saying ‘we want to
welcome cruise liners back to the heart of the city’.
“We always knew cruise passengers, and
cruise lines, wanted to come into the city,”
Angie says, citing Fred Olsen’s continued
commitment to Liverpool. “Trouble was that
our Langton Dock berth, in the north docks,
just wasn’t ideal.”
The company blames the terminal’s
location as the reason why it pulled out of
the city a few seasons ago. Its larger ship
Boudicca, needed a complicated three-tug
arrangement to turn her around this tight
lock, and the disembarkation point wasn’t to be honest - the most pleasant, amid the
scrap metal piles of Sefton docks.
With the arrival of the new facility at the Pier
Head, the landscape started to change. And
Liverpool, in just a few short years, rocketed
up the cruise charts.
Passengers on Princess Cruise Lines’
mega-liner Grand Princess scored us as the
sixth most enjoyable port of call, from 38
European destinations, with an unbeatable
‘welcome and enjoyment’ score of 87.5 out of 100.
19
20
We’ve always known
how to make people feel
welcome in Liverpool
In another poll, Liverpool scored the highest
Turnaround, Angie says, is about two things.
out of all UK ports for the question: “Which
Space and time. Get them right, and you
port most influenced you to book this
can welcome today’s mega-liners, such as
cruise?” Last year, 16 cruise ships brought
the recently arrived Caribbean Princess,
around 23,500 passengers into the city for
the day. Eleven of these were American
cruise liners – the largest being the Grand
Princess at 290 metres long - but the largest
overall was Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary
a mammoth cruise liner carrying 3,500
passengers with a skyway soaring 150 foot
above the stern (home to a nightclub!) currently only calling in for the day but, in
(311 metres) carrying 2,600 passengers
the future, the kind of ship Liverpool will be
ready and waiting to pump their part of
welcoming at the start of their cruise too.
nearly £3 million into the local economy.
“Passengers tell us that they’d like an
Changing the site to a full ‘turnaround’ will
alternative to Southampton, especially those
reap benefits not only for cruise passengers
from the north of England,” Angie says of
intent on spending time here, but for the
possible future positioning for Liverpool: that
city’s economy too. Our hotels, baggage and
of a northern alternative to Southampton’s
passenger handling services, our restaurants
and shops would see a spike of up to £1m
per ship into the city.
VisitBritain’s Director of Travel Trade, Carl
Walsh, says: “Liverpool’s done an incredible
successful south coast operation.
Our mayor, Joe Anderson, has made it clear
- despite initial choppy waters - Liverpool is
determined to secure a slice of the lucrative
job of promoting itself as a world-class cruise
cruise market.
port, and the fact that it’s done it in such a
“Whatever it takes,” Anderson has said,
short time is almost unheard of.”
As Walsh states, our attractions – and our
compact city centre – are tailor made for
this new, buffet-style of travelling - where
“we’ll get our turnaround facility.”
Ultimately, though, as Angie says, it’s not
about politics, it’s about people.
passengers can graze on the world’s top
“You can do all the business models and
cities over a week or more of cosseted
logistics exercises you want, but it’s the
luxury.
human element that’s so important. Get
“It’s not surprising Liverpool’s such a hit
that right, give cruise travellers a world class
with cruise passengers,” Walsh says, “as it
experience, and the cruise liners will have
offers unsurpassed visitor attractions within
to listen,” she says, adding that Liverpool’s
a half hour walk from the terminal, and such
cruise-passenger catchment area is 16
amazing history, not to mention the legacy
of the Beatles. Put these together, and
Liverpool’s appeal to Americans is a no brainer…”
Few world class cities have arrival points
million strong - and her plan is to start
talking to cruise lines now, to plan more
departures in the coming years.
“We want to extend the hand of friendship
right at their heart – New York, Sydney and
to cruise programmers, and really sell
Stockholm do, and, after a fashion, so does
Liverpool as a world class facility,” she says.
Venice – but Liverpool’s new terminal is right
alongside our UNESCO World Heritage site,
and so finding a suitable location was always
going to be an issue.
“Our marine infrastructure has long been
considered the best in Europe,” Angie says,
We’ve always known how to make people
feel welcome in Liverpool. And we know
a thing or two about embarking on great voyages too. Maybe now is the time, finally,
for us to return to the water.
“And now we have a facility that can deal
For more information on the Liverpool
with up to 3,500 passengers arriving. And
Cruise Terminal go to we’ve done it at breakneck speed.”
www.cruise-liverpool.com
21
NO ORDINARY JOE
Liverpool’s rebirth is well documented. But can the election of a new city mayor ease our
growing pains and really propel the city into the premier league again? David Lloyd reports
22
JOE ANDERSON OBE is on the phone.
Outside his office, a necklace of Arriva
buses inches its way towards the river,
splashing Dale Street with a ribbon of
green - a reminder, perhaps, that - despite
the grey skies and rain - we’re still in
summer. Still only a couple of months
into Liverpool’s great new experiment.
The first of the UK’s core cities to elect a
mayor.
Since taking office, Anderson hasn’t really
had time to reflect on how his job has
altered - such has been the accelerated pace
of change.
Replacing the receiver, Joe shoots us an
apologetic stare, “Sorry,” he says, as he
offers his hand, “it’s like this all day now.
That was a Government minister. The third
one today.”
“You had to go through a chain of
command, speak to various committees,
negotiate access. Now I can just pick up the phone.”
Government ministers. They’re like buses.
You wait for ages, then three come along at
once.
“Don’t worry,” we say, adding that, as an
excuse for keeping us waiting, it’s pretty impressive.
“Last week I must have spoken to more
Government ministers over the phone than I
had in the last two months,” he says, “access is very quick these days.”
And before?
Some in the city - and beyond - still puzzle
over what difference Joe’s smooth accession
from city leader to Mayor (with a decisive
57% of the vote) will really make. Whether
elected mayors really are good for cities. A hotline to Whitehall is a pretty convincing
argument in their favour.
Earlier this year, 11 English cities voted on
whether they wanted to elect a mayor - with
responsibility to set their council’s strategic
direction and policy development. Liverpool
is the only UK core city to have taken up the
initiative.
So what has changed? Elected council
leader two years ago, Labour leader Joe
Anderson set up his stall with a range
of clear and ambitious plans: to grow
Liverpool’s knowledge sector, our green
industries and tourism, to invest in business
and homes, to create jobs and help others
do the same.
His aim is still true. His priorities the same.
“In here, it’s business as usual, but that’s not
the issue. It’s the fact that we’re changing
perceptions outside our offices, outside our
city, that’s what matters,” Anderson says.
LAST WEEK I MUST HAVE SPOKEN
TO MORE GOVERNMENT MINISTERS
OVER THE PHONE THAN I HAD IN THE
LAST TWO MONTHS...ACCESS IS VERY
QUICK THESE DAYS
“Last week I negotiated a £14m housing
deal for Anfield after three phone calls to the
housing minister in the same day. That would
never have happened before,” he says.
That’s not to say Liverpool’s apparent
eagerness to elect a mayor comes with a
cheque book pre-signed in Downing Street.
But money is starting to flow our way.
Liverpool was the first city to sign a new
‘city deal’ - worth £130 million - indicating
a transfer of powers from Whitehall, and
garnering praise from Cities Minister Greg
Clarke. Part of the deal was that the city
would move to elect a Mayor.
“Liverpool’s future has been made stronger
by this deal,” Clarke said at the time. But
few in the city, not least Anderson, are
swayed by fine words alone. They know the
real story - that employment in Liverpool
had increased by 12.4% between 1998 and
2007, compared with 9.5% nationally. And
that growth, particularly in banking, finance
and insurance, is particularly strong.
23
“The Government want to make this work,
ambitious agenda for the future of Liverpool,
and so do we, but I know they can do
with a new Enterprise Zone in the city
more,” Anderson says, referring to the fact
and five ring fenced regions targeted for
that Liverpool suffered the worst cuts in
investment.
government funding last year - the maximum
8.9%, against wealthy Richmond-on-
Thames’ 0.6%.
Last week I negotiated a £14m
housing deal for Anfield
after three phone calls to the
housing minister in the same day.
Crucially, though, Anderson understands it’s
investment from business that will really seal
a brighter future for the city - that’s part of
the reason he backs the city’s Liverpool In
wave of City Deal announcements for
eight of England’s major cities. Of all the
plans offered, Liverpool’s contains the only
national event – an International Festival of
Business planned for 2014.
Anderson explains: “It’s something I thought
about when Liverpool was at the World Expo
in Shanghai – ‘let’s have something similar
back home, let’s get people to come to our
city and see us in action’.
London initiative, offering a space for the
“For the city region it could be a game
city to do business in the capital.
changer for business, just as European
In his first few weeks Anderson has hosted
meetings with the Chief Executive of
Capital of Culture was for our visitor
economy.”
Swedish telecom giant Ericsson, and the
By providing an effective decision making
CEO of General Electric - multi-billion pound
structure, the MDC aims to develop an
companies coming to us. Coming to talk.
ambitious agenda for the future of Liverpool,
In May, Anderson was in Paris, a star
performer at the Future Cities Conference -
with a new Enterprise Zone in the city and
five regions targeted for investment.
holding court with mayors from around the
“This is about true localisation,” Anderson
world. “Liverpool stole the show,” he says.
says, “it’s about securing more power and
“Everyone was talking about us.”
In Paris, Anderson talked of his achievements
- of working towards bringing the great
liners back to the city with a full turnaround
cruise facility, of plans to create 20,000 new
jobs, 5,000 new homes and 12 new schools.
resources to enable the true talent of the city
to show the world what we can do here.”
Talent which, Anderson is keen to point out,
is not limited to the Labour benches: his
inner team consisting of a cross-party huddle
of Liverpool councillors determined to pull
Of his role being a catalyst for rebirth, and of
together to give this their best shot.
a city booming with visitors, and changing -
“It’s an exciting time. I tell everyone I meet
almost daily - underfoot.
that, yes, Liverpool has a great past but I
“Businesses are refreshed by our pace of
really believe the best is yet to come.”
change,” Anderson says. “We’re ahead
Talking to Anderson, it’s not hard to get
of the curve now. Someone called me the
swept away by his convictions - and have a
most important politician outside of London
sense that he represents the vanguard of a
the other day, because of the budget we’re
new era for our great cities.
dealing with here.”
The city deal, initially worth £130m, has the
potential to grow to anything from £500m
24
Liverpool also figures greatly in the second
“We can re-invent ourselves,” he says.
Of course, we suggest, Boris got there first.
- £1bn with further investment from public
“Well, I’ve no intentions of appearing on
and private sources, encouraged by the city’s
Have I Got News For You,” Anderson shoots
new Mayoral Development Corporation (the
back, “I’ve much more important things first outside London).
to do...”
By providing an effective decision making
For more information go to structure, the MDC aims to develop an
www.liverpool.gov.uk/mayor
ANDERSON’S AMBITIONS
OPEN
FOR BUSINESS
The North West Coast is a mecca for golfers of all ages and abilities. With unrivalled facilities
including three Open Championship courses it can justifiably lay claim to the title of ‘The Golf
Coast’. Jonathan Caswell examines the economic value of golf to the regional economy
25
FOR many golf is just a game – “a day
spent in a round of strenuous idleness”,
according to William Wordsworth.
For increasing numbers the game is seen as
an annexe of the office, and big business,
we are led to believe, is often done while playing it.
After all, as the revered American
sportswriter Grantland Rice once wrote:
“Eighteen holes of match play will teach you
more about your foe than will 18 years of
dealing with him across a desk.”
From presidents to bankers, the golf course
is used to build relationships, seek favours
and negotiate different kinds of ‘green’ even the fictional mobster Tony Soprano
used the privacy of the fairway to conduct
some of his most nefarious ‘business’.
But golf itself is big business - a key
economic driver and attractor. Liverpool
city region, nestling as it does at the heart
of England’s golf coast, is well placed to
take advantage of its natural assets. With
Southport (and the Fylde coast) to the north,
and Wirral to the south, it is the perfect place
for a game of golf.
26
There are more than 40 golf courses in the
region, seven of which have championship
status, three of which are Open
Championship venues – there are only nine
on the Open rota in the UK.
It means a huge economic bonanza for the
region of around £90m each time golf’s
biggest show rolls into town - and it’s a fairly
regular source of cash.
By July 2014, the Open will have been
staged in the North West four times in eight
years: Royal Liverpool (2006 and 2014), Royal
Birkdale (2008) and Royal Lytham & St Annes
(2012), with Birkdale having reasonable
expectations of hosting it again in 2017 or 2018.
And there’s more: The Boys Amateur
Championship is at Royal Liverpool and
Wallasey Golf Clubs in 2013; The British
Senior Open appears at Birkdale in the
same year; and the biennial amateur match
between GB and Northern Ireland and
the USA, The Walker Cup, comes to Royal
Lytham in 2015.
The Open economic figures from the Royal
& Ancient, golf’s governing body, are based
on independent research from the Sport
Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield
Hallam University into the likely economic
benefits to the regional economy delivered
by this year’s championship at Royal Lytham
on the Lancashire coast.
The headline figure for Royal Lytham includes
a forecast economic impact of £35.1m and
a destination marketing benefit of £52.6m
gained through global television exposure of
the week-long event.
Researchers at SIRC base their forecast
on 185,000 spectator admissions and the
established spending pattern of players, the
media, event staff, sponsors and organisers
measured over the last two championships.
And it’s not just the Open. The Royal
Liverpool is host for this year’s Ricoh
Women’s British Open too and Birkdale
hosts it in 2014. There are no current figures
for what that might be worth but as Richard
Coleman, principal researcher at SIRC, told
it’s: “I would expect it to be in a similar
ball park to last year at Carnoustie, which
generated around £5m.”
Coleman goes further: “Major golf events
also have the potential to generate
significant place marketing effects by
showcasing what a host economy has to
offer for those attending and also to those
watching on television around the world.
“Indeed, research undertaken by Repucom
International revealed that the 2010 Open
Championship (at St Andrew’s) was broadcast
globally for more than 3,000 hours, by 43
broadcasters via 86 channels, and to 363
million viewers.
“According to the media evaluation,
exposure of brands and vignettes related
to Scotland generated some 283 hours of
time on screen, which represents a media
equivalency value of £52.6m relative to the
cost of such exposure had it been purchased
in the commercial marketplace”.
This is where the city region can capitalise,
by using golf as an asset in the way Liverpool
already uses the Beatles and football to bring
the visitors and investors in.
Making the most of the region’s golf courses
should not just be limited to the odd week
every couple of years, according to one golfmad ex-pat from Southport.
Jimmy Burns is well-placed to comment,
both as a member of Royal Birkdale and as
a businessman who works and lives in the
States. Last year he took part in the ‘Real
Ryder Cup’- 10 Americans versus 10 Brits
around the Turnberry/Prestwick area in Scotland.
“While they were here,” he recalls, “I
invited them to Birkdale. They stayed for
two nights and had a wonderful time. By
the end of the trip many said that Birkdale
was their favourite, but that they had had
no idea that so many great courses were
so close together and so accessible in the North West.
“American golf tourists seem only to know
Liverpool for the Beatles. Golf tours require
three elements: great courses, something to
do when you are not playing golf and good
nightlife. Liverpool and the North West have
all three, but they are not ‘joined up’ yet. “
The North West’s golf appeal is not
limited to the USA. China, which has a
burgeoning relationship with the city region,
is experiencing a golf boom because of its
economy and the broadening interests of
the new middle class which can support the
industry.
It received a major shot in the arm in June
when Shanshan Feng became the first player,
male or female, from mainland China to land
a major trophy.
With 250 golf clubs under construction and
another 600 on the drawing board golf in
China has already been dubbed “green
opium” for its portended addictiveness.
Given this and his experiences Jimmy Burns
thinks tweaking of focus is needed to win this
international business: “I believe the region
needs a marketing message that focuses on
golf and our musical heritage, I’m convinced
that would be a major winner.”
Many would lift a claret jug to that.
THERE ARE
APPROXIMATELY
GOLF COURSES IN THE
CITY REGION
● ROYAL LYTHAM & ST ANNES: 01253 724206
● HESKETH: 01704 536897
● HILLSIDE: 01704 567169
● ROYAL BIRKDALE: 01704 552020
● S & A: 01704 578000
● FORMBY: 01704 578164
● WEST LANCS: 0151 924 1076
● WALLASEY: 0151 691 1024
● ROYAL LIVERPOOL: 0151 632 3101
● CALDY: 0151 625 5660
● HESWALL: 0151 342 1237
27
From an old warehouse on the edge of the city
centre, Liverpool’s Milky Tea studios are creating
awe-inspiring alternative universes for clients
across the globe...
28
TRANSFORMING the pixels and planes
of computer graphics into a real world
success story - that’s the refreshing tale
behind Milky Tea, one of Liverpool’s most
in-demand digital studios.
Their warm, affable and grin-inducing
animation has been snapped up by major
banks, brand and businesses keen to inject
a little warmth and emotion into their
corporate communications. Milky Tea’s
signature style of impish 3D characters and
vivid, technicolour worlds helping to soften
the edges of high street names from Lloyds
TSB to NPower, BBC to NHS.
Set up in 2005, the agency is now winning
work around the globe - with clients drawn
to Milky Tea’s innate sense of fun, and its
innovative and creative approach to the
toughest of challenges. “It’s a vision thing,”
says Chief Executive Jon Holmes, as we
chat to him in Milky Tea’s industrious Baltic
Triangle based studios.
“We have lots happening at present in the
studio some of which I can’t tell you just yet
due to confidentiality,” Holmes says as we’re
given a guided tour of the studio’s alwayson VDUs, as the creative team conjure up
ever more tempting new worlds for our
imaginations to dive, willingly, into.
“One thing we’re really excited about
is a new interactive storybook/game in
development for Gulliver’s World that we’re
about to release, and some CGI work for
Sheila’s Wheels and Bose audio...” Holmes
says, by way of explaining the wide array of
specialist services this close knit team of 21st
29
century artists stirs into life: from visualising
entire new worlds to character design,
storyboarding and photo-quality rendering.
One of Milky Tea’s strongest relationships
- with Lloyds TSB - has seen the agency
busy creating a wealth of new work for the
financial institution’s Olympic sponsorship.
“They’re the biggest sponsor to the
Olympics,” Holmes says, “So be prepared to
see lots of new material.”
Think Lloyds TSB these days, and thanks
to Milky Tea’s powerful new identity, those
cherubic characters cycling their way through
rolling landscapes, while Julie Walters
purrs a few lines about ‘the journey’, spring
instantly to mind.
But there are changes afoot.
“We’re going back to our roots on the
Lloyds TSB style. There are a lot of copycat
brands now so we’re going back to our
1940’s British retro original style. At the
moment the Lloyds world is very bright and
colourful, whereas at the start the world we
created was of a darker palette and more in
line with something you would expect of Tim
Burton.”
Since winning Lloyds TSB Holmes admits
that technology has advanced so fast - in
just two years their hard working band of
creatives is now able to achieve so much more.
“Some of the new stuff looks amazing and
the technology has moved on tremendously.
There actually isn’t much difference now
between what goes into a Lloyds’ character
and that of a Pixar production. As a result,
the team has become very highly skilled and
well known in the industry,” Holmes says.
“I think the biggest areas of our growth is in
the animation and games development side.
We’re working with everyone from major
high street brands to globally renowned
entertainment companies. It really is a
diverse and exciting time,” he adds.
There actually isn’t much
difference now between
what goes into a Lloyds’
character and that of a
Pixar production
With clients in New York, Sydney, Scotland
and London, Holmes is still proud to call
Liverpool his home. But he does admit to
one thing: “We don’t do much business
here in the North West, but we hope this
will change as the economy recovers. We’ve
done work with the BBC, but I think that
there needs to be more of a bridge between
the companies in Media City and Liverpool
based companies. It’s just difficult for us to
see what’s going on there and find routes to
entry at times.”
Happily ensconced in that creative corner
of town called The Baltic, Jon’s keen to fire
up the quarter’s creative juices, and stoke
relationships outside the city limits too.
“There are some great companies here and
a great vibe in the area. Personally I think
we need to attract a bigger footfall to the
area and look at establishing businesses that
pull in Liverpool’s tourism industry to the
area. But there also needs to be ways of
linking in the area with other businesses in
the UK. For a business community to grow
and thrive, it must look outside, instead of
looking to trade off one another.”
With a flight booked for San Francisco hours
after our meeting, and new innovation and
conceptual ideas being pitched to clients
across the globe, Holmes is busier than
ever - and his frequent flyer account must be
looking extremely healthy.
“As far as Milky Tea is concerned we are a
bit different and go further away to get our
business and you could say we do punch
above our weight,” he admits. “It’s amazing
as a small studio to see who we can get
meetings with nowadays and who phones us
up. Just the other day we had the creative
director of the world’s biggest brand come
to see us out of the blue. It’s an amazing feat
but we definitely don’t get carried away with
ourselves and know that there is lots of hard
work ahead and my work at Milky Tea is by
no means near completion.”
Wherever his journeys take him - and
Holmes is looking at opening a new office in
either London or New York, or even both Liverpool will always be MT HQ.
“Liverpool has a great history for the games
industry going back to the 80’s. Also the city
has some great studio spaces and relatively
low overheads compared to our London
competitors. Running a successful business
is all about risk management and ensuring
you make enough profit to get through dark
days that lie ahead.
“We are in the business of selling creative
time so in a world where we have to
compete digitally with other studios from
LA to China, we need to be focused on
delivering the highest standards of work at
competitive prices.
“I think the whole creative industry including
games should be nurtured and supported
a lot more than it is currently, if I’m honest.
Maybe this is something we can do in
Liverpool and put this city on the global
map as the best place to launch or open a
creative or game development studio. We
have the talent here, that’s for sure.”
For further information go to www.milkytea.com
30
31
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME...
CHINA IN OUR HAND
Post-Shanghai Expo regional links with China have flourished and the new
International Trading Centre will open up a lucrative window on all things east
A new, £200 million development, about
to take shape along Seacombe’s West
Float docks, is set to show us what lies in
store when Peel’s much-discussed Wirral
Waters masterplan starts to rise on the
banks of the Mersey.
Peel may be dreaming of the day their
glittering new developments along Liverpool
and Wirral’s waterfronts finally get underway,
but that doesn’t stop them moving ahead
with their plans to nurture inward investment
today. And, with planning permission
for their new International Trade Centre
approved, their vision is beginning to take shape.
The centre is a direct response to our
growing links with China’s economic
powerhouse, Shanghai – a fact Peel makes
no bones about. Peel director Lindsey
Ashworth admits its inception followed
Liverpool’s success at the 2010 World Expo
in Shanghai - UK’s only city representative.
“When we were over in China they had
32
these huge trade exhibition centres that
were so important for showcasing goods and
getting trade moving and I realised that this
is what we need here,” Ashworth says.
“The speed of the planning process on this
has been excellent. The application only
went in six months ago and these kind of
schemes normally take about five years.
“It’s the only time to my knowledge that
a large scheme like this has had letters of
support from all the neighbouring authorities
and it’s great that the will has been there to
get on with this quickly.
“I’ve got a lot of Chinese companies who
want space and who aren’t used to waiting
for this kind of development, because in
China they go up in a year.”
Peel’s development partner is China-based
Sam Wa Minerals. Its chairman Stella Shiu, is
equally enthused as to the speed and vision
of the project: “We are already seeing huge interest in China to the idea of coming to the region.”
The centre, the first in the UK, will offer
a variety of goods to the wholesale
market. A trading ‘Gateway’ into the UK & Europe,
its vision is simple: to continue and grow the
valuable relationships built up during our six
months in China.
Under its environmentally-sensitive curves
will be 2.5m sq ft of warehouse, showrooms,
storage and offices: offering a home to
companies from China, India, South Korea
and other emerging economies.
But more than this, the International Trade
Centre will represent a physical embodiment
of one fundamental principle. We are
business friendly.
For more information on ITC go to www.peelitc.com or to find out more about
Liverpool’s international agenda go to www.liverpoolvision.co.uk/Global.aspx
NORTHERN SOUL
Ambitious plans are afoot to transform one of North Liverpool’s most iconic
buildings - and a world leader at that - into a smart new community.
When it was built, it was the largest
warehouse in the world - and is still the
world’s largest brick built storehouse. The
statistics make for impressive reading:
its construction used 27m bricks, 30,000
panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel.
As a tobacco warehouse, its days were
numbered - no-one needs a space to store
close to ten tonnes of the stuff any more and the building was mothballed, save for its
popular ground floor Sunday market.
Thanks to funding of £25m from the
governments Regional Growth Fund,
the Grade Two listed building is to be
transformed into dockside apartments, a new
marina and a scattering of waterfront shops,
hotels and offices. In the process, the project
will boost the area’s fortunes to the tune of
1780 jobs and safeguard a further 2,280 in
this economically-challenged corner of the city.
“This funding provides a boost to the
prospects of North Liverpool and Sefton,”
Ian McCarthy, Director of Programmes for
Liverpool Vision, told It’s.
“I’m confident this will now stimulate further
private sector investment, and employment
opportunities in this underperforming area,
which is so close to the city centre.”
The North Liverpool City Fringe Employment
and Investment programme was developed
by Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic
development company, and the City Council,
in partnership with The Eldonians Group Ltd
and Stanley Dock Properties.
It is another example of the city’s new,
joined-up thinking - offering a bridge
between investments in Liverpool City
Centre and the Liverpool Waters Enterprise
Zone. Encouraging a ribbon of opportunities
all along the northern shores of the Mersey.
The mixed use development is being
overseen by Harcourt Developments - the
company responsible for creating the £7bn
plan to transform a similar stretch of Belfast
dockland with the new Titanic museum.
Pat Power, development director for
Harcourt, said: “For a long time, the tobacco
warehouse has been a monument to the lack
of investment in the area, but this funding will
now be the trigger for major redevelopment
in the North Docks, in the way Albert Dock
was 20 years ago for the Central Docks area.”
Due to the building’s design - low ceilings
to allow for 14 floors of space to store the
tobacco - alternate floors will be removed to
create more comfortable living quarters.
“Harcourt’s proposal is to create around 300
comfortably sized apartments with real live
work-space,” McCarthy says.
It’s good to know that, when one industry
goes up in smoke, another is set to rise from
the ashes.
For more information about the North
Liverpool agenda go to www.liverpoolvision.co.uk/North_Liverpool
33
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
We’ve all heard about Boris. But the City of London - that square mile of streets fuelling
the country’s financial engine houses - has its own Lord Mayor. This year’s title holder, The
Right Honourable David Wootton is the 684th to wear the city’s gleaming chains of office.
Increasingly, Liverpool is winning
friends in very high places. One of our
strongest supporters is the Lord Mayor
of the City of London. “Liverpool’s got a
head start.”
As Ambassador for the UK based financial
With an events-packed diary (Wootton
addresses around 10,000 people faceto-face each month across the globe),
Wootton finds time to be a strong, and vocal
supporter of Liverpool, making trips to see
us at our successful exhibition space at the
World Expo in Shanghai and supporting
our Liverpool in London initiative, offering a
dedicated business and networking suite in
the heart of the city.
interests to key overseas markets that I have
Key to his role is to support the City of
London as one of the world’s leading
international finance centres. But, Wootton
believes, a strong relationship between his
office and all UK financial services centres ourselves amongst them - is crucial if we’re
to forge ahead.
it’s magazine caught up with him as he paid
a recent visit to Liverpool in London.
Do you think, as a country, we’re too
London centric? Having been raised in Bradford, I am well
aware that some people think London is
given more attention than is fair. However,
London is a key driver of jobs and growth
across the country and our partnership with
other cities – including Liverpool – is crucial.
and professional services industry, I represent
such businesses regardless of ownership
or geographic location. My visit in January
helped me to represent better Liverpool’s
subsequently visited.
Where do you see Liverpool’s strengths –
both now, and in the future?
It is helpful if the different regions of the
UK can identify areas of particular expertise
alongside other areas where we can all
If you were Mayor here, what would your
manifesto be to promote our growth?
It is important that Liverpool puts its
professional and financial services capability
firmly on the radar of each year’s new Lord
Mayor, so that he carries that knowledge
with him. The financial and professional
services industry is very important for the
whole UK economy. I believe Liverpool’s
foundations are sound and the sector will
continue to make an important contribution
to the national economy.
compete. In this light, Liverpool has many
Is our London office a smart move?
unique strengths, particularly the maritime
2012.
It’s only right that Liverpool should build
links with the City of London. The City of
London and the Liverpool financial services
sector can and should complement each
other by working together. Its very presence
in London highlights Liverpool as a city that
is confident, ambitious, forward-thinking and
innovative, and I look forward to continuing
to develop our relationship.
How can Liverpool and London forge
How can we work with other cities better?
greater links?
There are some areas where financial and
professional services in both London and the
individual regions may compete, which is
good for all of us. But there are many more
areas where we can complement each other
and where there is great scope for working
together for mutual benefit. Perhaps the
best comparison is the relationship between
Hong Kong and Shanghai. Yes these two
centres are competitors but they are also working in partnership for mutual gain.
sector. Relations with Shanghai are and
will continue to be a massive asset when
it comes to international business. And, of
course, the profile of Liverpool’s is cultural
offering was clearly massively enhanced by
the European Capital of Culture year in 2008 and Global Entrepreneurship Congress in
I think the big area we can work on is better
coordination. If we work together to promote
our strengths overseas in a coherent manner
– showing how our partnership complements
and benefits both sides – then the case for
international business coming to the UK is
strengthened. A more narrow approach risks
missing some of our key selling points which
is why I am keen to get representatives from
across the UK involved in my overseas visits.
For more information on Liverpool’s in
London go to www.liverpoollondon.com
34
RAISING THE BAR
Steve Smith, Four-time GB (AAA) champion and Britain’s most successful ever high jumper, may have
retired from athletics but he’s still aiming high.
IT’S 20 years since Liverpool’s Steve
Smith raised the bar so high that no
Briton has ever out jumped him. The 2.37
metres he recorded at the World Junior
Championships in 1992 established a
British and World Junior record that have
yet to be surpassed. His indoor record,
one centimetre higher, set in 1994, also
still stands.
KPIs for example are just PBs, the bar stays
on, or it doesn’t, you break even or you don’t.
Winning a bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta
Olympic Games was to have been the
platform from which he leapt higher, but
a three-year nagging Achilles hampered
progress and brought him back down to
earth when it ruptured in 1999.
Within a year of doing his own keynote
addresses, he recruited his first speaker,
fellow Scouse bronze medal Olympian Steve
Parry. Since then he has added the likes of
Dr Steve Peters, consultant to the British
Olympic cycling team, Premiership referee
Howard Webb and Sahar Hashemi, cofounder of Coffee Republic.
Initially he established himself as a
restaurateur in Liverpool, but his passion
was sport and performance and in 2004
he founded Raise the Bar - a training and
development company based in Liverpool
using sport as as an inspirational learning
model.
“I learned a lot about business from my
mistakes in the first couple of years, so when
I left the restaurant I wasn’t someone who
was just telling a nice story. There are real
similarities between athletics and business,
“Lots of athletes are talented, but ultimately
it’s the mental approach. You take risks,
put yourself on the line - for one moment
of truth in the Olympics; it comes off, or it
doesn’t, but it takes you closer to where you
want to be.”
Raise the Bar now counts many blue chip
organisations as clients, including the FA,
Tesco, Unilver, Santander, Boots, and Heineken.
The company’s task is to help others develop
their competitive edge and build motivation
and engagement.
Steve sees parallels in Grosvenor’s approach
to Liverpool with how the city itself is
improving and how it can go higher still.
“Innovators like (Dick) Fosbury
(revolutionised the high jump with the
‘flop’) make a wider impact. We have lots
of innovators in Liverpool, like Grosvenor
having the foresight to put Liverpool
ONE in place, that’s Fosbury; the concept
behind the giants of Sea Odyssey, that’s
Fosbury, that’s doing things differently, that’s
embracing change.
“Liverpool can continue to raise its bar by
looking outside the city to learn from the
best in the world and benchmark that. The
best do that. Why shouldn’t Liverpool be
seen as a leader not just in Liverpool but
in the UK and in Europe? It’s that type of
thought process which will drive us forward.
“If I’d benchmarked myself against the best
in the UK or the best in Liverpool then I
wouldn’t be talking about Olympic medals.
In sport you have to benchmark against the
best in the world and that sets the plan as to
how you are going to get there.”
For further information go to www.raisethebar.co.uk
Steve Smith’s Liverpool
Favourite place:
Formby Pinewoods. Goodison Park
Favourite restaurant:
Matou pan Asian restaurant, Pier Head
Favourite characteristic:
Determination to prove others wrong:
“Absolutely we can”
Steve Smith ATHLETE
1992 World Junior Championships, Gold, Jnr & GB WR 2.37 metres
1993 World Indoor Championships,
Bronze
World Championships, Bronze
1994 European Championships, Silver
Commonwealth Games, Silver
Indoor GB record 2.38 metres
1995 World Championships, 4th
1996 Olympic Games, Bronze
1997 World Indoor Championships, 6th
35
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