Midlands Property

MIPIM: No skills, no thrills

2010-03-17T15:24:10Z

OK, here's this week's MIPIM factoid, courtesy of a seminar hosted by Advantage West Midlands in sunny Cannes today:

64% of investment projects go to just 2% of available locations.

So, let's get that straight: two-thirds of potential inward investors will end up in one of only a handful of locations. This rather potent piece of research came from speaker Peter Lemagnen, md of Oxford Intelligence, who went on to say: "If a location cannot show it has the right sort of skills at the required levels then it will not even get past go and measuring skills is a real problem."

All of which should be food for though for seminar host AWM chief exec Mick Laverty and chair Martin Reeves, chief exec of Coventry City Council. Put another way, Lemagnen is saying if your workforce doesn't have the right skillsets for potential investors you're wasting your time/money and, by extension, those providing buildings for potential occupiers will be doing the same.

So perhaps, when Messrs Laverty, Reeves and the other good folk flying the flag for the Midlands return from the south of France, we should be asking them what exactly they are doing to ensure that the region has the necessary skills to make it one of those "2% locations?".

Whitby's lost for words in Cannes...

2010-03-17T12:48:49Z

Well this morning was always going to be Birmingham's big chance to grab the spotlight and make a few headlines at this year's MIPIM event in Cannes.

Mike Whitby delivered his keynote speech from the Birmingham stand waxing lyrical (yet again) about Birmingham being a "global city with a local heart." Sadly though, in these recession-blighted times there were no major announcements.

So after the content-light fomalities were over, EG's own focus editor Stacey Meadwell managed to pin him down in the back of a brand new Jaguar XJ (not literally, now come on!) to ask him some more in-depth questions for EGi's MIPIM pod cast (click here).

Those of us who are used to Whitby's public speeches may have an idea of what's to come (yes, I'm talking "blue water thinking here" - see my earlier blog). There's no doubt that the council leader is incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about Birmingham. However, he sometimes gets a little over excited and the words don't quite come out how they should...

Here are today's little gems:

1) While explaining in his keynote speech about cutting the first sod of turf on the new Library for Birmingham site in January, Whitby said the ground was so cold and hard that he couldn't get the spade in, "so much for climate warming" he joked.

2) When pressed by EG on exactly how much inward investment our Mike has managed to secure from his recent trips to the Middle East he said: "We've secured £200 of investment from Kuwait..." Only after EG expressed surprise at the rather paltry amount did Whitby have a rethink and said "of course I mean £200m." Let's hope he gets his numbers right when he's speaking to potential inward investors!

HS2 - All change

2010-03-17T08:00:00Z

Now that the dust is settling after the initial excitement of last week's HS2 announcement (see my Blog 11th March), we have had time to download, or at least get a feel for, the vast amount of documentation released at the same time, as part of the government's commitment to transparency. There are those who might see it as deluging potential critics with reams of information, but some of the most useful and accessible documents are the drawings which show the proposed route of the new rail line.

While the main route involves surprisingly few potential property (as opposed to land) requistions - and most of those are residential - the spur line into the new Birmingham passenger terminal at Curzon Street is another matter, with various property 'obstacles' currently in its path that may eventually be CPO'ed- Birmingham City University's proposed £123m campus being a main casualty - no doubt many other landlords and occupiers have already been poring over the maps to gauge the likelihood of, respectively, compensation or relocation.

It may not all be bad news though, as there is also the prospect of a new maintenance depot on the outskirts of Birmingham that would service the entire UK high speed train fleet. As well as generating new jobs, this might also create local occupational requirements for companies servicing the depot.

I'll be looking at both of these topics at more detail in the future, but for the moment any landlord, developer or occupier who has an interest in land or buildings in a corridor running east from Curzon Street through Birmingham Heartlands to Water Orton might want to acquaint themselves with the HS2 maps pronto. They can be downloaded at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/route/ or they are included in a CD that you can order from the Department of Transport free of charge.

HS2 - Making tracks

2010-03-11T15:41:05Z

Birmingham City Council was quick to capitalise today on one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's relatively rare visits to the city to announce the preferred route of High Speed 2, the new rail connection from London to Birmingham and beyond. Council leader Mike Whitby rubbed shoulders with the PM in the middle of Eastside on the proposed site of the new Birmingham High Speed rail terminus and waxed lyrical about the £1.2bn economic impact of high speed rail on the city.

But before anyone gets too excited it is worth remembering that the actual delivery of HS2 will be anything but speedy. According to the government, the first train just might (and that's a fairly hefty maybe) slip into Birmingham in 2026 - that's 17 years away. If that doesn't sound too long, consider where you'll be then. If you're in your early forties and older, with a bit of luck you'll be sunning yourself on your Cote d'Azur yacht and high speed will simply be a measurement of how fast your iced cocktails reach your sun lounger.

Seriously though, the reality is that there is at least one property cycle to go through before HS2 arrives. The publication of the preferred route gives welcome certainty as to where the tracks will go, but of course how committed a future government (of any colour) will be when it comes to shelling out the huge sums involved is far from certain.

So now the ballyhoo about the HS2 announcement is simmering down, perhaps the council can get back to the more immediate business of fast tracking the Big City Plan (see my blogs passim) and working with the private sector to make rapid and real progress on regenerating core parts of Birmingham within the next decade.

Gearing up

2010-03-10T15:17:16Z

There may be a recession on and champers budgets may have been cut, but plenty of bods from the West Mids are still preparing to head out to Cannes for MIPIM next week.

As ever, a team from Birmingham will be flying the flag for the UK's second city. And the publicity machine has been put into overdrive to communicate what Team Birmingham will be up to.

So far this week I've seen stories about a competition to win a VIP motoring day in Brum (see pic above), the high number of one company's MDs originating from Brum, the Brum band who will play in the Martinez every night next week and other things which escape me already. All good stuff, but nothing yet to do with, er, property. Ah well, no doubt TB is saving all the serious stuff for next week!...

Going for green

2010-03-10T11:20:03Z

Spare a thought today for two brave souls from the East Midlands, who are, as you read this, pedalling furiously towards London. MIPIM delegates Nigel Turpin (Head of Urban Design) and Jon Collins (leader of Nottingham City Council) left Nottingham yesterday on two wheels to join the main Cycle to Cannes event which departs London tomorrow.

Innes England director Tim Garratt blogged about this yesterday, but I make no apology for a blatant piece of recycling (geddit?!) when it comes to supporting those in the region who are prepared to, quite literally, get on their bikes.

Good luck chaps and everyone else cycling to MIPIM over the next few days. EG looks forward to welcoming you across the finish line next Tuesday.

If you would like to follow updates from the cyclists getting ready to head to Cannes: Click here for EG's own MIPIM Blog http://tinyurl.com/ya6f2yx

Action plan

2010-03-05T12:53:39Z

It seems like only yesterday that Birmingham city council leader Mike Whitby was strutting around MIPIM (in a way only politicians seem to do) trumpeting Europe's largest masterplanning exercise and hiring big gun Sir Michael Parkinson to do the initial thinking. In fact it was February 2007. Since then there have been a few announcements - Urban Initiatives appointed in August 07, the Big City Plan Charter report in 2008 and the key issues report in July 2009. Since then things have gone rather quiet, especially after not one, but two of the council officials most involved with what had become the Big City Plan bailed out for pastures new.

So where now for BCP? In an exclusive interview in tomorrow's Estates Gazette I pressed the new man in the hot seat - Waheed Nazir (pictured above) - for some answers. He was as candid as he could be for someone only bumped into the job a few weeks previously. But he made it quite clear that there will be nothing new on the BCP until this summer (June), when crucial details will be revealed for the first time.

Gary Cardin, head of Drivers Jonas in Birmingham (right), is one of many that have been frustrated by the lack of news from the BCP in recent months and believes people still care about the project. As he says: "Should we be bothered if the BCP falters? Yes we should. The plan can have ambition and should have something to say about Birmingham. If we water it down or reduce its impact it will fail to capture all the aims it set out to address and become resigned to sit along a range of other studies, reports and documents gathering dust. The Big City Plan must live on."

Waheed Nazir can help in the coming months by delivering on his promise to get out into the property community and getting to know the individuals who will have a material part to play in realising the city's future development. Above all, though, Birmingham city council needs to get a move on. Planning on this scale ought not to be rushed. But there comes a time when the plans need to turn into action. And that time is soon.

Black Hole and beyond

2010-03-03T14:31:48Z

To tweak a well-known phrase: the property industry abhors a vacuum. Yet a vacuum is exactly what we're getting from our politicians when it comes to the future of regional development agencies. It's not so much whether they are going to stay or not that's vexing the people I speak to across the Midlands, it's what will happen next. Will AWM and EMDA be with us this time next year? If so, in what form? If not, what will replace them?

These are basic and reasonable questions from an industry where property cycles run over years rather than months and major redevelopments can take over a decade from start to finish. Yet politicians of all hues are doing what they seem to do best - avoiding the issue.

]]> Yesterday, East Midlands MP (and shadow chancellor) Ken Clarke admitted that RDAs would get the chop in a Cameron government, after previously suggesting that he had an open mind on their future. Fair enough, at least we know where we stand (at least for today). But his vague talk about responsibilities being handed over to 'local leadership' (read local authorities) is less than helpful. And, as anyone who has ever had to deal with one of the many councils with no overall political control can tell you, devolution to a local level is far from always a good thing for property.

The reason why this matters is that it is hard for the industry to engage the politicians in any meaningful debate if the politicians keep moving (or even obscuring) the goal posts. Is there anything the industry can do? Yes: demand clarity and take politicians to task whenever there is an opportunity. Otherwise AWM and EMDA may disappear into a black hole and who knows what lies beyond...

HS2 - Don't ask, don't get...

2010-03-01T15:19:58Z

If you want the High Speed 2 rail link in Birmingham then now is the time to say. For those who couldn't make last Thursday's High Speed Two Rail Conference at the ICC and/or missed my tweets live from the conference this was perhaps the key message from the event. The business community - and the influential property community in particular - needs to find a common voice and start using it if one of the region's most significant infrastructure projects is to become a reality.

As Birmingham City Council chief executive Stephen Hughes put it: "We're not making enough noise. Liam Byrne [local MP and chief secretary to HM Treasury] and Lord Adonis [Secretary of State for Transport] have told me that they want us to shout more and put more letters in their in-tray. We need a campaign, like the one we had for New Street, which was successful as we now have the funding."

It was a shame then that neither Byrne nor Adonis could take up the offer of an invite to speak at the conference - perhaps no-one asked them loudly enough? - but you heard the politicians right: they want us to badger them.

]]> So where to start? Hughes is right to suggest that maximum dividends will come from a carefully co-ordinated campaign that regularly delivers key messages, and there are various contenders who could and hopefully will step forward to take a lead on this. In the meantime though there is nothing to stop us, as individual professionals, from lobbying politicians directly.

Later this month the government is due to publish a white paper on the route of HS2 which is expected to include detailed costings. If the government is to be persuaded to part with the cash every drum beat will help. Oh, and remember there's a general election coming up. To "make some noise" write, in a professional capacity, to the politicians now. And let me know what kind of response, if any, you get...

Send your in-tray fillers to:

Liam Byrne                           Lord Adonis
Chief Secretary                     Secretary of State
HM Treasury                         Department of Transport
1 Horse Guards Road           76 Marsham Street
London                                 London
SW1A 2HQ                          SW1P 4DR

In deep water (again)

2010-02-26T15:18:52Z

Time for some Friday afternoon frivolity, following the weighty HS2 Conference in Birmingham yesterday (serious thoughts about this to follow on Monday)...

As the event was hosted by Birmingham City Council it was perhaps inevitable that council leader Mike Whitby would loom large in the proceedings. And those familiar with goings-on in Brum will know that Whitby has form when it comes to public speaking gaffes. So you'll be pleased to hear that yesterday he didn't disappoint. Savour this little gem:

"Why are we holding this HS2 conference now? Because today is an opportunity for blue water thinking."

Lifeguard for Whitby!

Penny for your thoughts

2010-02-19T15:51:14Z

I wish I had a penny for every tale of woe from property people describing their frustrations about driving to and from meetings across the Midlands. Especially the journeys that involve navigating around Birmingham or Nottingham city centres. If I did, I'd be writing this blog from the Bahamas!

As it is I'm stuck in Blighty with everyone else, but I do use the train often, where I can at least work while travelling, which can't be done when stuck in a traffic jam on the M1, M42 or wherever. To be fair more and more property folk are leaving the car at home, or at least at the station, when they can. But how far will they go?

Cool as they look and as environmentally-friendly as they are, I wonder whether property professionals will ever be tempted to nip around on electric scooters. Sure, they charge up fully in 30 minutes from a standard 13amp socket and at a cost of only 8p per charge. Just over quarter a penny per mile isn't bad by anyone's standards, but with a reach of just 30 miles per charge they won't be good for long hauls. Or dropping the kids off to school. Or picking up a client.

However, Nottingham-based John Long (pictured), sustainable development director at regeneration developer Blueprint, seemed chuffed after giving an escooter a two-week trial around the mean streets of Nottingham: "It makes virtually no noise, produces no CO2 emissions, and doesn't even cost anything in terms of road tax," he says"

So, the question is: gimmick or gimme one now? Can you seriously see yourself blazing a trail across the Midlands on a 'leccy scooter or would you rather walk? And are developers doing enough to build in outside charging points for electric cars and scooters into new developments? Join the debate by posting a response to this blog.

Genuine article?

2010-02-16T08:50:15Z

Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham was the guest of honour at legal firm Hammonds official launch of its refurbished offices and exhibition of great Brummies past and present, at Rutland House in Edmund Street, in the city last night.

The former director general of the CBI and trade minister returned to his roots to wish Hammonds well. As a past employee of the then Edge & Ellison, the firm has come a long way in the last 32 years since Jones first came through the doors at Rutland House as a young article clerk.

Ian Forrester, senior partner at Hammonds joked: "Digby was a slimish, energetic and enthusiastic young man all those years ago. He's still energetic and enthusiastic!"

Never one to shun the limelight and hold back on his opinions, Jones went on to regale guests with tales from his days as a lawyer and then as a politician. Waving the banner for Brum he said: "This nation is in trouble. But there's a city that says "we'll get ourselves out of this mess, but we need strong leadership.

"This city gave me my big break and I now ask that we all give Birmingham our support in these challenging times."

However, when I and a former colleague took Jones aside to ask him what he thought was going to happen to RDA's post general election this year, Jones literally grabbed the next person passing by and made his excuses quicker than you could say "spending cuts."

So much for support eh?

Regeneration with your toast & coffee...

2010-02-11T15:02:19Z

"I want to see city centre regeneration as a key corporate theme through all of our activities," declared Derby City Council chief executive Adam Wilkinson (pictured above) over breakfast this morning.

No, he wasn't addressing his wife and children over a bowl of cornflakes chez Wilkinson, rather a room full of key property players at Innes England's launch of its third annual Market Insite Review in Derby.

Wilkinson was out and about pressing the flesh and banging the Derby regeneration drum for all to hear (I recently caught up with him and had an in-depth chat about his plans for the city in EG's East Midlands Focus published on 24th January - click here).

All eyes were on the no-nonsense chief exec, who also revealed - ahead of next month's MIPIM event - the following £100m worth of initiatives for the city:

]]>

A £50m leisure initiative - comprising an indoor velodrome and 50 metre swimming pool which would form part of a major overhaul of Derby's sport and leisure offer.

A £10m regeneration fund to help developers who have planning permission on the various stalled office sites around the city

A £40m construction contract which is up for grabs to redevelop and extend the existing Council House building in the city centre

And finally, the 46-year old also confirmed that he wants to find a solution to swiftly deliver the long overdue redevelopment of the three acre Becket Well area of the city (here, here, I hear you cry!) which to date has frankly been an embarrassment for the city council.

"There will be a real drive this year to move forward on Becket Well," he said. "Thank goodness " is what I and many others say. The findings of a development strategy for the area - which will link the historic Cathedral Quarter to the highly popular southern end of the city - are due imminently. Watch this space...

Popping over to MIPIM?

2010-02-08T15:59:18Z

Nottingham City Council is one of many local authorities all over the UK which are putting the final touches to their MIPIM announcements (it'll be interesting to see just who has anything tangible to say rather than hyperbole). The latest announcement concerns the formal marketing of six city prime city centre sites (as Innes England director Tim Garratt explains here).

Interesting opportunities perhaps? But I'm more interested in seeing what will become of the half finished regeneration projects across the country - and especially in the Midlands? I'll be looking out for some lateral thinking from the public sector when it comes to unblocking the development pipeline such as public/private sector partnership arrangements for example.

As for MIPIM 2010, I'm sure the event will be a success. However, feedback I am getting from people I have spoken to is that there just isn't the appetite to attend this year as in previous years. Although the market has picked up since March 2009 (or the bad old days), people are holding off from going. One high profile Birmingham lawyer who preferred to remain nameless, said: "It's become a public sector/local authority bandwagon it's just not worth the effort now."

Although the champagne bill will probably be down on previous years, MIPIM is still hugely influencial on the European and global stage. I'd be interested to know your views on MIPIM. Are you planning to go or have you decided to give it a miss? What's your company's policy for MIPIM this year? Post your comments here....

Paradise Found?

2010-02-04T10:00:00Z

After a frustratingly long wait, it finally seems that things are moving forward with the outdated Paradise Circus site in Birmingham, as Argent and Birmingham City Council unveil images of the latest proposed scheme, ahead of a public consultation exercise next week.

I've been writing about the Brum market for over 10 years and in that time plans for the eight acre area have been put on the shelf, dusted down and put back on the shelf again. What's different this time round is the removal of a major stumbling block (literally!) the Central Library building, which was recently granted immunity from listing. This means that this eyesore can be flattened (hoorah!) to make way for a mixed-use scheme of around 1.5m - 2m sq ft.

Argent has teamed up again with its trusty mate architect Glenn Howells (eg 11 Brindleyplace) to design the current scheme. I recently had the pleasure (!) of a walk round the site with Argent's joint managing director Gary Taylor and experienced for myself the dark, unsafe and smelly 1960's passageways (sorry Gary!) that will hopefully disappear. Plans could even see the one way road network that cuts through the site diverted which would make sense but will cause major upheaval in the process.

The ambitious proposals will need a buy-in from Birmingham's business community and no doubt a significant prelet (most likely from the public sector?) to kick off the first phase. Should the current site which also houses the Copthorne Hotel, and the Conservatoire be flattened to make way for a modern, updated and civic version of Argent's Brindleyplace or should Argent go forward with a smaller scale refurbishment?

YOU decide. Go to www.paradisecircus.co.uk to have your say from next Tuesday (9 Feb).