Quantum leap for region's growth

25 Oct 2006 

FOR the last 30 years, the story of Liverpool city centre has been one of decline.

In the heady days of 1971, in the wake of the dynamism which characterised the swinging '60s, the city was ranked third behind London and Glasgow in the UK league table of retail destinations.

By 2002, however, it had slumped to seventeenth, lagging miserably behind such minnows as Croydon, Guildford and Reading.

Then, in December of that year, the Duke of Westminster's property investment company, Grosvenor, signed the legal agreement committing to the development of the Paradise Project, one of most ambitious city centre schemes in Europe.

It was a symbolic moment, one which marked the start of a seismic shift in Liverpool's business, investment and retail landscape. It was a moment, arguably, which marked the rebirth of a city.

It is currently estimated that Liverpool will rise into the top four of the UK's shopping league by 2010. And, by then, the city will have at its heart the Liverpool One scheme, one of the best shopping districts in Europe. It will also have a refurbished and expanded Clayton Square, a completely modernised and redeveloped St John's Centre and a new retail destination in the shape of Central Village.

The transformation will represent a quantum leap in the quality and scale of the city centre as a shopping, leisure and living destination.

Unarguably, the single catalyst responsible for sparking this wholesale reinvention of Liverpool's city centre was the council's decision to seek a developer to drive the renaissance of the city.

Mike Storey, then city leader, takes up the story. "We knew we were performing poorly and we knew something had to be done. We commissioned a good deal of research which led us to seek a development partner, which became Grosvenor.

"The way they have gone about their business has set new benchmarks for the delivery of this kind of project. There was a genuine will on Grosvenor's part to engage in all the stakeholders. Their public consultation, for instance, has been extremely impressive."

In the late 90s the city centre was already experiencing change. Development company Urban Splash was beginning to transform some of the city's historic warehouses (around Concert Square, for instance) and it was apparent that the trend towards city living, at that time driven by students in Liverpool, was beginning to make its impact here.

But it was obvious that natural growth and evolution would be insufficient to deliver the step-change required to really transform the city, to deliver critical mass and quality in an intense time frame. Hence the city council's intervention.

The city council was clear, also, not to countenance any major development on the fringes of or away from the existing shopping district which might suck business away from the traditional shopping streets. Liverpool's retail decline, after all, had at least in part been driven by the growth of out-of-town shopping districts. What the city required was a redevelopment which would extend and complement its traditional shopping heart.

Rod Holmes, Grosvenor's retail projects director, recalls the economic landscape at that time. "There had been little or zero commercial investment in Liverpool for a long time. We carried out a cool appraisal of the opportunity to capture anticipated spending growth and the opportunity to repatriate some of the millions of pounds of spending which was leaking out of the city to out of town shopping centres and places like Manchester and Chester.

"We then assessed how we could create an offering which would differentiate Liverpool from its competitors: so we decided we wouldn't create a monolithic shopping mall and we decided we would build on and capture the spirit of the existing city."

Much of the Paradise Project will be open for business during 2008, Capital of Culture year, but its impact on the city's skyline and psyche is already being felt.

The recent opening of the Metquarter and announcements by Land Securities to invest in Clayton Square and the St John's Shopping Centre are less defensive than opportunistic, a recognition that Liverpool One will draw new shopping visitors and dramatically increase the city's overall share of the retail spend.

These investments, plus the planned Central Village development, vindicate the council's policy of ensuring that any redevelopment would sit adjacent to the traditional shopping district.

Carl Speight, the general manager of Liverpool Business Improvement District, says: "The picture is incredibly bright. Liverpool One means the city centre will undergo the step-change required to compete with places like Manchester and it gives other investors the confidence to put their money into the city centre.

"The Clayton Square, St John's and Central Village developments mean there is no danger of the traditional shopping district suffering decline, and each will offer something different to shoppers.

They give the city centre balance, choice and variety in its retail offering.

"We confidently anticipate that we will be pitching in at number three or four in the UK retail rankings, behind London's West End and Glasgow but certainly competing with Manchester and ahead of Leeds and Nottingham."

But Liverpool One's impact is being felt away from the retail sector. It, combined with the Liverpool Arena development on the Kings Dock, has sent a very clear message to private investors that Liverpool is a place in which they can invest with confidence.

Rod Holmes says: "It is one thing public money being invested in the city but when an international property investor like Grosvenor decides to plough £900m into a city it amounts to a very positive vote of confidence in Liverpool's prospects.

"This dramatic injection of confidence only works because the change we are delivering is quantum in its nature. It is almost unparalleled and it would not have the same impact if it was incremental.

"It changes perceptions of the city, internally and externally, and helps to achieve the economic shift so that the development of new business and office space, attracting blue chip employers, can stand on its own two feet and happen without the crutch of public subsidy."

Jenefer Greenwood, Grosvenor's retail strategist, adds: "The development is working as a catalyst on confidence levels and that's in part due to the unifying nature of the scheme and it magnitude, combining retail, leisure and residential units and helping to link the city centre with the waterfront in a seamless way."

As for the future, Rod Holmes and former leader Mike Storey both identify the same issue when considering how Liverpool's current boom can be extended well into the second decade of the century.

 

"That comes down to identifying and facilitating the delivery of the next big projects, such as the development of the waterfront north of the city centre by Peel Holdings."

Mike Storey also believes the delivery of the Peel plan could be a defining moment in the regeneration of the city.

In addition, he says the city must have a debate about its objectives over the next 10 years which must be informed by an accurate assessment of opportunities and risks.

He also wants to see the city taking a more joined up approach to economic development so that the disparate agencies which aim to stimulate growth and enterprise are working to the same agenda and so that pockets of success across sector and geography are brought together to create a critical mass.

A debate about the roles and potential combination of agencies such as Liverpool Vision and Business Liverpool has already begun.

Perhaps as important, says Storey, is that the city starts to believe in itself. "People had the stuffing knocked out of them," he says. "We experienced cataclysmic changes for the worse and had one in four people out of work. It takes a long time to regain confidence and to heal the wounds.

"I believe we all have a role to play in rebuilding confidence so that when there's a glitch along the way we see it as just that: a glitch, not a disaster. I believe we are perhaps too self-critical and I believe the media has a crucial role to play in reflecting and helping to sustain the city's new confidence.

"We have lots of reasons to feel confident and we really have, for the first time, something to shout about.

"It's not about spin, it's about substance and letting people know how about the substantial improvements which we are undergoing."

DID YOU KNOW?

* Liverpool's potential shopping catchment area has a population of 3m people, 60% of them within 30 minutes' drive

* The new John Lewis store in Liverpool One will offer 240,000 square feet of shopping while the Debenhams store will cover 185,000 square feet

* Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) is one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe. 4.4millon passengers used LJLA last year, travelling to more than 50 destinations including Paris, Milan, Barcelona and Berlin Contact information for this Press Release

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