More than 80 national and international companies will descend on the North-East today to highlight the region’s success stories and promote potential development projects.
Hosted by UK Land Estates, The North-East Commercial Property and Development Showcase is being staged at Gateshead’s Team Valley Trading Estate and has been designed to offer those considering setting up a base in the region a chance to make contact with land owners and developers. “Everyone within the public and private sectors wants to promote the cracking sites we have here,” said Michael Spriggs, the agency’s managing director.
Among the one-day event’s keynote speeches will be those delivered by Mauricio Armellini, chief economist at the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership, and Dianne Sharp, the new regional director for the Confederation of British Industry. Also speaking is James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North-East Chamber of Commerce. “This event builds on the region’s 25 years of successfully encouraging foreign businesses to come here,” he explained.
“Nissan is the most high profile and Hitachi the most recent, and there are a whole raft of others who see the North-East as a great place to invest, not just to get a foothold into the UK and Europe, but across the length and breadth of the region.
“However, over the last three to four years that has dried up for a number of reasons and we really want to get it on an even keel again … We want everybody to get the message, and spread the message, that this region is a great place to do business,” added Ramsbotham.
Alongside the presentations, is the North-East Sites for Growth event which has so far attracted more than 80 business exhibitors, among them: Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, Developing Consensus and the Combined Local Authority.
Collectively known as G9, there will also be stands from nine chartered surveyors: BNP Paribas Real Estate, DTZ, Gavin Black Partners, GVA, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Sanderson Weatherall, Storeys Edward Symmons, Sykes Property Consultants and Naylors Chartered Surveyors.
The group’s chairman is Gavin Black, who said: “As G9 acts as one in addressing the key issues affecting the region’s global profile, and the potential threat to successfully attracting inward investment, this event shows that even wider interests can work together for the benefit of the region as a whole.”
He stressed that inward investment to any area was “footloose and competition was always extremely fierce”. The North-East, said Black, needed to promote itself at the highest level to be able to compete with the likes of Scotland, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham.
“We are catching up with the formation of the regional combined authority,” he added. “This will bring us in line with other UK locations enabling the region to deal with primary functions including economic regeneration, transport, infrastructure investment and the securing of future central government funding.”
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