Property focus: North West needs to be connected to thrive

TheBusinessDesk.com is running a series of articles looking at the property market in the region.

And as part of week we held a roundtable event with our partners Freeths at the firm’s offices in Manchester.

The event was attended by property professionals, developers and business leaders.

Those taking part included:

Lucie Barnes Lancashire and Cumbria Women in Property
Tim Heatley Capital and Centric
Nicola Rigby Avison Young
Ed Britton Deloitte Real Estate
Michael Howard Urban Bubble
Dominic Pozzini Colliers
Gavin Taylor Far East Consortium
Phil Mayall Muse
Jason Alexander Vale and Valey Homes
Daniel Moon Williamson Croft
Laura Mashiter Refresh
Matt Sorrigan Casey Group
Bob Fletcher Fletcher Rae architects
James Heather U + I
James Onions Paragon
Luke Hopkins Freeths

Bob Fletcher

I have lived and worked in Manchester for a long time and I have seen its journey. What we are doing is great, the surge in residential is great but I am not quite sure who these people are because it is not social based.

There is lot of investment capital piling into the city that doesn’t do anything for the community.

But I am more passionate about where are going from here, what all of this means for the next generation.

What interests me is the spaces between these developments and the linkages. What I am interested in is the greening of Manchester, I am talking about greening the buildings as well as the streets.

I am talking about relocating bikeways onto massive pavements. These are things that are going to encourage new opportunities.

The council giving over streets so we can have more activities along lineal routes instead of going from one part of the city to another. To do that we need a holistic solution.

While all this development is great what is being ignored is the infrastructure. How do we recapture the streets and to change the perception so people think of Manchester as a safe city that older people would want to come into those are the issues that need to be addressed.

Phil Mayall

The suburbs have the opportunity now. The suburbs have the green spaces that the city centre does not have.

Nicola Rigby

Manchester is uniquely placed, it is at this changing time when it can make its own decisions and it can work with the local authorities.

Phil Mayall

The thing that frustrates me is some of the generalisations that we fall into. The first one is that we are only building big.

There is plenty of good things going on and we need to break away from the impression we are only doing one thing in the city.

I have city evolve and there has been a structural change. The kind of people who are working here now are more travelled, have broader horizons and they want to live in cities.

They will chose the kind of city they want to live and will move quite freely.

In the office market there used to be a myth that Manchester attracted a lot of inward investment but it didn’t.

But now they are coming, because the environment was created and because of student retention.

We are now moving into the challenge of where do we go next because there isn’t that much space left.

We need to improve the connections across the city. It is about creating the right spaces.

There is an opportunity for the surrounding towns, but they need to play to their strengths.

If you take Rochdale for example, its investing in its retail, but there is no point in investing in its retail if it doesn’t boost its residential because there will be no one there to shop.

We are working in a far more complex picture and we need to start thinking about how we move people around.

Michael Howard

Michael Howard

If you look at the reasons why people live where they do there are three reasons, price, location and security.

What you find in Liverpool is that a lot of the student housing is being driven by the parents of the children coming to the city. They want them in a safe and secure building.

There is a lot of people living on their own and we don’t build enough one bedroom flats in the city. It’s a real problem.

We are still a small immature city, we only started living in the city in 1989. Let’s give ourselves some time and space to grow.

Bob Fletcher

Let us not lose sight of while we are doing the big development of losing site of the small stuff that will make all the difference to the culture of Manchester.

Its always individual projects that deliver and nobody’s delivering with the joined-up stuff.

Phil Mayall

I get to see the workings of the council people don’t realise is they are doing a lot more than people realise in terms of trying to join things up.

Let us give the council some space and time because we are growing very quickly. Look at New Bailey and all you can see is the frames of big buildings going up.

What they won’t see is the safe, wide pedestrian scheme which will go through a Network Rail archway which will be fully lit to a new square in New Bailey and on to Spinningfields.

Tim Heatley

Tim Heatley

One of the benefits we have is that when we do things with local authorities you can argue the benefits of schemes.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is great, because they understand.

The city centre acts as dam, but the people who live there will get to a point where they want to move out and live in the suburbs. I think that is a big opportunities for places like Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.

We have got some brilliant developers in our city that can create the right conditions and set the right tone. That can light the blue touch paper for a town.

Luke Hopkins

Talking as somebody who lives and works in Liverpool, there is no grade A office space but the city does tick a lot of the boxes.

You have got, the art and culture, you have got more listed buildings than in anywhere else in the UK.

It doesn’t have the Grade A office space and it is residential led.

Liverpool as an authority are doing significantly better than ten years ago. They recognise how you have to behave in the market place and they have done a lot of work around things such as HS2.

I think a big thing like HS2 is real then it will make a huge difference.

Laura Mashiter

The variety of experiences that a visitor is able to get from the North West, in my opinion, is unrivalled. From the Lakes and top seaside towns to city centres like Manchester and Liverpool, there’s absolutely something for everyone within 1.5 hours’ travel. It’s this ability to create such varying experiences for visitors and residents that makes the North West such an attraction for many – both companies and individuals – who choose to relocate.

In Manchester the tech scene is really driving demand for office space – and therefore residential homes/flats – and it’s showing no sign of slowing down. Manchester’s done a great job of creating a place where top talent wants to come, to remain and to thrive.

With the advancements in MMC (modern methods of construction) there’s a massive opportunity to lead the way with modular developments, not only to get more buildings built quickly to meet demand, but also to deliver more environmentally friendly methods of construction. This needs the support of planning departments at the LAs.

I personally think that the evolution of the region will in a lot of ways be controlled by how the region is connected – it’s not okay to commute from Lancaster to Manchester on the 7am train and have standing room only for an hour – every day. The trains have to improve. The Lakes has been connected up with the rest of the UK through the opening of Carlisle airport to passengers for the first time in decades – it’s a fantastic opportunity to encourage more visitors to the north Lakes