Culture bid driving Coventry’s development momentum
A developer looking to re-energise Coventry believes his hometown has a “huge opportunity” that can be fuelled by its bid to be the UK’s Capital of Culture in 2021.
Ian Harrabin, managing director of Complex Development Projects (CDP), has lived in London since leaving the West Midlands to go to university.
But now, nearly 40 years later, he believes “the city has got its pride back” and is on the cusp of real progress.
“It has so much potential,” he said. “I am in two minds whether to publicise it, it hasn’t been picked over like London. But it is a city that is growing considerably.
“Out of the universities are a great wave of technology and digital companies that are the type you tend to find in Shoreditch and London.
“Do people come out of London to a different city, to a vibrant city, that is just as able to connect internationally? I see this huge opportunity.”
Harrabin’s company is working on ambitious plans to turn the former Coventry Telegraph building into a boutique, 1950s-themed hotel. CDP has already been responsible for Electric Wharf, Priory Place, and FarGo Village in the city centre.
CDP’s vision for the former Coventry Telegraph building
The latest move has been buoyed by the success of the previous investments and also the momentum he feels the city now has, which he attributes to the impact of the Capital of Culture bid.
He said: “A huge amount of my confidence comes from the way people have pulled together and got behind it.
“It’s this combined sense of ‘we are going to change this city’.”
The role of the arts and culture in what Harrabin describes as an “enlivening of spirit” is creating a change in the sense of place in Coventry and further afield.
He said: “We are seeing that across the West Midlands. We are seeing it as not just a place to work and shop, and there’s a big boost to the visitor economy.
“We kick-started it in Coventry with FarGo Village. In its second year we had 350,000 people through the door.
“A lot of the time we are looking at former industrial areas. We can just flatten them, but the place then has no soul.”
He added: “Cities need to be more individual. That comes through people more than property investment.”
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