Professional Liverpool opens to corporates

MEMBERS of networking group Professional Liverpool last night voted to broaden its membership base to allow corporate organisations join as associate members.

The organisation voted for the change at its annual general meeting yesterday evening, at which chairman Jim Gill stressed the importance of professional services to the city-region’s future, pointing to the recent report by Sir Terry Leahy and Lord Heseltine which stated that the the sector now contains 7,000 firms employing more than 70,000 people.

Professional Liverpool chief executive John Hall told TheBusinessDesk.com that after an 18-month period when the organisation concentrated on survival following the withdrawal of 75% of its funding from the NWDA, it is now concentrating on broadening the scope of its activities.

“We now have 85 members, which is a 50% increase in 4-5 months, and this has mostly come from people who have expressed an interesst in joining,” he said.

The firm has also relocated from its previous offices at the university into space at Liverpool Chamber’s building at 1 Old Hall St.

Hall said that membership of its property arm has diversified away from the core surveying practices to include more architects, consulting engineers and contractors – Arup, Curtins and Brock Carmichael are all new arrivals.

He added that the inclusion of professionals from corporate organisations such as Peel, Grosvenor and Bruntwood, would also make the organisation’s membership more reflective of the wider marketplace.

“There’s been a lot of support,” he said.