Liverpool looks to Airport City investor
INVESTMENT chiefs in Liverpool are hoping to attract the Chinese group that is backing Manchester Airports Group’s £800m Airport City scheme.
MAG executives made Airport City a realistic prospect when they struck a joint venture deal last year with the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG), which is backed by a Chinese state bank.
Liverpool is chasing a similar tie-up and BCEG chairman Dai Binbin has held talks at the MIPIM property convention in France with mayor Joe Anderson and Lyndsey Ashworth, development director at Peel which is planning the Liverpool and Wirral Waters mixed-use schemes that could transform vast areas of redundant dock land.
Mr Anderson told the Liverpool Echo: “We talked about Liverpool and Wirral Waters and he wants to use his influence and his clout to showcase what we have on offer to construction companies and other businesses in China.
“I was delighted with his interest and enthusiasm for what we had to say. We will build on that relationship. He has invited me and a team to go to Beijing as well and he is tallking about bringing a delegation to the IFB.”
The meeting came as Mr Binbin extolled the virtues of the North West at a MIPIM event hosted by law firm Addleshaw Goddard which focused on investment outside the capital.
He said: “Airport City will change the way the North West does business and truly put it on the international stage. Couple this with other developments in the area and the wealth of employment talent in the area, it was an easy choice to see the potential of the city.
“Plus the growth potential across the North West is incredibly strong at the moment. London will always be a major player, but BCEG recognised the opportunity in the Greater Manchester region, fuelled by the significant growth of the airport.”
