Commission to look into the future of professional Birmingham
A VISION to make Birmingham the city of choice for young lawyers, financiers and other professionals is the objective of an ambitious project has been launched by Birmingham Future.
The organisation – the young professional arm of Birmingham Forward – says its ‘Future Commission’ will produce a research-backed report intended to help policy makers and businesses understand what needs to be done to help the city improve its competitiveness.
The Commission has won the backing of Warwick Business School, whose Pro-Chancellor Sir George Cox, a former head of the Institute of Directors, will act as chair.
Hilary Allen, current holder of the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year title, made the launch of the commission the focus of her activities in the role. She said: “Some of themes that we expect to explore will be the social and economic dimensions of the city, as well as the obvious ones such as its physical aspects. But we’re not here to produce another Big City Plan – the issues are far more complex.
“In conversations with Future members about their reasons for finding themselves in Birmingham, we’re finding that a great many are accidental rather than deliberate. We think this is something that has to change and that the commission needs to explore, but this is going to be so much more a marketing initiative.
Ms Allen, an associate at Davis Langdon, said: “This is a very independent process and not everyone is going to like what it finds potentially – it may come up with some real challenges for the city and the professional community.”
The precise question the commission is seeking to answer is: “Focussing on the perspective of the young professional looking to build global standard and sustainable careers within the City, the Future Commission will take evidence, review available research data and make recommendations on the conditions and structures required to deliver and support the future development of the business and professional services sector in Birmingham and through it the future growth and prosperity of the city.”
Sir George said: “A review like this isn’t about transforming the whole world, but it can really help to move things forward – and who knows what that might be? We can’t just sit back and say we have a thriving professional sector and think everything’s great – particularly in the current climate. We’ve got to ask how we can make it grow a little more, how do we nurture it? How do we encourage it – add to it?”
Also serving on the commission are Kay Greenbank, director of policy at The Gambling Commission, Adam Henderson, global and communications manager at JLR, Colin Corrodus, head of legal at Deutsche Bank, Rt Rev David Urquhart, the Bishop of Birmingham, Rashik Parmer, president of IBM’s Academy of Technology, and Anisa Haghdadi, a nominee at BYPY Aspiring Talent Award 2012.
The commission is expected to report back in the early autumn.
