Sheffield must grasp international investment opportunity

THE Sheffield city region must grasp the opportunity of international investment, according to Nabarro.

The law firm has revealed that the UK tops a new Index ranking 20 countries from all five major world regions for their attractiveness to institutional investors in infrastructure projects.

Ranking is based on several factors including the tax environment, availability of credit, legal environment, ease of ‘doing business’ and current activity in the infrastructure market, as well as the positioning of the country in terms of its environmental performance, ecological sustainability and innovation.

Martin McKervey, partner at Nabarro and chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (SCR LEP) property and construction sector group, said: “Infrastructure must be addressed in an international context. As the Nabarro Infrastructure Index shows, there is an appetite to invest in the UK, but the city region needs to work hard to attract that investment both nationally and increasingly internationally. Our challenge is to define and articulate the region’s USPs.

“While HS2 may bring benefits to Sheffield, this is a long-term project with some challenges. We shouldn’t be putting all our eggs in one basket.

“The public and private sector need to think in terms of the need for investment in housing, transport, as well as energy and renewables, building on the world class facilities at the Advanced Manufacturing Park and the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.”

The Nabarro Infrastructure Index ranks the UK as the most attractive environment based on chart-topping sustainability and innovation (93%), one of the highest scores for ‘ease of doing business’ (95 per cent), comparatively strong credit and currency (66%) and a relatively high degree of private sector participation in infrastructure projects (74%).

The SCR LEP is presently tasked with preparing a growth plan, which will be presented to government later in the year. This will be a platform for direct funding from government to the LEP.

Nabarro said that while this is very important, it will not of itself provide the basis for economic growth. The firm said that the public and private sector are also embracing the opportunity on a collaborative level.