City of Culture to drive investment
HULL’S City of Culture status has been hailed as the perfect vehicle to drive forward the economy and attract investment.
The East Yorkshire city was crowned as the UK City of Culture 2017 yesterday.
It is estimated that being the UK City of Culture 2017 will deliver a £60m boost to the local economy in 2017 alone.
Hull and East Yorkshire Bondholders marketing organisation’s chair, Peter Aarosin, said the news is a landmark in Hull’s history.
“This decision literally changes the game in terms of the profile, positioning and image of Hull. It is the perfect vehicle to help to deliver Hull’s 10-year City Plan to transform Hull’s economy and offers the city and wider region the chance to leave the past behind and move forward as an area with fantastic opportunities, culturally and economically,” he said.
“Vibrant, cultural places are a magnet for investment because businesses want to relocate in places that offer a great quality of life. That’s why this decision is so important in influencing inward investment decisions.”
Aarosin said Hull can now combine its City of Culture status with other key advantages – the location at the gateway of Europe, at the heart of the UK’s busiest ports complex; status as the UK’s Energy Estuary; and its geographical opportunity to be a world leader in green energy technologies – to leverage further inward investments.
He added: “This decision will also stimulate growth and job creation locally, especially in the creative industries and cultural enterprises. It will accelerate the development of the city’s cultural and artistic sector, the vitality of which has already been recognised in the City of Culture award.”
Peter Brown, director of World Trade Centre Hull & Humber and CEO of Neill & Brown Global Logistics, described this is the best news the city has had in a very long time and said the city can now look forward to the preparations and all the further partnerships it will bring.
Dominic Ward, a director of World Trade Centre Hull & Humber and partner at Andrew Jackson Solicitors, highlighted that the World Trade Centre will now forge ahead with its plans to bid to host the World Trade Centers Association General Assembly to the city in 2017.
“This will mean more than 300 business people from 80 countries descending on Hull for a major international conference. Winning City of Culture will greatly increase our chances of achieving this through making the international business community believe in Hull as a destination,” he said.
Mike Smith, the managing director of Hull-based Cobus Communications, which has been in the city for 23 years, said: “This will open many new doors and offer massive opportunities and investment to local people. The people of Hull need to embrace and capitalise on this prestigious title and I’m positive it will open an exciting new chapter in Hull’s history.”
Greg Styles, head of the Leeds office at Colliers International, said that Colliers Midsummer Retail Report highlighted that Hull’s high street performance was one of the worst to suffer the downturn with a 42% decline in rents over the last five years, so this boost could be just what the city needs.
“Hull’s recognition as a ‘City of Culture’ should help to provide a national platform for the city to increase its profile for investment opportunity,” he said.
“The fact that Derry-Londonderry has already seen the economic and social benefits with around £120 million of capital investment pumped into the city since the title was won in 2009 is certainly encouraging.”
How do you think this can affect the wider Yorkshire region? Please leave your comments below.
