The Manchester Delegation will once again be attending the London Real Estate Forum (LREF) next week to showcase the transformative projects, new ideas and ambitions for the next generation.
This year LREF’s theme is value; discussing how placemaking can develop, deliver and track the value it has to cities and for citizens. Buildings, places and infrastructure can add value by supporting environmental, economic and social wellbeing, and ultimately improving our quality of life. This year’s conference aims to discover how to deliver real value in communities, in the race to net zero and driving growth.
During the conference, Mike Emmerich Founding Director of Metro Dynamics will host a panel session that will discuss how Greater Manchester’s Trailblazing Devolution Deal has given the region a renewed determination to take control of its future and create value for its people, businesses and places.
Manchester has always been a city with global ambitions, that puts its people at the heart of all of its operations. Now with more powers at its disposal and strong, collaborative leadership, the region’s prospects are looking bright. Looking towards the future and building a city-region fit for the next generation to thrive, Manchester is striving to become a world-leading city for visitors, residents, investors, and businesses, finding new ways to bring value and growth to all.
The last year marked the beginning of an exciting period for the region; landing a Trailblazing devolution deal, being named as a top city region for FDI, seeing many new cultural openings, being listed as a must-visit city by National Geographic, Lonely Planet and Conde Nast Traveller and of course, the much anticipated launch of public transport reform in the name of The Bee Network.
Momentum around Manchester is growing. Not only are leading businesses joining the city, but the world is starting to take note of what Greater Manchester is doing. Now the main question is what can the city region do next?
Luckily, Manchester is not a city that stands still. Leaders and private sector partners across the region have a shared vision for future prosperity that this panel will discuss more in detail.
It includes placing sustainability and social responsibility at the heart of its plans. The region’s core ambition is to become greener, fairer and more prosperous, adding value to the lives of each and every one of its residents. It hopes to set the blueprint for becoming a net zero city, by prioritising the take up of green tech and sustainability initiatives such as low-carbon transport, energy innovation and becoming a leader in green skills provision.
With more control over skills and post-16 education, the region is creating a future based on technical education, providing an alternative pathway to work to the traditional university route. The ambition is to become the UK’s first integrated technical education city region. By adapting skills training to meet business needs and demand, and working with local organisations to develop training offerings Greater Manchester hopes to give employers confidence in the talent pool while connecting its residents to greater opportunities.
A skills system isn’t the only collaborative initiative the region is working on to add value to businesses and individuals. Inspired by its industrial and cultural heritage, Greater Manchester also has plans for a new era of innovation-led growth in all corners of the city region. By combining its academic strengths with business voices, the region hopes to create solutions to global challenges and facilitate inclusive growth away from the core city centre. By highlighting key innovation zones and building upon existing assets and sector strengths, Greater Manchester can create high-quality jobs, attract greater investment and become renowned as a world leader in core sectors including advanced materials and manufacturing, digital and tech, health and life sciences, net zero and professional services.
The session at LREF will explore how Greater Manchester hopes to achieve these goals, where it is on the journey so far, and the next steps in creating a new generation of confidence for investors, businesses, local authorities and its people.
Joining Mike Emmerich on the panel will be Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, Stephen O’Malley, CEO and Founding Director of Civic Engineers and Simon Arnott, Managing Director (North West) of Morgan Sindall.
The panel will offer a varied view of Manchester’s transformation to date and how the region can collaborate to achieve its vision going forward. Speaking from local authority perspectives as well as some of the developers that have helped shape the face of the city so far, the panel will discuss the role of placemaking in achieving Greater Manchester’s ambitions, how the city hopes to achieve its goals and why Manchester can become a globally-acclaimed city of the future.
Greater Manchester’s LREF session takes place at 2:30 pm in the Fountain Room at The Barbican Centre in London on Wednesday 27 September.
If you can’t attend the session, make sure you’re following The Manchester Invest Partnership on Twitter for live updates.