Last week saw Nottingham feature in an article in the Financial Times – with a headline “Nottingham drives revival in the east Midlands”.
RBS have done some research announcing that their growth tracker has shown the east Midlands as having grown by 1% in the first quarter – as against 0.8% in the UK as a whole. But more importantly they have also suggested that we are the only English region apart from London to have an economy bigger that that pre-recession. Manufacturing is a critical part of that growth.
But the article also focussed on ‘Science’ – which has a massive home here. Obviously we have Alliance Boots – but we also have Bio-City. There is a very significant scientific community. The MRI scanner was invented by Sir Peter Mansfield (he and I learned to fly at the same time!) and Ibuprofen was invented by Dr Stewart Adams at Boots. We are even making replacement blood – through Andaris at Ruddington.
The article harked back to a time when Nottingham was known for Raleigh Bikes and Players Cigarettes. By the end of next year the Imperial Tobacco factory will close…
Nottingham is capable of re-invensting itself. The Science is obvious, but I have touched before on the creative sectors. They too are growing and will allow us to differentiate ourselves.
We have a lot going for us – we just need to capture the talent, nurture it and retain it.
North of Watford…
I was at the Derby Property Summit yesterday – an impressive showcase for Derby held at the home of (Championship) football – Pride Park. The great and the good were gathered and there was no mention of Bobby Zamora – or his being given freedom of the City (Nottingham). I digress.
We have heard the story before that the Soth-East is over-heating and the regions have it all to play for. I’m not convinced that it’s quite as simple as that; London and the South East have a different dynamic – associated with a Capital city sat firmly on the world stage. The market doesn’t operate in quite the same way as the regions – the inward foreign investment makes sure of that.
One of the questions addressed by the panel was whether the private rented sector was coming of age outside the M25. This translates into – “will the major Institutions invest in our regional cities?”. It’s a fair question. The answer is complex.
5 years ago there was little or no institutional investment in residential property to speak of – let alone that investment being outside the M25. But times have changed and there is Institutional investment now – the money chases money and return. Residential property has come of age and now can provide a reasonable return. It does need quantity to spread risk. It was suggested that you need 800-1200 units to spread risk and make the investment worthwhile.
But the really interesting comment was that the regional cities need to get visibility with the Institutions – they need to sell themselves. And herein lies the rub – this is not easy. It is quite difficult to get the men in suits out of their London offices. It was a bit harsh to suggest that the fund managers are lazy. They’re not – they’re busy and a trip up here takes a day…
It does show how important it is for our cities to go to London. Both Nottingham and Derby do this – and they need to keep on doing it!
The Muppet Show….
This is superb. WARNING – it contains adult language.
Having been the victim of the Tram works for the last 12 months at NG2 I can fully understand where they are coming from!
Handy Commuting skills…
I have been to the office on my bike a few times. And at the moment avoiding all of the building work would take some serious cycling skills. In fact my colleague and fellow Director, Matt Hannah, managed to fall out with a tram track two weeks ago. His bike is broken – his knee worse.
This film is dedicated to him – and others who are trying to be green in Nottingham at the moment.
It’s a film featuring Danny MacAskill who is exploring the forgotten town of Epecuén in Argentina, a location that has been submerged for the majority of the past 25 years…
And I thought doing a wheelie was hard! This is amazing…
The dawn of a new era in broadcasting – Notts TV is born…
I can remember being in a meeting at Antenna some time ago when Confetti Media Group were thinking about bidding for a Nottinghamshire based TV franchise. It all seemed really exciting.
Notts TV was then won, not once but twice, by Confetti in conjunction with NTU and the Nottingham Post. In the last 198 months a lot of hard work has gone into the planning of the new station. And today it launches on Channel 8.
This is brilliant opportunity for Nottingham. It gives us a local TV station which will be driven purely by local stories. Being independent it doesn’t have the shackles of the BBC. It also gives many young people the opportunity to work in TV – something that has traditionally been hard to achieve unless you can get into the mainstream broadcasters – and those opportunities are few and far between.
This TV franchise sits cleverly with the Nottingham Post (who gather news) and with the broadcasting course of NTU. In addition is is seated firmly in the heart of the Creative Quarter where Confetti’s headquarters are. Many young people will get an opportunity to work in a real life TV station.
I think this is brilliant and fits so many local agenda’s. Local stories and local talent will make this a success.
I’m off tonight to the launch party and can’t wait to see what the new station has in store for us…
Nottingham – The worst place to live?
I can’t pass on a ‘story’ doing the rounds that I live in the eight worst place to live in the UK.
You can read this fully researched and statically accurate data here. The people have spoken apparently (or strung a few words together?)
Except that they don’t quite have that luxury – by their own admission, “This list is not based on any hard statistical evidence, but the volume of comments on Chavtowns. We have applied for access for the police.uk API, so next years figures should take the volume of anti-social of behaviour in the area as well!”
Oh, thats ok then.
At least they have found some intellectual, I presume from one of our world class Universities to help. Going by the slightly unusual birth name of “Jaded Agoraphobic”, he or she suggests:
“I’ve lived there all my life and I don’t think I’ve ever been into town, day or night, without seeing someone being attacked or harassed, or some dregs of society having it out in the street”
The good news is that we can all partake in this crowd-sourced research. It will be peer reviewed. As they say, “So you want to add your town to Chavtowns? Well we just don’t add any old rubbish to the site. You need to write a minimum of two paragraphs for your article to be considered. Just putting “my town is crap, don’t come here” is not going to cut it. We like articles that are darkly comic and cynical.“.
I think we can treat this piece of critical analysis with the attention it deserves. Ignore it. Even if it is darkly comic and cynical.
Boom!
It’s difficult to explain what has happened over the last few months in the local market. Most of the press have eyes on London and the South East. There is a boom there without doubt.
One of my housing developer clients told me they are seeing £350,000 for a 500 square foot studio apartment in Islington. That’s a space 20 ft wide by 30 ft long. In that you have to squeeze a bathroom, kitchen and living sleeping space. The plan picture is 500 sq ft. Imagine if there re two of you – cosy!
You might have spotted that my blog posts are a little sporadic of late. The reason is that my work-life has changed beyond recognition in the last six months. I have bids at pre-crash prices on land, I have offers out on buying land and buildings and we are working as long hours as I can remember. All great for profitability – hard on the sleep thing!
But i can’t help but wonder if this is all a bit flash in the pan. None of us hope that this is the case – it’s been a long depression! But we all know that any Government funded schemes have to be spade ready and ideally finished before next March. The interest rates may well increase – although I have a suspicion that June 2015 is more likely than next January!
All eyes are on the General Election. In reality no one knows what is going to happen – uncertainty never helps a fragile market.
I just hope that we don’t go bust – again.
Nottingham in pictures…
Last night I was at Nottingham Trent University again (I seem to have been there more in the last few months than I was in the final year of my Degree!) – this was another exhibition.
As part of the 170th year celebration (which I blogged about before here) last night was a photography exhibition – by Martine Hamilton-Knight and the RIBA. The focus was on Sir Michael Hopkins work.
Marine has been photographing the architecture of this particular practice for the last 20 years. And there was a romp through the last two decades. The Inland Revenue, The University Jubilee Campus and latterly the Nottingham Trent University Newton / Arkwright extension all feature. There are some magical photographs and iconic views.
You probably know I have keen interest in photography – I aspire to this level though! Martine spoke at the event and mentioned the importance of light and good architecture on her work. Some of this architecture is fantastic – and looking at the body of work on show you realise that we do have some truly inspirational buildings in the City. They have been portrayed well.
There’s always that question you get asked- if you could do anything other than your current job what would you do? And I would always answer – I’d be a photographer. I have always been interested in the medium and I get to takes lots of pictures for my work. But thats not the level of art Martine and others achieve. That takes work – not just snapping!
It was an inspiring exhibition. I am inspired. I will get the camera out more.
Labour rent capping?
There is a major problem, in particular in London, for people who rent their homes. Many of them are reluctant tenants – they simply cannot get on the rising buyers market. It’s a major problem.
Yesterday Ed Milliband announced that a Labour Government would intervene in the market – effectively placing a cap on rent rises. He wouldn’t interfere with the initial market setting – but would attempt to benchmark the uplift and then apply this notional figure in annual rises.
So in order to make this actually work he would need to alter the basic terms of an agreement. As now, a tenant would be able to terminate a tenancy after the first six months, with one month’s notice. A landlord could only do so with two months’ notice and if certain conditions were met – such as the tenant failing to meet their rental payments, engaging in anti-social behaviour or breaching their contract in other ways. After the six-month probationary period, contracts would automatically run for a further 29 months – so a total of 3 years.
Milliband has suggested the RICS were helping with setting the average rises – something that has been denied by the RICS. This seems a little sloppy. I do know from the Institution that they do not take political sides. The RICS is apolitical.
I think this is a poorly thought out policy.
I have sympathy with those renting – and the inexorable rise in rents. But this is partly as a result of a lack of supply – and the market sorts that out itself. We do have a number of policies to provide more accommodation in the private rented sector. There are millions of pounds being currently placed in the market. Enough to make a difference. These investors and developers could easily be spooked by rent caps. Historically they have not worked.
What will potentially happen is that there will be a reduction in the numbers of houses coming forward. The market hates Government intervention and Governments of all colours think they can buck the market. In the majority of cases they simply can’t.
Nottingham – Great Stuff #10
I have blogged about Cobden Chambers before. It is a small independent retailers pitch hidden away on Pelham Street in Nottingham.
Ideas on Paper is there. Run by Alex Smith – this is an independent magazine shop. But it also sells notebooks and music. He’ll even make you a coffee. It’s not like Amazon…
Alex is at the heart of the Creative Quarter and absolutely what we have to do as a City to stave off the Claire’s Accessories effect. He is passionate about what he does. He knows his product. And he’s a nice guy.
We spoke about how hard it is to set up and the way in which this will all work – we are agreed that it is down to hard work. Like most things in life! It was slightly disappointing that he was among a handful of independent shops open on a Bank Holiday Monday! Claire’s Accessories was.
Alex appeared on the very trendy Monocle Radio show, The Stack, at the weekend. You can listen to it here – it starts at around 21 minutes. It tells the story of the shop and his background.
Esily worthy of inclusion on the list of great things about Nottingham – go seek him out – and tell him I sent you!