MIPIM VIDEO | Investment-ready Blackpool charts regen revival
“Blackpool has already made great waves in regeneration, so why not invest here?” said Emma Ratcliffe, head of business development for the North West at Morgan Sindall Construction as the firm heads to MIPIM as one of the council’s trusted delivery partners.
Blackpool has come a long way in a short period of time and heads to the South of France with multi-million-pound investment opportunities to sell.
Ratcliffe and Nick Gerrard, growth and prosperity programme director at Blackpool Council, sat down with Place North West to discuss the town’s regeneration journey and where it is heading in the years to come.
In 2017, the council launched its growth and prosperity programme, aimed at laying the foundations for a brighter future for the town.
The programme focuses on three main areas:
- To regenerate the town centre and attract more businesses
- Create a year-round tourism economy
- Diversify the economy by creating jobs in growth sectors
Heading out to MIPIM for the very first time is a sign of just how far the town and the council has come, according to Gerrard.
“Blackpool has a proven track record now of delivery and has got great opportunities in which to invest,” he said.
“We want to send out the message that actually not only are we a serious place for investment we are working with serious people. There is a lot more that we want to deliver.”
The two major investment opportunities on the table in Blackpool are Silicon Sands, a proposed data centre cluster with the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone, and Blackpool Central, a £300m leisure development on the site of a former train station.
Gerrard acknowledges that local authorities can only do so much to drive growth; it is strong and collaborative relationships with the private sector allow visions to become realities.
Morgan Sindall Construction is one of Blackpool Council’s private sector partners. The contractor has been appointed to build Multiversity, a town centre project with the potential to drive significant regeneration and social value.
Multiversity is a higher education campus aimed at upskilling local residents. It is pioneering projects like this that make Blackpool an exciting place to work and invest, according to Ratcliffe.
“I think it is important for Blackpool to be saying ‘we are part of the North, we have got a lot of regeneration to do, come and invest’,” she said.
To learn more about Blackpool’s regeneration journey as well as projects like the Multiversity, Silicon Sands, and Blackpool Central, watch the video at the top of this article or visit businessinblackpool.com.
To hear more about Morgan Sindall Construction’s work, visit morgansindallconstruction.com.
