PROPERTY AND CONSTRUCTION
FOCUS FEATURE
There is a growing need to build sustainable communities
connectivity right the way down to improving health, education and inequality outcomes. There are, however, enough shared issues to develop
some meaningful principles which support urban regeneration and economic development across the UK, to allow our communities to thrive. As a result of global quantitative easing, there has never been so much money available to invest, combined with such a large gap in infrastructure investment and capital for start-up businesses to scale up. While this investment gap is not unique to the UK, our
productivity lags our competitors by 30%. This is key, because investment improves productivity. With London’s high rate of productivity – compared with
other cities – skewing the UK’s true productivity picture, the best way to rebalance is by investing outside London. Devolution and the greater empowerment of our cities
and regions will be a key enabler of this, creating opportunities for communities to develop compelling local visions and strategies for their own growth, and take responsibility for making them happen. There has never been a better time to develop economic
growth in the regions and cities of the UK through greater investment. An economic imbalance towards London, a shortage of
decent housing, pressure on local authority budgets and declining air quality are all major obstacles towards creating sustainable communities across the East Midlands and throughout the UK.
It is, however, crucial that we take a long-term view, and
not try to patch things up with a short-term fix. Local business leaders are best-placed to identify the
barriers to their growth and prosperity, and to provide the vision and leadership to navigate through the challenges and develop sustainable solutions. There are plenty more problems besides infrastructure that
local areas need to get to grips with, if they are to create the environment in which their communities can thrive, or at least keep the pace with what is happening around them. One of the key issues facing many communities is skills
and the availability of suitable job roles in the local area. As global urbanisation progresses, UK towns and cities
will find it harder to compete with their overseas counterparts in attracting global capital flows and highly- mobile skilled workers. Technological advancements in areas such as robotics,
artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things will change how people live, consume and work. This will impact upon activities in ways that we are not yet aware of. However, this is where the East Midlands may have an
edge over other regions across the UK and, indeed, around the world. We caused at least two of the three industrial revolutions
to date – maybe all three - and we can definitely lead the fourth. We are one of the biggest contributors to the UK
economy, arguably the biggest outside London and the South East.
business network October 2019 71
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