James Scott, director, Maple Grove Developments.
Maple Grove is the development arm of the Eric Wright Group. When it comes to The Lancashire
Central strategic employment site at Cuerden we’re looking to deliver, we’ve made a lot of progress recently.
We’re on the cusp of bringing everything forward now and we’re really confident. We’ve got consent to deliver up to 1.7 million square feet of development and there is loads of interest. I mean the site could not be better located really, right on the junction of the M65.
The market seems to be coming back, build cost inflation seems to be slowing down. We have been through a perfect storm in the last couple of years with interest rates rising, values dropping and construction costs going up. That’s all balancing out and things are looking rosier.
All developers are facing certain challenges but there’s so much opportunity here in Lancashire that isn’t really available now around Manchester because it’s all filled up and there’s a huge weight of demand wanting to invest in big complicated manufacturing logistics.
Courtney Prestage, commercial director, Connections2Energy
We are utility facilitators. The main issue we are going to see with big projects is the need to reinforce the network as soon as possible, especially if we are looking at data centres.
National Cyber Force is going to be using a lot of electricity, which we probably have the capacity for at the minute. There’s not a problem in
Lancashire, but there will be if we keep building with these plans the way that we are. The main issues when it comes to reinforcing the networks is cost, so we need funding towards it, and skilled labour.
Silicon Sands is a data project in Blackpool, that’s going to be a big user of energy as well. I wouldn’t say that we are geared for it at the minute. It is exciting to hear about everything that is going on in Lancashire, especially in terms of the new projects and the jobs they will create and how they will help in terms of keeping people in the county.
The housing that’s going to be needed, the commercial developments, the high streets are going to start getting bolstered again, it’s the background effects of these projects that are really exciting.
We have to make sure
the message is transmitted to government, the rest
of the North West and the wider north. We’re in the game, we’re partners
Aidy Riggott, county council cabinet member for economic development and growth
Our key message is to have confidence and remain connected. Because however the structures turn out, change or don’t change, we will still need those partnerships with individuals, with organisations, to deliver what we’re all trying to do.
So, remember what we came to do and let’s do that and the other stuff will just fall in along the way. We do a huge amount of collaboration work, it’s not always visible. Sometimes things take time to come to fruition. It’s that early-stage investment in relationships and that wider network.
We’re always mindful of the ripple effects of the things we do. We are really focused on how it plays out for everyone else. With National Cyber Force there’s a huge number of people employed in professional services and in other areas. We’re really minded on making sure Lancashire feels the benefits of projects.
We need to sing each other’s songs, do all we can to share each other’s success. One of our strengths is the opportunity of living here, what Lancashire offers. You can live in some fantastic places, have access to fantastic spaces, coast, countryside, real top end businesses or career opportunities, colleges, we’ve got all that. Putting that all together and shouting about it is the job of all of us.
John Chesworth, senior partner, Harrison Drury solicitors and member of the Lancashire Business Board.
One of the reasons
we don’t get some of the national employers in professional services in the county is office space.
Edinburgh and London, where you could just jump off the train and have an office there if the space was available.
So, it comes back to Preston’s Station Quarter plan. We need that Grade A office space. It’s not just about providing space for professional services in Lancashire. It’s about getting the Deloitte’s and KPMG’s back into the county, it’s getting the big banks to have their northern HQs here.
We’re waiting for a certain government body to say, ‘Yes, we will relocate, there’. It feels like an easy win but we’re not getting there. If we had the confidence to say, ‘That’s going to get built,’ that would boost the office market in the area massively.
In Preston we have three projects going live in 2025, all in the Harris Quarter. It’s been a strategic plan and a rebirth for that area of the city. It’s also an illustration of what happens when all the sectors get together to deliver.
It’s a great place to be, midway between
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