When considering their next business venture, more investors are considering the north. Following on from one of the most recent deals completed in Hull, we shine a light on the opportunities opening up outside London, which make for a good investment.
· Hull benefits from having 30 Enterprise Zone sites[1], These are designed to stimulate the development of new investment opportunities across a range of local industries.
o Companies operating from these sites can benefit from simplified planning guidelines and financial incentives in the form of reduced business rates worth up to £255k over five years, or Enhanced Capital Allowances for companies on certain sites within the Port of Hull estate.
o The Humber has been allocated £87m from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Programme 2014-2020.
· A lot of work has been done behind the scenes to influence how Hull’s city centre, its properties and spaces are used and developed going forward. With a focus on the regeneration of key areas, investment in Hull is led by developers putting people back into the heart of Hull though a mix of new living and office developments.
· Hull’s 2017 tenure as the UK City of Culture, gave the city a new lease of life. Hull became one of “the most exciting places to live in the UK, bucking previous portrayals as a cultural backwater[2]”, according to a Raconteur report into Investment in Hull.
· The “Northern Powerhouse”, established by George Osborne in 2016[3], is about more than just urban regeneration; “we have to reinvigorate those places with a rich heritage and history in making, building and innovating, exporting northern expertise and goods all over the world. The decline that many of these communities fell into over many decades is now being reversed.” – George Osborne[4]
o The Northern Powerhouse generates 41 per cent of the UK’s electricity, and delivers jobs, growth and increased productivity for the North.
o One of the UK's four largest chemical-producing regions, the Humber estuary, is a hive of industry and invaluable as an access point to the North Sea. The energy sector, employs c.18,000 people in the area