Review ofUK Hotspots

Swansea

Deeside

Wrexham

Caernafon

Cardiff

Newport

Liverpool

Chester

Warrington

Manchester

Bolton

Preston

Yorkshire & The Humber

- Doncaster

- Hull

- Bradford

- Leeds

- Sheffield

Newcastle Upon Tyne

Sunderland

County Durham

Birmingham

Bristol

London

Oxfordshire

Hertfordshire

Somerset

West Midlands

North Devon

Mid Devon

Glasgow

Edinburgh

Contents

‘Wave hello to Swansea’s Sea Power’

Swansea Bay £850m Tidal Lagoon (plan submitted February 2014)

What would this mean for Swansea?

The six-mile-long U-shaped seawall would go from Swansea docks to near Swansea University’s new Fabian Way campus.

It would take two years to build and create 1,850 construction jobs.

There would also be 60 long-term operational jobs with up to another 90 linked to visitor spending and it is hoped it could be operating by 2018.

Key Facts:

• Could provide power for 120,000 homes for 120 years• The UK has the second highest tidal range in the world • The lagoon would comprise an impounding “breakwater

or seawall” capable of holding 11 square kms (4 sq miles) of water

• It would hold on to water and then let it out through turbines at both high and low tides which would generate electricity

• At low tide, water would flow from the lagoon into the sea, and from the sea into the lagoon at high tide

• Lagoons would protect areas at risk from flooding• Tidal lagoons offer renewable energy at nuclear scale and

thus the investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in UK industries and coastal communities

• The lagoon will have 16 low-head bulb turbines, which should give 500,000 MWh (megawatt hours) of electricity a year, enough to power 155,000 homes, the turbine manufacturers are confident they will hit that level

• Would be the first of its kind – putting Swansea firmly on the map

Tidal Lagoon Power is ready to start construction as early as possible (next spring or summer 2015).

The possible development of the ‘Swansea Bay £850 Tidal Lagoon’ being the first of its kind will put Swansea firmly on the map, create significant interest in the area as well as numerous highly skilled jobs.

Although the initial cost of construction of tidal power is high, maintenance costs are relatively low. It is an inexhaustible source of energy and tidal energy is environment friendly energy and does not produce greenhouse gases. Furthermore, as 71% of earth’s surface is covered by water, there is scope to generate this energy on large scale.

Swansea

What does Deeside offer?

• a major centre for UK Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing• one of the largest concentrations of aerospace manufacturing companies in the UK• one of the largest development sites in the UK• a major location for inward investment.

Deeside is home to steel manufacturer Corus and aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The Airbus factory is in Broughton, where wings are produced for the Airbus A330 and the A380.

“Airbus - A potential 30,000 new aircraft will be built between now and 2032, representing a staggering $4.4 trillion-worth of business.”

Chinese airline ‘Zhejiang Loong’ confirms order for 20 Airbus planes

A Chinese airline has recently signed its first ever deal with Airbus - confirming an order of 20 planes.

Deeside ‘solar park will inject £40m into local economy say developers.’

Documents recently submitted to Flintshire County Council show the proposed Deeside solar park would be worth around £40m to the local economy.

The company behind the massive solar park Atem, have said that much of the economic benefits will be retained within the area, Tata steel are one company set to benefit with the supply of steel, electrical fitting and maintenance, solar panels as well as cleaning and site security will all be sourced locally.

Deeside

‘Power in the Valleys’

Neath and Wrexham businesses win major contracts on £400 million energy project (June 2014)

It is expected to be worth up to £1 billion to the Welsh economy over its 25 year life time.

Express Reinforcements and Prysmian Cables & Systems are to work on the largest onshore windfarm in Wales and England. Renewable energy developer Vattenfall has announced two new multi-million pound contracts for work on its £400m Pen y Cymoedd wind energy project.

The successful companies are Neath- based Express Reinforcements and Prysmian Cables & Systems’ Wrexham manufacturing facility. The announcements coincide with the laying of the first foundations for the 76 turbines at the Pen y Cymoedd project site in the county boroughs of Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Since planning of the project began Vattenfall has worked to encourage as many local firms as possible to bid for contracts and sub contracts. After 12-months of a four-year construction programme £45m of contracts have been placed with Wales-based businesses. So far, more than 50 companies and 600 jobs in Wales have been supported by the project. It is expected to be worth up to £1 billion to the Welsh economy over its 25 year life time.

Wrexham super-prison ‘will help economy’ – and create 1000 jobs

A new 2,000-inmate super-prison which will be built in Wrexham will bring economic benefits to the area. The £250m jail will be built on the Welsh government-owned former Firestone site on the Wrexham Industrial Estate, creating 1000 jobs. The jail should be ready by 2017. The jail will cover 26 hectares.

Wrexham

Caernarfon solar park near coast gets go ahead (September 2014)

Germany-based Kronos Solar wants to build the 15MW solar park at Griffiths Crossing, near Felinheli. Caernarfon Town Council has already supported the plans.

The development will be subject to conditions. The site is around 500m away from the Menai Strait Special Area of Conservation. At their highest point, the panels will be 3m from the ground and close to an ancient monument and the Wales coastal path.

The development could expect to see around 60,000 panels for its size. The company has insisted it will be secluded and only a small part visible from outside the site.

The solar park will be in existence for 25-30 years and work on building it could start this winter (2015) and take about three months to complete.

Caernarfon

High concentration of graduates remain in Cardiff

Cardiff’s position as a centre for higher education with a full-time student population of some 25,000 to 30,000 many of whom remain in Cardiff after

graduation to live and work, partly accounts for the high proportion of resident population with NVQ Levels 4 and above; some evidence

suggests that Cardiff retains a higher than average proportion of recent graduates and attracts others from institutions

outside the city largely due to the social, cultural and, most importantly, employment

opportunities available locally.

Cardiff and Wales are still at the forefront of key industries

particularly aerospace, automotive, and life

science.

Wales ensures consistent and ground-breaking innovation – whether it is creating Europe’s largest offshore wind farm, or Cardiff University embarking on the biggest academic study of Alzheimer’s disease in the world.

The Life Sciences sector in Wales employs around 10,000 people in over 300 companies.

The sector is diverse, research-driven and global with its characteristics constantly changing as new sub-sectors emerge and develop.

The operational strengths in Cardiff cover a range of value added medical and scientific processes and technologies, products and development activities. These include Pharmaceutical and biotechnology, diagnostic and medical devices, agri and industrial technology, from blue chip to Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Cardiff

Newport is the Strategic Gateway City to South East Wales and is Wales’ third largest city.

Newport ranks 7th out of 100 UK cities for robust economic growth to 2020 in the Experian Global Economic Forecasting Report and also ranks 3rd in Lambert Smith Hampton’s study of office locations outside London.

Newport is in a strong position with regard to the supply of appropriate land available for future economic growth and can take advantage of a huge population catchment of 1.5m people within just a 45 minute drive time of the city.

Newport has state-of-the-art premises and held the 26th North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit on 4 and 5 September 2014, at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport and was the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain with leaders and senior ministers from around 60 countries.

The NATO Summit was a valuable reminder of the capability and capacity of the defence and security sector in Wales. Wales has a strategic role to play in defence technology. The research being undertaken within the defence sector in Wales is world-class.

Newport

New Project ‘Liverpool Waters’ - Largest Investment in the North West for over a century

Big Plans for Liverpool – investment will bring at least 17,000 new jobs to Liverpool

• The port of Liverpool is to be expanded with plans to construct a post-Panamax container terminal, for ships wider than the Panama

Canal locks, and will be capable of handling ships carrying 13,500 containers, compared to the current limit of

3,500 in Liverpool.

•Future plans to redevelop the city’s northern dock system, is a project

known as ‘Liverpool Waters’ and could see £5.5bn invested in

the city over the next 50 years, creating 17,000 new

jobs.

It will be the largest investment in the North West for over a century.

World’s best architects to design buildings for Liverpool

The 21 million square foot scheme will see the creation of a world class mixed use iconic development of over 50 buildings, many over 50 storeys high. Each building will be individually designed by leading architects from around the world to ensure a mix of iconic styles that will really put Liverpool on the map, bringing with it a massive increase in the number of tourists, tens of thousands of new jobs and inward investment to the area.

Liverpool is the UK’s fastest growing economy outside of London, has one of the UK’s top three biomedical centres and also has the UK’s second largest wealth management industry.

According to statistics, the Life Sciences sector accounts for almost 10% of the region’s economy. The city also employs:

• over 71,000 people in financial and professional services• over 34,000 in manufacturing• and almost 24,000 in the creative and digital industry.

Liverpool

The strength of the location as a highly effective base for investment is underpinned by transport connectivity. Chester is just over 2 hours by train from London and virtually every UK city.

There are 850,000 people of working age within a 30 minute drive of the City of Chester.

Engineering expertise in the region - there are over 8,000 people employed in architectural and engineering activities.

The catchment area of Chester represents a broad variety of sectors. Financial and business services employ large numbers of people but the area also out-performs the UK in levels of employment based in higher value manufacturing activities.

The Chester catchment area can provide an employer with the skills required and with a greater proportion of staff holding NVQ3 skills or above (A level or better) than the UK average, there are tremendous opportunities for employers to recruit a highly skilled workforce.

Chester

What has Warrington got to offer?

Largest catchment area for any town outside the M25

Warrington offer investors access to a huge workforce. There are 2.5m people of working age within a 30 minute drive of Warrington. This is the

largest catchment area for any town outside the M25.

There are over 700,000 working age people experienced in working in senior, management or professional

roles living within a 30 minute commute of Warrington.

Warrington is established for its specific strength in engineering for the nuclear sector

• The employment of over 44,000 in specialist construction activities and a further 30,000 involved in architecture and engineering demonstrates a depth of civil engineering expertise in the region. The town has a specific strength in engineering for the nuclear sector.

• Key companies in Warrington in the nuclear sector include Sellafield Ltd., Amec Nuclear, NNL, Rolls Royce Nuclear and Jacobs Engineering. More generally other important employers include Bet Fred, Fujitsu, BT, Solvay and Unilever.

Warrington

Manchester Universities produce 4,000 graduate engineers per year.

No other city in Europe has invested as much in its media and digital scene, with £3.5 billion spent building a global hub for creative industries.

Manchester has a talent pipeline which includes 6,000 creative and media students in the city region and another 6,000 on computer-related courses.

Manchester is the original tech city.

Compared to the rest of the country outside London and the South East, Manchester has advantages in Creative Industries; IT & Digital, whilst concentrations of employment in Financial & Professional Services demonstrate the truly national significance of Manchester in this sector.

Biotechnology and Energy are the most productive sectors in the Manchester area in terms of GVA per employment, with Environmental Technology; Manufacturing; Engineering and Food & Drink also having above average productivity.

Manchester now has Europe’s largest clinical academic campus following a billion pounds of investment. Manchester is home to several medical research institutes; and has Europe’s biggest cancer treatment centre and the largest clinical trials unit in the world.

Siemens plan to transform iconic Princess Parkway (June 2014)

The project, which will include a private hospital, housing and office space, is expected to create more than 4,000 jobs if it gets the go-ahead

For over 25 years, Siemens has been a major contributor to Greater Manchester’s economy.

Manchester

Manchester is the largest functional economic area outside London - 25% of Manchester’s workforce is educated to degree level.

A first of its kind multi-million pound education centre will open in Bolton.

The £4.3 million STEM Centre — a science, technology, engineering and maths facility — is being built at Bolton College to train the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

The centre — described as a world class — will open in a 1,800m modern facility next spring (2015).

Bolton town has a rich history in engineering and construction and it is therefore fitting to see this heritage honoured with the creation of the STEM Centre.

The addition of the STEM Centre to Bolton’s educational offering will help to make the town a leader in the training of future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

The North West region is a hub for these industries — manufacturing, for example, constitutes 18 per cent of jobs in Bolton — so qualifications from the STEM Centre will take students into fields with excellent job prospects.

Bolton

Employment - 50,000 new jobs are to be created over the next 10 years plus additional economic activity worth over £3 billion to Lancashire’s economy

Driven by the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, the priorities and actions identified in the recently agreed Growth Plan have the potential to create up to 50,000 new jobs over the next 10 years and generate additional economic activity worth over £3 billion to Lancashire’s economy.

By achieving these challenging outcomes, Lancashire’s employment rate will out-perform the UK average, and the value of the area’s economy would rise by an additional 10% by 2023.

UK’s Aerospace industry employs over 20,000 people in Lancashire

The Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing (AEM) sector is especially significant for Lancashire and the UK. Lancashire has the single largest concentration of aerospace production in the UK, employing over 20,000 people and remains one of the most important centres for high technology manufacturing nationally.

Manufacturing employs almost 90,000 people and accounts for more than a quarter of Lancashire’s £23 billion economy

The UK’s Aerospace industry has its single largest concentration in Lancashire, employing directly and indirectly as many as 28,000 people in 120 companies, and is part of a wider world class cluster accounting for more than a quarter of national production.

Energy – developing sector – employment opportunities – Shale Gas

Lancashire has a major contribution to make in helping to deliver the nation’s nuclear energy and low carbon strategies. Local shale gas reserves, which are amongst the largest in Europe, offer considerable potential to spark economic growth both in terms of exploration, extraction and supporting supply chains.

There are significant opportunities for Lancashire to be the home to technologies of the future; 4000 new jobs could be created by 2025.

‘Lancashire could become a centre for expertise for European Shale Gas development, as Aberdeen is for off shore production’

Preston

Energy, Low Carbon and Renewables

Lancashire’s assets include four Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors in Heysham and an advanced nuclear fuel manufacturing facility at Springfields (Toshiba-Westinghouse) near Preston.

There will be significant opportunities in Lancashire related to the commissioning/de commissioning of reactors. For example, a new build nuclear reactor site would require 4,000 plus construction workers and 1,000 plus operating personnel. This would be in addition to the employment required to support existing reactors.

The growing renewable and oil and gas sectors will have an important role to play in securing the UK’s energy supply providing Lancashire with additional opportunities to develop nationally and internationally important expertise and capacity.

17,000 new jobs 2016–2019

At a Lancashire level, the employment impact anticipated in the early stages of production (2016-19) is 17,000 jobs which is expected to amount to 30% of the UK total for that period. This scale of activity will lead to a substantial new clustering of a supplier base in Lancashire and attract specialist overseas supplies to the UK.

Lancashire is a place of rising qualification levels, the proportion of residents qualified to NVQ4+ increasing from 24.5% in 2007 to 30.8% in 2013.

Preston …cont

Doncaster - New Developments Doncaster’s £400m inland port - a project that promises to create 5,000 jobs

Logistics developer and investor Verdion, with backing from its funding partner the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, is developing a 700 acre site in Rossington near Doncaster.

• The first units will be available at the start of 2015.• The 570,000 square metre inland port; known as iPort, will be used to relieve

pressure on congested coastal ports and speed up the delivery of freight.• Freight will be taken from coastal ports by train to iPort where it can be processed

through customs before being transported onwards via road and rail.

Don Valley Power Project – will create 2000 jobs

The Don Valley Power Project is the UK’s leading carbon capture and storage project which will be based in Doncaster. This exciting new development will have a transformation effect not just on Doncaster, but on the green energy sector as a whole. The project based at Stainforth will have important roles to play enabling the Yorkshire and Humber region to generate power from fossil fuels. It will allow other energy intensive industries such as steel and cement production to install carbon capture technology to reduce their Co2 emissions.

Key facts:

• One of Europe’s leading green energy projects.• Total Investment £3 billion, creating 2000 jobs in construction phase, 200

FTE’s when constructed.• 88 acre Business Park that is able to provide opportunities and synergies for

industries and technologies.• Ideal for Foreign Direct Investors with heavy duty Power Requirements.• 650MW Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGBB) power station.

When it comes to the green energy, Doncaster is leading the way

The Don Valley Power Project is one of the most advanced, innovative and exciting carbon capture projects anywhere in the world and is attracting major international interest and investment.

It is expected to be built by mid-2016 and commissioned by late 2016.

Over the next five years Doncaster is predicted to have one of the highest economic growth rates in the Sheffield City Region, driven by a number of key development projects. This includes a major project which will help integrate road, rail, water (the Humber ports) and air to provide a major UK multi-modal logistics offer known as the ‘Port of Doncaster’ and act as a catalyst for business development, inward investment and job creation particularly in the logistics, engineering and associated aviation sectors.

Yorkshire and the Humber is the best strategic location in europe for leading industries

Hull City of Culture 2017 – will bring thousands of jobs ‘Start of the Future for Hull’

Hull is on the cusp of social and economic change as this award is worth an estimated £60m to the city, the coveted title will help deliver the £190m ten-year City Plan outlined by Hull City Council to create 7,500 jobs.

Being awarded the City of Culture for 2017 will give the city the building blocks to grow because over the next three years scaffolding will be put up around the city as investment and new businesses will begin (Liverpool is still reaping the benefits of being a City of Culture). When people visit Hull they will be spending money in restaurants, hotels and shops and this will consequently leave a lasting economic effect.

‘Hull will become a top cultural destination and the UK’s leading energy port-city’

Siemens Invest in Hull – Wind Turbines

In March 2014, Siemens confirmed plans to start manufacturing its next-generation 6MW offshore wind turbine at Green Port Hull, in a £310m deal with Associated British Ports.

But there is more to the region’s future economic prosperity than wind turbines. The region is poised to capitalise on growth in a number of other renewable energy projects, from bio-fuels to tidal power.

Yorkshire and the Humber is the best strategic location in Europe to establish a carbon capture and storage (CCS) cluster. The Yorkshire and the Humber CCS cluster (the “CCS cluster”) represents a unique opportunity to develop, promote and sustain new low carbon technology, to further secure the energy and industrial requirements of the UK, and make a significant contribution to local, regional and national economic development.

Thus Yorkshire & Humber has the potential to transform itself from what was a heavily industrialised and energy-intensive economy to a world leader in clean energy and environmental technologies.

To quote Winston Churchill: “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year, and to have the ability afterwards to explain why it did not happen.”

Hull

Bradford ‘Producer City and is the Youngest Major City in the UK’

Bradford is also well placed to take advantage of emerging ‘green’ industries

Bradford has an economy worth over £8.3bn, the third largest in the Yorkshire region after Leeds and Sheffield.

Bradford has a growing population of 522,500 and is the youngest major city in the UK with 22.6% of the population under 16 years of age. The work age population is increasing by 1,700 every year.

Bradford is a Producer City. There are 1300 manufacturing businesses in Bradford employing 24,700 people, accounting for 12.8% of all employees.

Bradford has 2,400 textile manufacturing jobs and a further 9,400 jobs in textile and clothing related industries such as chemicals, distribution and retail.

Bradford is a centre for Digital Technologies with companies such as Pace - the world’s number one designer and manufacturer of digital set-top boxes, and Radio Design - award winning world leaders in wireless telecommunications product design. The term “World Wide Web” was first used in a journal published by the Bradford based publisher Emerald.

Bradford’s broadband speed is the highest of any city in the UK.

Over coming years Bradford’s rate of employment growth is forecast to outstrip the regional and national growth rates over both the medium (2014-17) and longer terms (2014-20).

Bradford

Leeds is the location of one of the largest financial centres in the United Kingdom outside London, around a quarter of a million people are employed in the financial and professional sector in the Leeds City Region with an output valued at £13 billion per year.

The LCR economy is forecast to grow by 23% in GVA terms over the next decade. Employment is also forecast to grow by 10% over the same period.

Leeds was successful in becoming the first British city to have full broadband and digital coverage during the dot-com bubble, enabling it to become one of the key hubs in the emerging new media sector.

The City Region remains a key national centre for textiles and clothing – employment levels are 4.5 times and 2.3 times the national average respectively in these sectors.

The Leeds economy is forecasted to create about 44,000 net new jobs in medium term. The sectors expected to create most new jobs are Administrative and Supportive Services, Land, Transport, Storage and Post, Professional Services and Retail, Public Administration and Defence is forecast to shrink by 21% in employment terms in the same period.

Leeds

Replacement Demand

Almost a fifth of the workforce is aged over 55 – will increase to 23% by 2020

In Sheffield City Region, it is forecast that an additional 23,500 workers will be required by 2015 and 80,500 by 2020. Almost a fifth (18%) of the workforce is aged over 55, which is slightly higher than in Leeds City Region but lower than in the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP area. This percentage is expected to increase to 19% by 2015 and 23% by 2020.

Transformational projects in Sheffield have the potential to create just over 36,600 additional jobs by 2020.

There will be an increasing demand in Sheffield, particularly post 2015, for higher level skills, notably HE Diplomas, higher HND, HNC and BTECs, first/foundation degrees and higher diplomas.

Sheffield will require 149,700 new employees by 2020

By 2020, some 149,700 new employees will need to be recruited, either into new jobs or (mainly) as replacements for retiring workers and this will have implications for company training and recruitment plans.

Strong growth in business services, transport and construction will have implications for training, as will the significant increase in employment in other services. There will also be a recovery of health related employment post 2015, partly a response of the ageing of the population, with implications for customer care and care skills.

Sheffield

European Strategy 2014 - 2020 - Consultation

Newcastle has been given the opportunity to deliver £460m of projects across the North East over the next programme period (2014-2020).

Newcastle’s ‘Science City’

Science Central will evolve over the next 15 to 20 years, creating an estimated 1,900 jobs on a site which will see university institutes spring up next to offices, homes and public squares. The development will have a significant impact on the future economic prosperity of the region, helping to bring more and better jobs to the North East, by driving innovation and attracting employers to locate in Newcastle.

The 400 ‘high-quality’ jobs it will create, and the £20m economic boost, are fundamental in helping the area build a strong knowledge-based economy that will enable the city to compete on an international stage.

Economic Investment in Newcastle includes:

Siemens service renewables will add 300 jobs in Newcastle before the end of the year bringing their total jobs to 1,000.

GE invested £15m, creating 152 jobs at Walker Wellstream facility, to meet the growing number of deep water developments worldwide.

Morrisons have opened a new 44,000 sq ft supermarket in Blaydon, creating 180 jobs.

Shepherd Offshore is to expand its renewable energy operation to Hadrian Road, creating 150 skilled jobs.

DIY retailer The Range will open a new store in Benton crating around 150 part and full-time jobs.

Newcastle upon Tyne

Sunderland is a ‘producer’ city and its economy today includes the key sectors of automotive and advanced manufacturing as well as developing offshore renewable energy and subsea engineering support sectors linked to the Port of Sunderland; and also a growing niche software sector.

As home to the UK’s largest car plant - Nissan - Sunderland lies at the heart of the country’s foremost automotive manufacturing region. More than 10,000 people work in the sector.

Offshore and Subsea

Sunderland’s coastal position has always played a huge part in its economy and will do so long into the future as the city sets its sights on becoming the UK’s low carbon hub.

Home to many global companies such as Siemens, GE Oil and Gas, and EDF, the area is recognised as a primary location to further expand and grow the successful offshore energy market including oil, gas, renewables and subsea.

Sunderland’s ambition to become the centre of the UK’s low carbon industries has grown quietly over recent years. The area’s strong heritage in industrial innovation alongside its geography, infrastructure and established supply chain means it is at the forefront of offshore engineering.

Sunderland is making a name for itself globally as the location for subsea engineering and renewable energy industries.

The Local Futures research report has ranked Sunderland as ‘the best city in England in the environment and infrastructure category‘. This category covers: commercial floor-space; connectivity; cost base; quality of life; and growth in commercial and industrial floor-space.

Sunderland

Tallentire Wind Farm Energy: Onshore Wind Capacity: 12 MW

Tallentire wind farm, which was completed in June 2013, is made up of six wind turbines located on Tallentire Hill near Cockermouth, Cumbria.

Local commitment: During development and construction Renewable Energy Systems (RES) delivered significant local economic benefits, with over £2.1 million spent locally. During the civil works 25% of the workforce employed on the site came from the local area.

Several of the world’s leading companies have made County Durham their home such as: GSK, Caterpillar, NSK, and most recently, Hitachi locating its European HQ for high speed rail in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Investment from Hitachi Rail Europe in Newton Aycliffe opens up many opportunities in the rail sector through the research, design and development of the supply chain.

County Durham’s long-established industrial profile means that technology, engineering and manufacturing accounts for 23% of the County’s economy as compared with Cambridgeshire at 15%, London at 4%, and the UK as a whole at 16%.

The North East is one of the major global locations for the pharmaceutical industry, with 33% of the UK’s pharmaceutical GDP generated in the region.

There are a number of world class research institutes based at universities in the North East of England with expertise in the energy sector. The prestigious Durham University’s Durham Energy Institute is a leading UK research community focusing on the development of bio-fuels, carbon capture and storage.

County Durham

Birmingham is renowned for the Aerospace industry

There are around 300 specialist companies based in the Midlands contributing to global aerospace and providing over 40,000 jobs. The UK has the second largest Aerospace output in the world.

Birmingham - Key Facts:

• Birmingham to target London High Tech Firms – Marketing Birmingham the city’s inward investment arm is set to launch a new campaign which looks to attract high tech companies based in London to the city. Recent research has shown many of the companies are struggling with the high costs of being based in the capital.

• Birmingham’s graduates - 82% get jobs within six months of graduation.• Birmingham’s European ranking for numbers of languages spoken is higher than

any other English core city.• Within an hour of Birmingham there are over 15,000 language students.• Nearly 1 million people have foreign language skills in the region.

Birmingham is the UK’s most entrepreneurial region and a start-up ‘hotspot’ according to new figures from Start Up Britain. Start up Britain drew on last year’s Companies House data to assess where new companies were started across the UK. Birmingham led the table outside of London with 16,281 companies registered. This compared to Manchester who in second place, saw 4,515 fewer businesses being traded with 11,765 start ups and Glasgow who saw 8,085 new companies launch in the city.

Low Carbon Sector

Just as Birmingham was at the heart of the industrial revolution, the city is now committed to being at the heart of the low carbon economy.

The low carbon sector provides technologies and services to support the shift to the low carbon, resource efficient economy required to meet Britain’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Low carbon sub-sectors

• Low Carbon and Renewable Energy supply• Low Carbon Buildings• Carbon Capture and Storage• Low Carbon transport, fuels and vehicles• Energy efficient production processes• Low carbon resource / waste management• Low carbon finance and professional services.

Birmingham aspires to be a city at the forefront of renewable technologies

Birmingham

Bristol is known for its strengths in advanced manufacturing and aerospace.

Bristol companies are winning new business and important players such as the global mobile tech firm, Somo, are choosing Bristol, to open a specialist engineering centre.

Bristol is the second most Googled UK city after London and offers the best prospects for growth of all the UK’s regional cities and excellent opportunities to serious investors looking for alternatives to London.

Although the smallest city in the UK it has a business start-up of 44 per 10,000 population; the joint highest outside London and ahead of the UK average of 42.

According to research the number of people in work in the area is set to increase from 234,000 to 266,000 over the next eight years

The high concentration of specialist technology firms and the legacy of the aviation industry have meant that the city is blessed with a highly skilled and educated workforce.

Over the next five years, the sectors forecast to show the greatest cumulative growth in Bristol are finance and insurance services and construction, both of which are set to outperform the UK.

According to the 2011 census, 70% of the population is of working age, whilst 17% is under the age of 15.

Bristol is a highly innovative city and is ranked ninth in the UK for the number of patent approvals per 100,000 residents in 2011.

Bristol

London has the fifth largest city economy in the world, after Tokyo, New York City, Los Angeles and Seoul with an estimated GVA of £309.3 billion, and a per capita GVA of £37,232.

Changes to London economy by 2031

If the historic trends continue, it is likely that manufacturing will continue to decline, from 224,000 jobs in 2007 to about 90,000 by 2031. Traditional manufacturing industry has found it increasingly difficult to meet competition from emerging economies.

Financial Services could grow from 1.56 million to 1.98 million by 2031

Similarly business and financial services could grow from 1.56 million in 2007 to 1.98 million in 2031 (representing 38 per cent of the net new jobs in growing sectors projected between now and 2031).

The number of jobs in London grew by 700,000 from 1996 to 2008 and could increase by a further 750,000 by 2031 taking the total number of jobs to 5.45 million by 2031. Total London jobs are projected to increase to 6.3 million in 2050, from 4.9 million in 2011, under the central growth scenario of 2.5 per cent.

London

Scientific & Technical sector will double

The professional, real estate, scientific & technical activities sector is expected to see the largest increase in employment over this time (nearly doubling to 1.4 million). This is followed by growth in employment in administrative & support services, information & communication and accommodation & food services, which are expected to grow by a combined 863,000.

Oxford is home to globally recognised organisations like MINI Plant Oxford, Oxfam, Oxford University Press, Siemens, Oxford Instruments and many more.

According to the UK Competitiveness Index 2013, the Oxfordshire area ranked 6th out of the 39 LEPs.

Oxford is renowned as an academic, motor manufacturing and tourist centre, however this perception masks other key features of the local economy. These other key features include:

• the bioscience sector• an ever-increasing number of IT, software and creative media businesses• research and development businesses developed by Oxford’s universities

The job market of tomorrow’s Oxfordshire

Local forecasts suggest approximately 75,000 jobs could be created from 2014 to 2031 across the county of Oxfordshire and ‘replacement’ jobs will also provide job opportunities. ‘Higher’ skilled jobs are increasing in demand but a third of jobs will be medium to low skilled. Key areas for job growth will be in the business,

financial and professional services, science and technology, retail and tourism; thus jobs will continue to ‘professionalise’.

Key localities for job growth will be Oxford, Science Vale Oxford (centred near the Didcot area) and Bicester.

Developing Sectors

The Life Sciences sector in Oxfordshire is set to see significant growth in the coming years. The UK is the largest centre for life sciences in Europe with ‘MedCity’ the centre. This ‘golden triangle’ of Oxford-Cambridge-London has attracted an investment of £4.1m to help spur the discovery of new treatments and medical technologies.

Oxfordshire’s Science Vale Oxford is looking to create up to 20,000 jobs by 2031 – largely high tech, knowledge rich opportunities.

Significant redevelopment plans around Oxford and including key sites in city centre will bring growth in retail and leisure – including approximately 3,500 new jobs created by the Westgate shopping centre redevelopment due to open in September 2017. Also 5,000 new jobs alone will be created within the proposed eco-town at north-east Bicester. The new jobs are intended to be in the environment/low carbon sector.

Oxfordshire

From world leaders in drug manufacturing to breakthroughs in regenerative medicines, Hertfordshire is perfectly placed to nurture scientific breakthrough.

The county’s economy (ranked 4th in UK) whilst large and diverse demonstrates particular strengths in Business Services, Life Sciences, Advanced Engineering, IT & Telecoms and Digital & Creative Media Technologies. Almost half of Hertfordshire’s businesses and 34% of the county’s employees are within sectors that are classed as Knowledge Based Industries. Also the county has over 2.5 times more Scientists and Researchers than the national average.

LEP – Growth Deal

Recently announced (July 2014) funding for Hertfordshire will create over 12,000 new jobs and also boost the county’s economic output by £3 billion by 2030.

Sites for Employment include:

£18.85 million of funding to 2020/21 will be used to set up three Growth Area Forums across the county.

A1(M) Growth Area Forum (Stevenage, Letchworth, Baldock, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Hitchin)

M1/M25 Growth Area Forum (Watford, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Radlett, Elstree & Borehamwood, Bushey)

M11/A10 Growth Area Forum (Hertford, Hoddeston, Ware, Broxbourne, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, Bishops Stortford)

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire has globally significant science-based businesses such as GSK, EADS Astrium, MBDA, Johnson Matthey, etc.

The majority of people in Somerset (15.3%) are employed in skilled trades, compared to 10.7% nationally. However, the professional occupation group employs the most in the UK with 19.7% but only 12% of people in Somerset.

Hinkley Point – Somerset

The new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point will not only provide a clean, secure and affordable source of electricity for around five million homes, but it will also provide:

Around 900 jobs at the new power station for more than 60 years

Around 25,000 employment opportunities throughout the build for nearly a decade

A programme of investment in community wellbeing, education, employment and skills

Opportunities for businesses to win a share of the £16 billion to be invested in construction

The nuclear sector has large economic and employment multipliers meaning that a swathe of indirect and induced jobs will be created. The baseline level of employment in Somerset County as a whole is expected, in 2019, to be close to 279,000 jobs. By 2020, the level of total employment in the County is forecast to be 1,300 net jobs higher under the Hinkley Point C scenario than under the baseline; by 2030, the differential could rise to 2,900 net jobs.

Hinkley Point C certainly has the potential to create a higher-level skilled employment for the region and its presence may provide opportunities to create clusters of innovation across the County in different sectors.

Somerset

The West Midlands is still the most industrialised region in Great Britain but creating a balanced ‘skills mix’ remains a challenge for the area.

A key strength of the West Midlands economy is its diverse range of sectors and specialism, however, a death of people with good engineering development skills presents a real challenge to the West Midlands.

Inward Investment (2013)

The West Midlands does consistently well in attracting inward investment. Figures can vary significantly from year to year depending on a range of factors, including major one-off investments; however, figures show that between 2005/06 and 2011/13 the West Midlands attracted 86,000 new jobs from foreign direct investment (FDI). That figure amounts to 17% of England’s 497,400 FDI jobs and is outstripped in volume only by London’s 89,609.

The most prominent sector specialisations in the region are automotive; ceramics; food and drink; metals manufacture; logistics and construction.

There are nine universities in the region: Aston, Birmingham City, Coventry, Keele, Staffordshire, University of Birmingham, University of Warwick, University of Wolverhampton and University of Worcester, as well as three university colleges.

West Midlands

North Devon contains clusters in a number of small but highly productive sectors, thus notable concentrations of employment exist in:

• Pharmaceuticals (which accounts for 0.7% of employment in Northern Devon, compared with 0.1% across the UK); • Electronics and electrical equipment (1.5% of employment in Northern Devon compared with 0.7% nationally); • Agriculture, forestry and fishing (3.0% compared with 1.3%); and • The Arts (1.8% compared with 1.0%).

North Devon district is extremely successful, keeping 80% of its economically-active residents in work and the presence of a world-class university drawing talent from across the country to Devon is a potential asset for local businesses. Thus the relative proximity of large numbers of highly-qualified young people is an acknowledged asset for employers and a potential driver of growth in Northern Devon (among UK regions, only London retains more graduates than it loses).

North Devon’s economic structure reflects its location and history. However, specific sectors are extremely important to the local economy:

Energy – North Devon is naturally rich in a number of renewable energy resources – wind (on and off-shore), tidal, solar, and biomass; thus there is an opportunity for North Devon to capitalise on such resources and seek to ensure local job creation through both the harvesting of the energy and development of supply chains linking into these industries.

Marine – North Devon has a long coastline peppered with ports and harbours and with a history of economic uses – fishing, ship building, engineering and marine leisure. There are opportunities to link to other sectors, to ensure the unique marine resources can be developed into wider economic benefits – for example through links to renewable energy.

North Devon

Devon has one of the lowest population densities in the UK and Devon is a largely rural county with Dartmoor being the largest open space in the UK.

Agriculture and Tourism form key parts of the local economy.

Employment levels in the textile manufacturing sector are fourteen times the national average, largely reflecting the presence of Heathcoat Textiles in Tiverton, which has been a major employer in the area for 200 years.

Micro businesses form the core of the business base, contributing to Mid Devon’s a business density, which exceeds the regional and national average. The business base is supported by high levels of self employment, suggesting a strong entrepreneurial

culture.

The region has access to universities in Exeter, Plymouth and Bristol offering research and development, technology transfer and business development support.

Positive Growth Forecasts

The growth forecasts for Mid Devon are positive, with both employment growth and real value added growth projected to slightly exceed the national average.

The timing of employment growth will vary by sector: Business and finance, distribution and hospitality and particularly construction are forecast to make a more significant contribution to employment growth between 2014 and 2020, while the public sector, accommodation and food, and transport and storage are expected to play a greater role between 2020 and 2025.

Mid Devon

Waste land across Glasgow to be assessed for solar energy farms (April 2014)

Sunshine is now in line to help transform Glasgow into one of the world’s greenest cities.

Glasgow City Council is about to launch a project to identify sites for small solar farms on 400 patches of wasteland scattered across the city. The plan is to install arrays of solar panels to generate clean electricity on vacant or derelict sites owned by the council.

The initiative has been enthusiastically welcomed by renewable energy experts and companies, who see a bright future for solar power across Scotland.

Glasgow may not be the sunniest city in the world but there are already hundreds of solar arrays on buildings around the city which can harness diffused sunlight to generate electricity even when it is cloudy.

Germany leads the way in solar power, showing that you do not need to be in areas of high levels of sunshine to make PV a viable alternative for energy production. In July 2013, it set a new world record, producing 5.1 terawatt-hours.

Glasgow is at the forefront of low carbon developments

Glasgow, as part of its reinvention and regeneration efforts, is aiming to rebrand itself as one of the world’s sustainability and clean-tech leaders. A number of high-profile companies are investing in Glasgow’s low-carbon industries, confirming Glasgow’s status in this sector.

Glasgow is forecast to becoming a leading international force in renewable energy, with Strathclyde University and the Sustainable Glasgow consortium leading the way.

Glasgow

Financial Times FDi Magazine has named Edinburgh as the “Best Large European City of the Future” and “Best Foreign Direct Investment Strategy (Large City)” for 2013.

Edinburgh is the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom after the City of London and the fourth in Europe by equity assets. In global terms Edinburgh ranks ahead of Dublin, Prague, Bahrain, Moscow, Mumbai, Madrid, St. Petersburg and Budapest in the Global Financial Centres Index (March 2014).

Edinburgh Science Triangle is a world-influencing location for life sciences, informatics, electronics and energy with industry clusters developed around these research strengths.

With over 120 high growth companies across multiple sectors in seven science and technology parks, Edinburgh is second only to London for investment attractiveness and commerce.

Scotland is estimated to have around a quarter of Europe’s wind and tidal energy and ten percent of its wave resource.

UK Growth Performance

UK GDP was £1.6trn in 2013, the 5th highest in the G7, behind the USA, Japan, Germany and France.

The UK economy is heavily services based both in output and employment, key facts:

• Knowledgeintensiveservices;nowaccountforathirdofUKoutputandoveraquarter of total employment.

• 72%ofUKGVAisaccountedforbytheservicessector,ofwhichprofessionalservices (11%) is the largest subsector. The remainder is accounted for by manufacturing (10%), construction (6%), other production (5%) and agriculture (1%).

• ServicesalsodominateUKemployment,accountingfor83%ofjobs.Manufacturing(8%) and construction (6%) are the next two largest sectors by employment. Health and social work (13%) is the largest sub-sector within services.

• TheUKhasthesecondlargeststockofFDI(foreigndirectinvestment)intheworld,behind the USA.

• Apprenticeshipparticipationhasrisenby77%from2009/10to2012/13.

Skill Shortages

In 2013, 22% of vacancies were considered hard to fill due to a shortage of the necessary skills, an increase from 2011 levels. Vacancies for skilled trades (e.g. mechanics or chefs) were most likely to be considered hard to fill due to a skills shortage (39%), followed by professional roles (30%).

The 2013 OECD Employment Protection index of regular and temporary work ranks the UK as having the fourth lightest employment protection legislation; behind only the USA, Canada and New Zealand.

Edinburgh

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