27/03/2019 - Permalink

Shropshire shines as a place in which to invest

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Shropshire stood out from the crowd as place in which to invest at global real estate show, MIPIM 2019.

Shropshire Council and its partners and sponsors attended the four-day show earlier this month (12 until 15 March 2019) to showcase Shropshire to the world, start new conversations and continue existing ones.

During their time there they had 37 pre-booked meetings, made more than  120 formal contacts and many more informal ones – all of which had a keen interest in exploring investment opportunities in the county.

The council also hosted a Shropshire Lunch, sponsored by LDA Design, specifically focusing on opportunities around the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan. It was attended by 20 public and private sector partners and interested parties.

Now back in the UK, the council is busy building on these relationships, some of which began at last year’s MIPIM and MIPIM UK.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s deputy Leader, and Cabinet member for economic growth, corporate and commercial support, said:

“Shropshire has so much to offer so it was really no great surprise that, once again, we had so much interest in new development opportunities and for our ambitions for growth and investment.

“We’ve made some excellent contacts and, although there’s nothing to confirm right now, we’re really excited about the future.”

Graham Wynn, chairman of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

“The Shropshire team at MIPIM was able to highlight some excellent investment opportunities in the county which could help drive real growth in the years to come.

“The Marches region as a whole is a great place to live, work and do business and that message was received loud and clear at MIPIM.”

Three delegates from Shropshire Council attended the show, including Steve Charmley, executive director for place, Mark Barrow, and business growth and investment manager, Matt Potts. They were joined by delegates from the council’s partners and sponsors: Harworth Group plc, Berrys, Morris Property, WSP, Montagu Evans and LDA Design.

Shropshire took to the stage on Tuesday and Thursday (12 and 14 March) with two presentations, these included:

  • Shrewsbury: The Big Connection will tell investors the story of how the birthplace of Charles Darwin is evolving, in particular the opportunities with Riverside as a development corridor.
  • Shropshire: Rooted in Heritage, Developing for the Future will highlight the county’s countryside, vibrant market towns and strategic central base within the UK, unlocking key development opportunities through infrastructure investment including the former Ironbridge Power Station site which will be led by Harworth Group plc, The Oswestry Growth Corridor and The A49/A41 Growth Corridor.