CBI appoints JLL’s Hyde as Thriving Regions chair

JLL’s UK chief executive Stephanie Hyde has been appointed chair of a new CBI vehicle tasked with aiding the role of business in the government’s levelling up agenda. Hyde will chair the new Centre for Thriving Regions vehicle, which was launched in November last year to co-ordinate the private sector’s commitment to levelling up. It is staffed from across the UK’s regions and nations and under Hyde’s leadership will bring local, national and multinational businesses, universities and colleges together, and draw on the input and ideas of 800 regional council networks. Through the centre, the CBI said it would deliver a roadshow of events around the country to identify success and failure in business-led growth across UK regions. The CBI will also launch two demonstrator projects as part of the programme to bring together key players in cluster developments to test and refine its theories so it can develop a new approach to creating thriving regions that can be applied across the UK. The demonstrators will also provide regular briefings and communications for government on what they can do to better support these activities. The Centre for Thriving Regions will then draw on this work, alongside international evidence, to write the “levelling up playbook”, said the CBI. This will outline how the UK can build globally successful clusters, that are engaged and led by the private sector, and that can secure the business benefits that will come from levelling up. Tony Danker, CBI director-general, said Hyde’s advice and support would “play a critical role in the coming months as we continue to support businesses to overcome the immediate challenges to growth and work with government on our shared ambitions to transform the economy”.   To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews