Birmingham cheers the Games and the coming of Goldman

The 2022 Commonwealth Games will come and go in less than two weeks. Industry and community leaders in Birmingham, where the event is due to be hosted next summer, hope the legacy of the event and the investment it encourages will last long after the final fireworks of the closing ceremony. Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, describes the event as “much more than the 11 days of sport”. Rather, he says, the investment in the city will help its regeneration and infrastructure projects. “The Games and the investment coming with them, along with the global platform the event offers for the city, will combine to create a cycle of prosperity, generating further interest and investment in the city and the region,” Ward adds. “It has happened with other host cities, and we are well-positioned to achieve similar, if not greater, success.” Birmingham’s hosting of the Games will be the ninth time the event has been staged in the UK, and will arguably present some of its greatest challenges. Questions are still being asked about whether the event will even go ahead if new variants of Covid-19 emerge. The pandemic has already led to notable delays – a £500m athletes’ village in Perry Barr has been scrapped, although the new homes around the regeneration will go ahead. Nonetheless, the region’s business community remains hopeful, and optimistic about the opportunities that Birmingham and the surrounding area will have with the world’s eyes on them. The event “puts Birmingham on the map”, says David Perry, a real estate lawyer at Shoosmiths, and shows the city is “open for business”. “It’s a great peg for Birmingham to hang its hat on,” Perry adds. “Despite the challenges of the past 12 months, it’s still there to deliver everything that it promises.” For Perry, the Games can become a symbol of a new, post-pandemic vision for Birmingham, and perhaps for other cities too. “[After the pandemic] we can step back to what we had or we can step forward to what we want,” he says. “Maybe the Commonwealth Games are just the touchstone for us to get that mindset in place in Birmingham and in the wider Midlands.” The Games and the investment coming with them will combine to create a cycle of prosperity, generating further interest and investment in the city and the region Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council A sustainable legacy At the West Midlands Growth Company, an investment promotion agency backed by the West Midlands Combined Authority, chief executive Neil Rami said the Games will offer the region “a unique opportunity to showcase our investment opportunities internationally”. “From major marketing campaigns to one-to-one meetings, we will be targeting investors from nations and territories across the Commonwealth,” Rami added. “To ensure that we deliver long-term economic impact, this work will continue before, during and after the Games, ensuring that we can develop relationships with investors that will deliver a sustainable legacy.” The legacy strategy, launched in March, outlines how the £778m of public investment in the West Midlands for the Games will benefit people in the region and beyond. That includes facilities at the Alexander Stadium and Sandwell Aquatics Centre to be used by local communities after the Games, as well as 1,400 new homes in the first phase of the Perry Barr regeneration. Carl Potter, principal in Avison Young’s Birmingham office, points to three impacts he expects to see from the event. The first is local, principally the regeneration of Perry Barr. “It’s not dissimilar to that of east Manchester, catapulted forward in terms of regeneration by the 2002 Commonwealth Games, or the experience that London had at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,” he says. Second is the regional impact of venues in Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and Sandwell. Potter compares Birmingham City University’s plans to open a new sports science facility at the Alexander Stadium to Loughborough University’s move to Here East, the business community built around the former London Olympics grounds. Finally, says Potter, there is brand awareness. “The exposure that the region will get across the world is massive and can’t be underestimated,” he says. “The West Midlands has always been top of the league table for foreign direct investment. And Birmingham city centre itself has been very successful at attracting overseas investment into its property assets… The Games give the region wide exposure to a number of Commonwealth counties such as Malaysia, India, Singapore and Canada.” The exposure that the region will get across the world is massive and can’t be underestimated Carl Potter, Avison Young Good enough for Goldman Even without the Games on the horizon, Birmingham is drawing a growing amount of investor interest. May saw the long-awaited first listing on the IPSX market, a stock exchange dedicated to individual real estate assets. M7 Real Estate listed the Mailbox, an office-led property in the city centre, raising almost £26m from the sale of a 30% stake. Potter, whose firm provided M7 with valuation advice, describes the deal as “very positive” for the city: “It’s one of our city centre landmark buildings that is the first to be successfully listed,” he adds. “It says a lot about people’s perception of the real estate industry in the city.” Of even greater excitement is the recent announcement from Goldman Sachs that it will base a new technology centre in the city. The US investment bank is following in the footsteps of Deutsche Bank and HSBC, both of which have opened offices in the city and built up sizeable local workforces. The West Midlands Growth Company engaged with the bank over the course of 18 months before Goldman made its decision. Rami said the arrival of Goldman in the city “undoubtedly cements the West Midlands’ prominence on a global scale” and plays to the region’s success at “recasting typically London-centric banking structures”. He added: “It is a powerful affirmation of our region’s appeal to the aspirations of the world’s most iconic, multinational financial services brands and the talent they seek to attract.” Shoosmiths’ Perry says that Goldman’s plans “tell you everything you need to know about Birmingham in business terms”. “It plays to the universities – one of the reasons that Goldman has chosen Birmingham,” he adds. “It plays to the fact that we have an exceptional talent pool. It also plays to our financial services and tech space in the Midlands. “Not for nothing will they have picked Birmingham. They’ve come here because there’s something about Birmingham that works for them.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews Photo courtesy of the West Midlands Growth Company