Member Article

Leeds City Region launches £2.5bn of investment opportunities

Today, Leeds City Region is expected to unveil £2.5 billion investment ready opportunities at MIPIM 2015, the global property forum.

The series of large scale investment ready opportunities, referred to as ‘The Big Six’ include development sites and schemes throughout the region and all offer over £80 million worth of investment potential each.

The key schemes are available for commercial, mixed, residential, leisure and retail investment.

The figure, which is the result of research conducted by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (The LEP) and commercial property consultancy GVA, adds to the current development pipeline in the region which totals £2 billion and demonstrates the market confidence which the region is experiencing.

‘The Big Six’ investment opportunities are:

1. Bradford City Centre Growth Zone
2. South Bank, Leeds
3. Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone
4. HD One, Huddersfield
5. M62/M1 Corridor, Wakefield
6. York Central

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, who is due to unveil the six sites to investors at MIPIM commented: “I’m delighted to be representing Leeds City Region and unveiling not just these six exciting investment ready opportunities, but also showcasing the wider opportunities throughout the region.

“This week is about raising awareness of all the investment ready opportunities here and showcasing the massive potential that there is in the region to international developers, investors and occupiers.”

Roger Marsh, chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) added: “The scale of commercial investment now in the pipeline in Leeds City Region places us among Europe’s top flight for investment-led growth.

“These six opportunities underline the strength of both government and business confidence in our region as an investment-ready location where developers, investors and occupiers can put their growth ambitions into action.”

Ben Hall, Director at GVA concluded, “This research highlights the region has oven ready investment opportunities ripe for investment.

“The strong upturn in the property market which is taking place in Leeds City Region will be adding to the already compelling story.

“We are a seeing a surge in occupier confidence at present across all of the sectors, and with demand set to outstrip supply, it would point to rental growth, which will help to drive cash flows. For example the Leeds city centre office market witnessed take up in excess of 800,000 sq ft last year against a 10 year average of 500,000 sq ft!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .