Free serviced office desk for inward investors
Bruntwood, Orega and Avanta have signed up to a new initiative aimed at luring inward investors to the region.
Under the 'soft landing' scheme, backed by the North West Development Agency, companies from overseas can get free desk space for the first 12 months of their relocation to the area in certain serviced office centres.
Publicly owned science parks in Liverpool, Manchester and Daresbury will also offer the scheme, to be called Hello Northwest.
The NWDA said it hopes investors can use the free base to test out ideas before a major investment. One free desk per investing company is available in the following locations:
- 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, Orega
- 111 Piccadilly Place, Manchester City, Bruntwood
- Atria, Bolton, Bruntwood
- Booths Park, Knutsford, Bruntwood
- Centurion House, Spinningfields, Manchester, Bruntwood
- City Tower, Manchester, Bruntwood
- Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, Halton
- Landmark House, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport Bruntwood
- Liverpool Science Park
- Lowry House, Manchester, Bruntwood
- Manchester Science Park
- The Plaza, Liverpool, Bruntwood
- Royal Mills, Ancoats, Manchester, Avanta
- Station House, Altrincham, Trafford, Bruntwood
- Wilderspool Business Park, Warrington, Bruntwood
A study by DTZ for the NWDA in 2008 found that over 17% of regional gross value added is accounted for by foreign owned companies operating in the North West and that economic output per worker is almost 50% higher in foreign owned companies compared to the regional average.
Mark Hughes, executive director of economic development at the NWDA, said: "The North West is well known for its friendly hospitality and welcoming population and we are also one of the best performing regions for foreign direct investment. The Hello service brings these two important characteristics together and should help us secure even more investment in future years which in turn will help grow our economy."
Hello Northwest will be run in conjunction with Midas and The Mersey Partnership alongside the NWDA.
