MIPIM | Bourgeois: Liverpool in safe hands
After years of turmoil, a new era beckons in Liverpool property, said the man who has presided over city development for nine months.
Speaking to Place North West at MIPIM, Mark Bourgeois said his time at the city council had been “hugely rewarding and incredibly hard work”.
The role as interim director of city was Bourgeois’ first foray into the public sector. It was always going to be a temporary stint, but he believes the experience has been mutually beneficial.
“As someone who has worked in the commercial sector, to transfer skills into an environment like Liverpool City Council has been personally very rewarding.
“I hope it has brought something a little bit different as part of that quite diverse team that sits at the corporate table at the city council.”
After nine months in the role, he is now starting the process of handing over the reins to his permanent replacement Nuala Gallagher and her second-in-command Sophie Bevan.
That handover, which will last a couple of months, will consist largely of meetings with the city’s property stakeholders.
“I think that will be a great way to embed into the city before getting immersed in the day-to-day,” Bourgeois said.
One of the biggest opportunities that awaits the new team is the chance to build a legacy following Eurovision, he believes.
“In the last 10 years, it’s fair to say that in productivity terms the city has fallen backwards when compared to other core cities,” Bourgeois said. “Eurovision feels like it presents an event from which the city can then springboard off.
“Look at what the city achieved in the decade of the European Capital of Culture, and look at what culminated in Liverpool with many of the fantastic regeneration projects that took place on the waterfront.”
Aside from Eurovision, what awaits Gallagher and Bevan – who joined from Limerick City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority respectively – is a raft of major projects from the 1,500-home Festival Gardens, which was taken back to the drawing board last year, to the long-stalled Pall Mall office scheme.
In the past, commentators have put the slow progress of some of the city council’s major projects down to deficiencies within the authority itself.
Bourgeois points to Eurovision and recent progress at Kings Dock as just some of the indicators that the council is on an upward trajectory.
“I feel really optimistic,” he said. “It does feel like the city has turned a corner and that, reputationally, it is starting to be recognised again as a place where those from outside Liverpool can do business.”
A recent report from the city council’s government-installed commissioners agreed, saying there is cause for “cautious optimism” that the city council was moving in the right direction.
However, the report also warned that now was not the time for complacency.
Bourgeois says that should not be an issue. “I don’t see any complacency whatsoever, but it’s a fair heed,” he said.
“It is hard work achieving change but I have absolute confidence, certainly when I look at the city development directorate with Nuala and Sophie joining, that the pace and focus and hard work ethic will absolutely continue.”
Bourgeois, who was Hammerson managing director for more than five years until May 2022, joined LCC in the midst of its efforts to repair its reputation and restore trust in the authority following the damning Max Caller report.
He admits it has been a challenge but adds that the experience has not put him off public sector work. Quite the opposite.
“Having come from a bonus-driven commercial sector it has been a huge eye-opener,” he said.
“Purpose-driven work is what we all strive for and this role has been so full of purpose. From a local authority perspective, it is something I suspect I will continue to be involved in one way or another.”
Place North West MIPIM 2023 coverage is sponsored by Together.
