Liverpool is set to do the business at the heart of the nation’s capital, as it opens its own Embassy in London.
The city council will announce tomorrow (Friday 17 December) ambitious plans to open ‘The Liverpool Embassy’. Located just a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street, EC2, it will promote the city’s commercial and business offer and help secure vital investment.
The move follows the success of Liverpool’s presence at Shanghai World Expo 2010. The Embassy will build on the impact of the city’s Pavilion at the event, showcase the city as a competitive, international business location and present investment and development opportunities to investors.
Opening on January 21, 2011 at New Broad Street House - a prestigious address close to Liverpool Street and the city’s financial district – the office will create a high-impact awareness of The Liverpool City Region in the capital to a UK, European and International audience. Adjacent to the internationally renowned Broadgate complex, it has easy tube access to City and Heathrow Airports and is also supported by a wide range of bus routes.
The Liverpool Embassy is one of the first major initiatives of the city’s ‘One Plan’, a new vision for the city, which aims to draw on the strengths, resources and expertise of the public and private sector to sell the city nationally and internationally.
City council Leader, Councillor Joe Anderson, will officially announce the Liverpool Embassy at a special event the Town Hall with Max Steinberg, Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, and business leaders.
Councillor Anderson said: “I’m absolutely determined that, in these difficult economic times, Liverpool continues to grow, thrive and prosper. We know, from our year as European Capital of Culture and from our recent success at Shanghai World Expo, that people from outside the city want to do business with us. It’s more vital than ever that we do not take our foot off the accelerator and that we continue to find innovative ways of working with the private sector to secure investment and drive this city forward.
“The Liverpool Embassy is a big part of this plan. It will promote our unique assets, give us a strong presence in the nation’s capital and encourage investors to come here. And it will position us as a business-friendly, ‘can-do’ city, ready and willing to work closely with businesses and embrace new ideas and innovation.
“Liverpool has a new-found confidence and we want to showcase this to the world. The Embassy gives us a great opportunity to demonstrate to investors and high profile decision makers that the new Liverpool is a competitive, international business location, a leading cultural capital and a city of opportunity which welcomes investors with open arms.”
The Liverpool Embassy will focus on some of the most successful elements of Liverpool’s award-winning Shanghai Expo Pavilion, including exciting audio-visual films, conveying the city’s transformation, business-friendliness and investment opportunities. Technologies such as Touch Screen and 3D TV will also be used fully immerse visitors in the experience and allow them to interact with the films.
It will highlight the city’s economic strengths; its property investment opportunities; its infrastructure and position as gateway to the UK and the world; and its digital, creative and research offer.
The Embassy will also feature:
• A private and comfortable reception area
• A suite of two business meeting rooms with the flexibility to be converted into one boardroom
• Exhibition and seminar space
• Video-conferencing facilities and full 2D and 3D projection capabilities for presentations
• Lunch-dinner function room
• Hi-tech, interactive touch-screen walls, offering conversion into sponsor branding
Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, Max Steinberg, said: “We have big ambitions for the future of Liverpool – a new way of working which focuses on stronger partnerships between the public and private sector. The Liverpool Embassy is a symbol of this ambition.
“Liverpool is a city which has always looked outwards. We showed that through our presence at Shanghai and we are now going to the capital to make it easier for potential investors to hear our story and to find out about the great opportunities which exist in Liverpool.
“Opening an Embassy reaffirms our commitment to do things innovatively and to become more business-friendly to overcome the recession and propel Liverpool further and faster than ever before.”
The project is being delivered by Liverpool City Council, working in partnership with Liverpool Vision and Downtown Liverpool in Business. The partners will be working closely with private sector companies to secure sponsorship and attract influential visitors.
Initially open for three months, with a view to extending its term in London, the Liverpool Embassy will pave the way to a programme of linked and complementary initiatives aimed at attracting trade and investor interest and positioning Liverpool as a competitive and progressive business location.
These include a series of ‘Investment Open Days’, to be held in Liverpool on May 3rd and 4th 2011. It is hoped the work at the Embassy will help attract a significant number of high-profile investors to Liverpool for these events. There will also be a series of high-profile events to mobilise the support of politicians, business leaders, academics, venture capitalists, and journalists; and a senior Liverpool presence at the MIPIM event in Cannes in March.
Guy Wallis, Partner at respected Liverpool law firm DWF, who came up with the idea for the Embassy, said: “A major way that Liverpool can demonstrate that it is a place where business can thrive is for business leaders from this city to get down to London to attend events at the ‘Embassy’.
“By explaining what they do and how successful their businesses are, they can help the process of changing the perceptions of Liverpool to encourage people, who might not otherwise have thought of doing so, to take a serious interest in the city as a place to do business.
“Liverpool excels in a number of areas. It must now get that message across so that we become perceived as a place where excellence exists and where businesses can thrive. The opening of a Liverpool ‘Embassy’ in London will send a message that Liverpool does mean business.”
Frank McKenna, chairman of Downtown Liverpool in Business, said: “The Embassy is further proof of the city council’s willingness to listen to and work with the private sector. The idea was born from speaking to business leaders and it’s great to see the council move so quickly to turn an idea into reality.”
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