Bondholders share insights at major Midlands investment conference

Marketing Derby Bondholders have shared their views on the region’s economic development prospects at a major virtual conference.

Held yesterday, the day-long Invest Midlands event, organised by TheBusinessDesk.com, brought together decision-makers and creative thinkers from government, city regions and business.

Together, they provided insight, analysis and updates on short and long-term strategies, as the region looks to recover from the pandemic and build back towards a better future.

The event also showcased transformational and disruptive ideas, while also debating the key issues impacting the region's economy.

Among the speakers during the morning session was Mark Stapleton, director at property and construction consultancy Turner and Townsend, who talked about the future of towns and cities – and the changes Covid-19 has made to the way we live and work.

He said: “We see the city and town centre as key to attracting and retaining talent to help our business grow.

View fullsize

“Society needs to encourage property owners and give them the support to create a flexible working environment that responds to the needs of the tenants and their staff. There needs to be flexibility from property owners, tenants and local authorities.

“We need to do this so we do not lose the talent coming out of our universities to cities that are a step ahead of us.”

Jeff Counsell, managing director of trentbarton, then led a session called Connecting the Midlands: The Transport Vision.

For the debate, which analysed areas where investment was still needed, he was joined by Maria Machancoses, chief executive of Midlands Connect, Clare James, managing director at East Midlands Airport and Dave Penney, central route director at Network Rail.

Jeff said: “Historically, the Midlands has not been greatly supported in terms of transport infrastructure investment.

“As the Treasury counts its coppers, a lot of business cases are being put forward to finance transport projects. We must not miss out as a region – it is vital to our future success.

“We should be using new technologies. We should be ambitious. But we also need to make sure that connectivity improves with our ambitions for growth.”

The East Midlands was recently granted a Freeport. One of the sessions looked at how these can provide a gateway for global growth, with Stephen Pratt, board director and owner of Godwin Developments contributing to the discussion.

When asked whether companies were ready to relocate to Freeport areas, he said: “Absolutely. The problem is that you are moving jobs around the country. But people are ready and talking about it – freeports are ready and waiting, it’s just a question of how quickly we can push it forward.”

The conference also covered innovation. A company with innovation at its heart is Rolls-Royce, which has its civil aerospace and defence divisions in Derby.

One of the sessions, called Big Ideas to Change the Midlands, looked at how the Midlands thinks big and achieves long-term transformation.

Among the speakers was Matheu Parr, director of customer business at Rolls-Royce, who gave an insight into the firm’s project to create a high speed, energy-efficient plane, which it is developing under the ACCEL – or Accelerating the Electrification of Flight – programme.

Later this year, the firm will attempt to break the world record for the fastest electric aircraft. Currently the record stands at 210 mph – Rolls-Royce’s aircraft is looking to exceed speeds of 300 mph.

He said: “Three years ago, Rolls-Royce set out to create the world’s fastest electric plane – and we will be attempting the record this year.

“The project is not just about speed, it is about the innovation of the technology, which can be used in other areas.

“It is also about inspiring sustainable aviation and travel – and what better way to showcase electric engineering than creating the world’s fastest electric plane.”