Plymouth Economic Development Blog September/October 2024

I am David Draffan, Plymouth City Council’s Service Director for Economic Development. I wrote a regular blog during Covid that was well received and as we have so much currently on in the department, I have decided to try and write a monthly(ish) blog to give people a more ‘under the bonnet’ view of the work we do. Whilst much of our work is very visible, I wanted to give an insight into some of the work that goes on behind the scenes to support businesses and grow our economy.

?The department has c 150 people, raises over ￡25m income annually (covering all our costs) and has secured on average over ￡30m grant funding / annum. We provide the following services for the Council; Land and Property, Regeneration and Growth, Economy and Investment (includes events), Freeport, & Oceansgate, National Marine Park, and the Box (includes Mount Edgcumbe).?

This month in addition to a roundup of activity I wanted to start off with a bit of a deep dive on our Direct Development Programme. When we talk about direct development we mean that the Council runs the whole development process: design, planning, funding, project management and letting. We started undertaking direct developments for a few reasons. 1) When setting up the department we found the Council has a number of undeveloped and underutilised pockets of employment land. 2) We had examples of city businesses wanting to expand and being constrained by a lack of quality industrial property. 3) Since the 2009 Crash the private sector hasn’t been able to build speculatively 4) We were able to make a commercial return for the Council.

?Over the past decade, Plymouth City Council has built-up an enviable track record in delivering over ￡14.1m or 125,000 sq ft of speculative, high-quality, sustainable direct development commercial workspace schemes on Council-owned, under-utilised development plots within the city and adjoining area. The overriding ambition of this proactive direct development approach has been to meet the demand for superior business space and encourage expanding or new firms to the area in order to stimulate economic and employment/job growth in Plymouth and the surrounding locality.?

This has been achieved with?the completed schemes achieving a?100% take-up rate (last scheme currently being marketed) with over 20 separate businesses employed in a diverse range of industries, including manufacturing, food production, medical, finance and green technology sectors now in occupation of these new business units. In turn approximately 429 FTE new jobs have been created / supported as well as supporting jobs during the construction phases – where possible local contractors have been used.??In addition, long term rental income has been generated to the Council as well as new business rates income.

?Langage Business Park – Hearder Court Phases 1, 2 and 3

The first site to be progressed relates to a prominent 7-acre site, strategically located with excellent transport links to the A38 dual carriageway at Langage Business Park. The previously vacant and un-serviced site was identified as a priority for delivering high-quality, sustainable employment space. This was particularly in the context of strong levels of market demand from existing and expanding businesses but a market failure to supply due to the cost-value gap of delivering new development.

Phase 1: Start on site of the first phase of speculative development commenced in November 2014 with completion of a ￡2.7m scheme in July 2015, delivering circa 30,000 sq ft of high-quality sustainable employment accommodation. On completion, the scheme was successfully let to Dartmouth Foods, an expanding food manufacturer in the region. The tenant continues to operate from the facility, supporting circa 70 FTE local jobs and creating approximately 90 high-quality new FTE jobs, as well as protecting local construction jobs and other spin-off benefits during the build stage.

Phase 2: Following the successful delivery of Phase 1, planning consent was obtained for a second phase of speculative development in July 2017, comprising 30,000 sq ft of workspace split into 6 different sized units. Similarly to all the direct development projects which have been built, this ￡3.0m scheme incorporated sustainable technologies into the design. The build was completed in October 2018 and all six units were quickly let achieving high rents, setting a new benchmark for the city. The scheme supports small, medium and large businesses and current tenants include Lang & Porter (Flooring) Limited, SIG Trading Limited and The Unnatural Flooring Company. This second phase of development supports approximately 83 FTE jobs.

Phase 3: Planning consent for a final third ￡2.1m phase of development was obtained in March 2020, comprising circa 25,000 sq. ft of employment space, split into 3 different sized units. This Phase 3 development was completed and ready for businesses to occupy in May 2022 and has since remained 100% let (including to The Unnatural Flooring Company, already in occupation at Phase Two to facilitate their expansion). Approximately 68 FTE jobs are supported at the site.

Haxter Court

Elsewhere in 2020, the Council invested ￡2.4 million into the direct development of a 1.65-acre development plot, Haxter Court at Broadley Park which was built and 100% let out in the Pandemic, further reinforcing the strong demand for quality employment space in Plymouth.? The four flexible units totalling circa 23,000 sq. ft are let to 4 tenants including Plymouth Argyle Football Club and Rope & Sling Specialists (a new tenant for the City) supporting circa 62 FTE-jobs. The development has further extended the already well-established Broadley Park industrial estate, to the north of the city and is strategically located in close proximity to Derriford and the (then planned) new Forder Valley Link Road.

More recently, practical completion was achieved in March 2023 of Barrack Court, a circa 17,000 sq. ft new high-quality and sustainable hybrid office and industrial scheme. The project cost circa ￡4 million and the Heart of South West Local Enterprise contributed ￡1.6 million of grant funding.? The development was designed to attract businesses seeking flexible, commercial accommodation in the post-Pandemic world and is forecast to support 56 FTE jobs. Lettings are progressing well and feedback from the 6 tenants currently occupying the site has been extremely positive with flexibility, location and quality all being appreciated.

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Langage Business Park (Freeport) – Langage South

Looking ahead, start on site is expected later this year for a 50,000 sq ft high-quality employment accommodation scheme at Langage, the largest tax site within the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport. Planning consent has already been obtained for the four units and appointment of a contractor is underway. Once built, the development is forecast to support circa 140 FTE jobs and will target growth in the manufacturing, marine, defence and / or space sectors. The scheme will incorporate sustainable technologies to minimise carbon emissions and running costs.

A massive thanks to James Watt and Sarah Partridge who lead this programme and manage all our investment in our ￡220m Property Regeneration Fund

In addition to the above we have direct developed 2 phases of Marine based industrial units at Oceansgate, phase 5 of our Science Park, directly delivered the Box and redeveloped a major office block at Crownhill Court to enable the VOA head office to relocate to Plymouth.

?Another exciting building project formally started on site this month after 6 years in development is the Community Diagnostics Hub at Colin Campbell Court. This is a really great example of regeneration starting in 2018/19 when ED commissioned a health demand study to gauge demand for a health led direct development - PCC would build the health hub and fund the development from the rents. NHS England were so impressed we had managed to corral health property demand that they asked us to be one of 5 national Cavell Centres moving health care out of the hospital into the community. The benefits being that the NHS would borrow the money not PCC. This fell through due to national politics and the ED/Derriford teams skilfully managed to quickly reposition the site for a Community Diagnostics Hub. A ￡25m investment from NHS England that will bring 90,000 new trips into the City Centre. Had PCC not done the demand study, not continued with the site assembly when the Cavell Centre fell through. not co-invested and not put in our land for free, Plymouth would not have a community diagnostics hub and the City Centre would not have a new regeneration project. We are hopeful this will now kickstart other health led regeneration. A massive partnership success between PCC and Derriford Hospital estates team.

New Community Diagnostic Centre construction starts | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

Another partnership project that gives an insight into the long term nature of the work we do in economic development is the recent announcement that the Mountbatten Centre and PCC have appointed a new CEO in Esther Pearson - Mount Batten Centre Charity Trust and Plymouth City Council announce new CEO | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK. This is the end of a story that started in 2018.

?The Mountbatten centre was established 25 years ago as an educational centre with a simple mission to give kids learning opportunities on the water. Like many such projects the business model at the time didn’t allow for the depreciation of the asset and so by 2017 the board were faced with a building ?that needed some serious capital investment. The Economic Development team got involved in 2018 and we commissioned a new vision and masterplan for the site that we could then use for major funding bids. When the Heritage Lottery opened the Horizons Fund to celebrate 25 years of the lottery in 2019, the Council bid for ￡12m for the National Marine Park and included a ￡6m investment for the Mountbatten Centre to be a key gateway. Wind forward to today and the centre has a major capital programme planned that will provide brand new changing facilities, a new reception area, a massive new restaurant and café as well as a rather amazing new pontoon. There is a new business plan and a brand-new CEO.

?Both the CDC and the Mountbatten Centre were only able to secure major capital funds because in both cases the Council's ED team speculatively funded the necessary masterplans 6 years before the investment and then provided the intensive staff support to make it happen.

This month we also launched the National Marine Park summer programme which will provide 900 free sessions to get in, on or under the water this summer

Dive into fun this summer at the UK's First National Marine Park! | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

Looking ahead to future projects we are taking the same approach and we have just commissioned a new business planning / feasibility study into the reopening of the Fish Market. The Council has been working very closely with the Fishing Industry since the sudden closure of Fish Market in May and we have brought together the Industry (Plymouth Fishing and Seafood Association) and Market Owners (Sutton Harbour) to formally look at options to reopen the market. The feasibility study and business planning exercise will determine the type and extent of the market and the steps needed to operate a market in the short and medium term, as well as consider the longer-term sustainability.

?Partnership established to explore the future of Plymouth’s fish market | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

?Last month I mentioned that we took 2 formal reports to scrutiny. One an update on the Box’s annual performance and the other a formal decision setting out the Council’s support for the City Centre BID renewal which also went to Cabinet.

?The Box is really going from strength to strength and her are some highlights from the report:

?·?????? 850,000 visitors since opening

·?????? 272,000 visitors in 23/25 +10% on LY

·?????? 26,000 schools visits and 27,000 free family workshop sessions since opening.

·?????? A third of Box visitors have visited for the first time and a quarter had not visited a museum before.

·?????? And finally we won the award for best Devon attraction in the Muddy Stiletto awards and are in the national final. And a Trip Advisor Travellers Choice Award

·?????? The current show -?The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure,?received five-star reviews from national art critics and includes work by 22 of the UK and USA’s most important living artists, including the woman who painted Michelle Obama’s portrait and two Turner Prize winners.

?The Box continues to impress with huge visitor numbers | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

The City Centre Company’s business plan went to Cabinet on August and the full report can be found here. BIDCabinetdocumentFINAL12AUGUST2024.pdf (plymouth.gov.uk) Steve Hughes and Patrick Knight have been working on the new business plan ahead of a ballot of city centre businesses in November. This will be the 5th re-ballot of the City Centre BID as we were only the second to be established in the UK. The BID, if successfully voted, in will generate ￡2.5m ring fenced for city centre projects and the report sets out ￡600k of match funding from the Council and a ￡500m programme of capital investment.

?I am very supportive of BIDs having been the City’s first city centre manager in 1999 having previously been a graduate store manager for M&S. I then set up the City Centre Company in 2005 and secured the very first BID and then the renewal in 2009 before moving to the Council to set up ED!

?This experience of partnerships has informed the way I lead economic development and I quickly set up PWP, Destination Plymouth , Plymouth Culture, Freeport Company and National Marine Park. All of which are thriving today. I strongly believe that formalised sector based partnerships are the only way to do serious economic development

I hope every one enjoyed the National Fireworks championships. Dont forget another homegrown event funded and organised by the Economic Development Events team

Anyway that's enough for this month and I really hope this insight is useful and as ever I am really keen to get feedback and cover any topics that are of interest.

Next month I am hoping to be able to give further updates on the Civic Centre, our work with Homes England on city centre housing and some really important work we are doing on supporting the multi billion investment currently underway in the Dockyard

Thanks for reading

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