‘Liverpool’s leading the way.’
It’s a theme or heading I’m sure we all like to see when poring through news articles, and we are reading it more and more.
It could be the recent announcement the city is leading Europe in next-generation life science manufacturing . It could be Liverpool being named as one of the best places in the UK to run a business. Or of course, it could be currently possessing one of the greatest football teams in the world (as a tragic Arsenal fan, I look upon the Reds’ success with a mixture of jealousy and admiration - enjoy it while it lasts, folks).
However, another aspect of where we see our incredible city thriving is in creativity - an element that can be measured by the increasing number of hubs with the specific remit of leasing space to our region’s digital, creative and tech SMEs.
Obviously, it appears to be stemming from one of the city’s greatest success stories - the Baltic Triangle.
Over the past weeks and months, there has been something of an explosion of announcements about new openings of such hubs - that could soon stand to benefit areas from Birkenhead to Southport.
Headlining those announcements was Baltic Creative - the team behind much of the Triangle’s achievements, who announced on their 10-year anniversary this month that they were eyeing expansion in five more locations .
The firm boasts a footprint of almost 120,000sq ft, being home to over 180 businesses, and from 2009 onwards, has been successfully converting derelict buildings in the Triangle into offices and spaces for creative firms.
Now, it is looking to initially expand to Southport and the Fabric District, before “exploring opportunities” in North Liverpool, Bootle and Birkenhead.
It’s easy to get carried away with these things, but how could we not celebrate such ambition - with the Creative also promising to invest further money in its existing L8 facilities, all the while faced with tough economic and political uncertainty?
Such moves could do wonders in aiding attempts to regenerate those areas - some of which remain downtrodden and left behind.
How fantastic would it be to see them given a similar chance to thrive, like that from which the Baltic benefited all those years ago? We shouldn’t forget that as recently as 2008, the Triangle barely had street lights. Look at what it’s now become .
It was great to see Baltic Creative MD Mark Lawler promising to be bold in his recent announcement - and even better to see that firm’s ambitions replicated in recent weeks by a number of other business leaders across our region, who are also looking to invest in this incredible density of creative talent.
A piece on opening up opportunities in the region’s creative sector would be incomplete without a nod to the work currently being done by Make Liverpool.
The firm backed by Kirsten Little and Liam Kelly has seen considerable success in investing in arts, culture and creativity hubs across Merseyside - officially having opened their third site in Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square in the autumn , to add to the existing North Docks and Baltic offerings.
The list of others doing similar things is fairly exhaustive. To name but a few, while we’re discussing the other side of the water, we heard in December that the large arts project set to “transform Hoylake high street” is also underway.
Alongside creative studio spaces, the £3.6m development will feature a two-screen cinema as well as food and drink offerings and shops.
Around the peninsula in New Brighton, local entrepreneur Danny Davies and his firm Rock Point's efforts to transform the seaside town into the borough’s creative hub were covered in some detail on BusinessLive back in November.
And back in the city centre, a hub for similar talent has opened inside the former Chancery restaurant on Paradise Street.
‘Merseymade’ will become a home for artists and makers, featuring 10 open studios alongside a retail area showcasing works from more than 50 creatives.
Liverpool is, and has been for some years, a city of artistic influence filled with a sizeable community of makers and artists.
That, combined with decisions by business people with ethics and sustainability at the forefront of their minds, are helping that artistic community become a creative network, allowing the region’s SMEs and individuals to flourish.
It’s truly starting to appear that in this sector of economic development, ‘Liverpool’s leading the way’.
