The first in our new Location Spotlight series looks at Milton
Keynes. And it's an appropriate place to start. With the country crying out for
growth - it’s the UK’s fastest growing city. With everywhere looking to attract
inward investment - it’s attracted more foreign firms per head than anywhere
else. And in what can often seem like a crowded marketplace of same-sounding Invest in Anywhere towns
and cities - it’s a genuinely unique place, designed and built for business growth like nowhere else in the world.
First impressions?
Driving the length and breadth of our congested country, it’s easy to get used to the stop-start traffic and frustrating jams as you get closer to your chosen destination. The bigger the city, the longer it takes to navigate its feeder routes from the nearest motorway junction. Not in Milton Keynes. Leaving the M1, the wide, free-flowing roads take you to the heart of the city centre in minutes thanks to its famous grid-design and roundabouts. It might seem a little daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, you can enjoy the fastest-flowing roads of any city in the UK. (I hear some people moan that things are getting congested – by which they mean a six car queue at a roundabout during rush-hour!)
Network Rail - UK's biggest ever relocation
If the train is more your thing, the fast and frequent West
Coast mainline puts you just 35 minutes from Euston and less than an hour from
Birmingham. It’s no coincidence that Network Rail chose Milton Keynes for its
new national headquarters – the UK’s largest ever commercial relocation
project, with more than 3,500 people working in truly magnificent new offices
next to the station. Thousands of Network Rail staff from several offices have
moved to Milton Keynes in recent months, bringing their families and children
for a new life in Britain’s newest city.
Who else is here?
Plenty of other major office occupiers have enjoyed the
attractions of Milton Keynes, with the UK headquarters of Mercedes-Benz;
Volkswagen Finance; Suzuki; Yamaha among the 800 or so foreign-owned firms
based here. Away from the glitzy big offices, there’s plenty of manufacturing
and logistics activity going on, from F1 champions Red Bull Racing and their
550 engineers and designers to a major new bottling facility for AG Barr,
makers of Irn Bru and Tizer. The big hidden success story for MK though, is the
increasing number of technology firms that are growing here. Airwatch, leaders
in mobile device security, are a typical example. The Atlanta-based firm chose
Milton Keynes as their UK headquarters a couple of years ago and began with a
handful of people. They now employ well over 180 here, with further ambitious
growth plans. For first-time high-tech investors, MK is fast-becoming a genuine
alternative to the traditional hotspots of London and the Thames Valley.
So what’s the catch?
It’s hard to find too many downsides to MK’s offer. The lack of a university has long been an issue, although with the Open University based here and Cranfield a couple of miles away, there’s no shortage of brainware on tap.
Uniquely designed for growth
The new University Campus Milton Keynes has ambitious plans and will
become a major player in its own right very soon. And with Oxford, Cambridge
and London close by, the graduate recruitment pool is about as good as you’ll
find anywhere in the world. It may not have the cutting-edge or creative
buzz of a London or Manchester, but this is above all a place that works. It
works for inward investors looking for a place to expand easily. And it works
for families looking for a safer, greener and more prosperous place to live and work.
What about an inward investment
team?
Invest Milton Keynes has always had a reputation for
providing great service and doing the right things to promote their city. It
was active in Japan and Taiwan before most cities knew what inward investment
was. Changes in the last year have seen IMK brought into the council and it now
forms part of the economic development team. They have been busy redefining
their offer, working up propositions and revamping collateral. The results are
impressive, with a new website which, like the city, looks strong, vibrant and
different. Their use of social media to target investors and intermediaries is
truly ground-breaking. They have a great product and with a strong team, the future
looks very bright for Milton Keynes.
More info:
web: www.investmiltonkeynes.com
twitter: @InvestMK
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/investmk
Coming soon: Derby, Newcastle and Sheffield.
