Leeds has a golden opportunity to regain its place at the top table of UK cities. It has missed opportunities to do so before; it can’t afford to fail again. The city, the region and the UK property industry would be poorer for it.
After a dire period, there are grounds for optimism once again. The 1m sq ft Trinity Leeds will open next March and will be the only shopping centre to do so in the UK in 2013.
Once it does, Land Securities will have invested £1bn in the city’s retail offer in little more than a decade. When the company embarked on the project, then chief executive Francis Salway said it would be the most profitable development in his portfolio. Rob Noel has not made similar pronouncements yet, but he may choose to do so; LandSec’s portfolio director Gerald Jennings, the man delivering the scheme, says the latest internal numbers suggest it will still end up reaching the heights Salway predicted.
Then, come September, the £60m, 13,500 capacity Leeds Arena will open, transforming the city’s leisure offer.
With office occupancy recovering too, 2013 is a transformational year for the city. Potentially.
By their own admission, the Leeds business and property communities have punched below their weight for some years. They are better at selling their offer to each other than to the outside world, was the consensus at this week’s Unfold Leeds property conference in the city.
That has to change. And it should, given the significant step up in the retail and leisure offer that is around the corner.
At Unfold, Tom Riordan, the energetic, pragmatic and relatively new chief executive of Leeds council, talked a good game. He urged collaboration, a view endorsed by the man sat next to him, Tony Reeves, chief executive of Bradford council. Encouragingly, both recognise their councils have not worked as well as they should have done in the past – separately or together.
And the pool of good, senior talent is deepening. Lurene Joseph has joined as chief executive of Leeds and Partners. While everyone talks of their desire to capitalise on London’s place as a world city, Joseph, the former chief executive of the London Development Agency, stands a better chance than most of doing so.
The cards are looking good for Leeds right now. However, there is a tangible fear that defeat could yet be snatched from the jaws of victory. At least the city region’s destiny is to a significant extent in its own hands.
It is perhaps the most common question asked of me after the Estates Gazette Awards: what did the judges really think? This week we tell you.
Of course, for us to be able to attract judges of such high calibre, their comments about the individual firms need to be kept confidential. But their views on the standard of this year’s entries, and especially what impressed them, will be useful. Turn to page 146 for their insight and details of the full shortlist. And to ensure you don’t miss out on attending one of the most high-profile evenings in the property calendar go to www.estatesgazette.com/awards
As ever, our Top Agents poll of a few weeks ago set tongues wagging. A new number one, yo-yoing revenues and a picture that highlighted those that have got their strategy right for these tough times and those that, on the face of it, are getting it wrong. To further stimulate that debate, we have made the report available year-round on iPad. Download it via the Estates Gazette App in the App Store.
We are also giving you the chance to win an iPad3 by taking part in our latest sentiment survey, in partnership with Grosvenor. Are you suffering from a post-Olympic lull, weather-related gloom, or eurozone-dependent misery. Or is Q4 going to make your year, with sunny uplands in sight for 2013. Let us know at www.demographix.com/surveys/B88L-QHYP/5ZDNWW2V
