Philip Smith discovers that it’s all hands on deck as Dover and Calais battle to attract inward investment and new development.
This is a tale of two ports – to paraphrase a famous Victorian novelist. And, as in Dickens’ day, the contrasts between France and England are stark: cream teas and frogs’ legs, cricket and boules, Johnny Halliday and Oasis, and Eric Cantona and Tony Adams.
Still, there are plenty of concerns shared by the two countries, particularly in the coastal ports of Calais and Dover. Both ports are linked by the desire to generate development and attract inward investment. But there is more to it than that: following the signing of the Region Transmanche promotion agreement in March, both Kent and Nord-Pas de Calais will jointly market themselves as a single European region.
Certainly, Kent has benefited from this formalised connection. It has been allocated £14m of EU funding for joint trans-frontier projects with Nord-Pas de Calais. East Kent, and therefore Dover, has Intermediate Level Assisted Area Status, hence applications can be made for project grants and infrastructure and derelict land grants. “The agreement means we can link up and achieve greater economies of scale when fundraising,” says Mike Glennon of Kent Enterprise.
Stark contrasts
Inevitably, there are considerable differences between the two ports. There is development activity around the port of Dover while, in stark contrast, tracts of land in Calais remain undeveloped. Differences in the planning regime are explained by Knight Frank’s Stephen Mallen: “The first and foremost point is that local authorities in France have more power than their English counterparts.” It means that developers in France are burdened with a social responsibility – if building offices, an element of social housing, for example, is expected to be provided by them in the region.
This adds considerably to costs, with potentially disastrous consequences. Mallen explains: “The whole development arena in France gets enshrined in the social concept. It hits development and makes it unviable – it’s very difficult to make money in the Calais market.”
Bill Coleman of Eurotunnel believes that the Europe-wide recession is to blame for the lack of development. However, he says, infrastructure improvements mean that Calais is more attractive than it was: “To attract industry from other parts of France for many years was like asking them to move to the North Pole.” The attractions of the location for retailers are confirmed by the success of the 92,900m2 (1m sq ft) Cite Europe shopping centre. Of its 147 occupiers, Tesco and Carrefour are among the tenants.
Glennon feels that, ultimately, each region targets different occupiers. On Kent’s list are healthcare, food-processing, parcelling and packaging, and automotive companies, whereas Calais looks to the chemical industry and logistical operations in addition to the food-processing and packaging industries. Potential occupiers need to decide whether to locate in Kent, for the benefits conferred by the language and lower operating costs, or take space in France, with access to the Continent.
Bill Fawcus, general manager of property at the Port of Dover, is excited by the current level of activity there. He is bullish about any fall-out from the “war” between the Chunnel and the ferry companies – last month, there was a 1.2% increase on road haulage vehicles using the port compared with July 1995. Even so, the Harbour Board is looking at new areas of income: property and a nascent cruise ship market.
To encourage and service the latter, Dover has just opened a new £10m cruise ship passenger terminal and is already looking at the possibility of a second. “We are providing a unique combination of a dedicated terminal, a non-industrial port, easy access to many tourist attractions and the London airports, and operational advantages,” says John Turgoose, Dover’s general manager of shipping.
The idea behind further property development is simple, believes Fawcus. Even with some 16m people going through the port each year, the town is one big billboard for retail and leisure occupiers. He wants to take advantage of that, and of Dover’s heritage. In conjunction with factory shopping specialist De Bradelei Mill, the harbour board is building a £1m, 2,000m2 (21,529 sq ft), 10-unit retail outlet at its Wellington Dock. It will open in November. DBM has an option on a further 3,000m2 (32,293 sq ft). Rents are being quoted at £199 per m2 (£18.50 per sq ft), but space is also available to let on a turnover basis.
Office location
Fawcus hopes that the shopping centre will pump-prime redevelopment of other, redundant, dock-side buildings. In total, the Western Docks has outline planning permission for 5,600m2 (60,280 sq ft) of food retail, 7,700m2 (82,885 sq ft) of non-food, 23,000m2 (257,578 sq ft) of offices, 16,500m2 (177,610 sq ft) of leisure and other residential use. “As a location for offices, it’s tremendous. You can go to Europe, do a day’s work, and be back in time for the 10 o’clock news. That’s a privilege that not many of us have,” he says. “The Channel Tunnel is just around the corner. We are actually closer to Brussels than Birmingham.”
Further afield, interest focuses on the 31.6ha (78 acre) White Cliffs business park, at Whitfield, on the A2/m2 London Road. It benefits from its proximity to both the Port of Dover and from the new A20 link to the tunnel terminal. “Already, phase one contains two large retail units, a light engineering unit and a number of new business start-up units. Close to the retail space is a 0.8ha (2 acre) site allocated for offices,” explains Ken Welsh of Dover district council. He says that phases two and three will be developed as light industry, storage, distribution and office accommodation. The two existing tenants are Dover district council itself, and freight haulier Ferryline.
However, the issue of development at both ports raises the thorny question of infrastructure. Undeniably, the advent of the Channel Tunnel has transformed Calais and the surrounding region. “For one, expansion of the rail system was really accelerated by the construction of the tunnel,” says Coleman. The new road links, the E14 and the A16, the new rail-link – all make the Calais area more accessible. However, it also means that it is easier to get away from.
The same applies to Kent. The M20 has been referred to as the Kent bypass. So the £3bn high-speed rail-link between London and the tunnel, when complete, could prove a mixed blessing. The link will include stations at Ebbsfleet – distinguished by Blue Circle Industries’ presence – and Ashford, so that is where any advantages will become apparent.
Glennon concedes: “What we face [in Kent] is a background of misperception – we were always seen as the back door to London rather than the gateway to Europe. In terms of interest, investors, in all honesty, aren’t going to focus on a town but rather a region, like east Kent. But any effects boosting the region will have a knock-on benefit to Dover.”
It seems that anywhere, except the ports, could directly benefit from all the improvements connected with the tunnel.
Delayed effect
As Strevens points out: “There is a lot of land all the way around the outskirts of Calais and there are plenty of sites, but it is too soon [for] the impact of that new motorway [to] be assessed. But in my view, [as an occupier] you would drive to Arras and then Lille [to work].”
Mallen agrees, but has a more pessimistic view: “I think in this case the property industry got it wrong about Calais. They actually went to the wrong location, except for possibly a shopping centre. Its [the tunnel’s] relevance is to do with the ends of the line – places like Lille and London. Blue Circle will clearly benefit [at Ebbsfleet]: it is an already-existing location.
“There is no logical reason as to why they have an office park in Calais. Lille is much more relevant to the Channel Tunnel and improvements in Northern France. There has been redevelopment of the whole western side of Lille at Eurolille. There the office space is more expensive than in the city centre!”
