IQ-Magazine-Issue-15

IQ business overview
It seems that 2015 got away to a roaring start – with manufacturers employing 295,000
people in the region, 11% of the entire workforce – but as the year has moved on,
there’s been a sharp downturn in demand
to the detractors of such partnerships is the
announcement that the Chinese will take a 66.5%
stake in the planned redevelopment of Bradwell in
Essex. Maybe it’s this level of involvement which
makes some people doubt Mr. Dugmore’s claim
that Suffolk and East Anglia will become the “...
engine room of heat and light across UK plc.”
The inflow of billions of pounds of investment
into the region is a supreme confidence boost,
though, and will help the region become even
more productive and successful. Law firm DLA
Piper recently released its Regional Manufacturing
Outlook, which showed that East Anglia is in the
top third of regions when it comes to confidence
about the future. It is one of the most highly
successful exporting regions, with almost 9% of
the UK’s manufactured overseas sales emanating
from the region. It is also the UK’s second most
productive region, behind only London and the
South East.
And there’s always a but . . .
It seems that 2015 got away to a roaring start –
with manufacturers employing 295,000 people
in the region, 11% of the entire workforce – but
as the year has moved on, there’s been a sharp
downturn in demand. While that might pick up,
the national picture is not entirely encouraging,
with the growth in the UK economy slowing
from 0.7% to 0.5%. Yet there is an incredible
confidence, which provides a firm foundation
for the regional economy. Maybe that’s what the
Chinese realised when they readily agreed to fund
major infrastructure projects.
Key to the growth is transport, the region’s third
largest sector. That could soon come under the
spotlight, as the new franchisee for the Greater
Anglia rail network will be required to speed up
trains, with a target of a journey time of under 90
minutes from Norwich to London being demanded
by the government.
Another key to the regional success story that is
East Anglia, is a willingness to branch out into
new areas. A new £60m Life Sciences building at
Cambridge University will provide the European
headquarters for Illumina, a world leader in
Geonomics, which focuses on improving human
health by unlocking the power of the genome.
Cambridge University is already attracting some of
the most skilled workers in the sector and the new
development will add to what is internationally
renowned as a dynamic research cluster. Already
under construction in the city is a new £40.8m
Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
facility, as well as a new £8.8m Department of
Engineering building. As a result, the University
of Cambridge is putting itself at the forefront of
engineering teaching and research, with some of
the world’s most advanced laboratories.
As 2015 draws to a close, there seem to be
thousands of new jobs in the pipeline – many of
them in well paid, highly skilled sectors. If the
Chinese President were to make a return trip
in, say, five years time, what’s the betting that he
could see an even more confident region where
unemployment is definitely a thing of the past.
Now there’s a thought . . .
More Information
www.iqmag.co.uk
issue 15 | page 9