Liverpool showcase at regeneration festival UKREiiiF in Leeds

Liverpool leaders at regeneration showcase UKREiiF say the city’s success shows that culture can drive regeneration – but only if cultural leaders are brought on board at the very start and not treated as afterthoughts.

The North West was represented in force at UKREiiF this year, with Manchester again taking on the landmark Canary building on Leeds Dock alongside Opportunity London, while Cumbria ran a prominent pavilion close to one of the event’s main entrances.

At the Liverpool pavilion meanwhile, guests and delegates including metro mayor Steve Rotheram talked investment and regeneration over americanos and lattes from Liverpool’s own bean coffee. Most delegations at UKREiiF had their own pin badges, including a Welsh dragon for Wales – Liverpool, of course, had mini golden Liver Bird badges.

Just before lunchtime, the pavilion hosted a discussion on “place-based” regeneration – how culture can help drive economic growth.

Patrick Nolan became chair of the new Imagine Liverpool regeneration board last year ahead of UKREiiF 20205. Mr Nolan, former vice chairman, HSBC Global Banking & Markets, began the event talking about two great examples of regeneration and culture coming together in Liverpool..

One, he said, was Everton’s new stadium on the Liverpool waterfront. “I’m a Red,” he said, “but I have to admit the new Hill Dickinson Stadium is just a terrific development.” He added that “It needed someone to take that move and build something really impressive” on that stretch of waterfront, and said the development would have an uplifting effect on North Liverpool and the area around.

He also said he was excited about the plans for a film and television production hub at the former Littlewoods complex in Edge Lane. The project has been long delayed, but Mr Nolan said: “We are in advanced stages on getting the finances for that”.

Kate Honey, director of social impact at Liverpool ONE owner Landsec, said her business aimed to think about cultural offerings whenever it built or took on a development. She said Landsec was already thinking about how it could work with Tate Liverpool when it reopens “to create a destination around arts and culture” at Liverpool One for visitors coming to and from the Albert Dock gallery.

Later the panel discussed the Taylor Town art installation, where an art trail was created across Liverpool ONE and the Albert Dock for the thousand of fans who came to the city for the pop superstar’s Eras concerts. That was led by social enterprise Make CIC, which was commissioned by Culture Liverpool and in turn worked with local artists and makers.

Laura Dyer, deputy chief executive for places, engagement and libraries at Arts Council England, said she would encourage developers to engage with their local cultural venues and organisations, adding: “I’d reflect on the way culture can also help regenerate communities and generate that sense of place and belonging.”

Mr Nolan later talked about the power of the Liverpool brand, and how the city region had to use it to encourage investment. The city region, he said, attracted many tourists and short-term visitors but “we need to make it a place where occupiers and investors want to come and build their careers and build their lives”.

He said Liverpool’s brand remained strong globally, saying that as he travelled around the world at HSBC “people never had a bad word to say about Liverpool”. But in the UK, there is still work to do.

“Down south it’s not quite as rosy as that,” he said. “We still have quite a few people with prejudiced historical views of the city. We’re changing that.”

He said the Imagine Liverpool board had been working with international investors and said: “What’s been critical is getting the narrative of Liverpool right.”

That, he said, means talking about the wide range of Liverpool success stories, from traditional industries such as automotive right through to modern growing sectors such as gaming. He said: “We can’t be all things to all people… we have to focus on what we do best.”

Ms Dyer from the Arts Council later spoke about how best to embed culture in regeneration schemes. She said the key for developers was to get cultural organisations in early, and not just to bring them in as a token gesture late in the process.

She said: “The best impact we see is when culture is at the table in those conversations from the very beginning.”

She said Liverpool had seen some very effective examples of co-operation between the public, private and cultural sectors, saying “ You see culture baked in.” The huge success of the city’s Eurovision hosting in 2023 was a prime example of that.

Ms Honey from Landsec later said community and cultural engagement was vital for all regeneration schemes. She said: “If you get it right you’re creating a place that ultimately drives economic value.”