Cleanup to Attract City Shoppers - Case Study Example

Liverpool Vision Company About Liverpool Vision Liverpool Vision Company has been established with the aim of bringing together important togetherkey public and private sector agencies for the purpose of regenerating Liverpool City centre. It is the United Kingdom's first urban regeneration company. The company key partners include are Liverpool City Council, Northwest Development Agency and English Partnerships. They and their partners have joined hands to make Liverpool City Centre an economically moving and high quality retail, leisure, office, residential and public realm center. Their plans are aimed to dramatically transforming the city centre, and change its skyline, to depict the city leap into the 21st century. In addition, they have also gained resources from Europe and from the National Government, to create a City Centre that brings in new investment and employment opportunities to the people of Liverpool city. They have made a total investment of 3 billion, towards the regeneration of Liverpool city centre. The aims of economic revival have been targeted at their chosen areas of action, which are as follows: Kings Waterfront - This region has the largest development on the Liverpool waterfront. Liverpool Vision and its partners English Partnerships, Northwest Development Agency and Liverpool City Council are jointly promoting its development by using its potential for residential, hotel, office, retail, leisure, community and open space uses. Hope Street Quarter - Hope Street connects Liverpool to its cultural, spiritual and educational epicenters. It is the place of magnificent attractions such as The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) and the successful award winning Hope Street Hotel. Another significant aspect of this area, is its distinct historic environment, the hallmark of which are the two landmark Cathedrals. Liverpool Vision is working with key businesses and other stakeholders, with the intention of promoting the economic potential of this area by taking necessary steps to connect this area with the life of the city. Pier Head & Mann Island - This area of Liverpool has been the essence of what constitutes Liverpool to the rest of the world. It is made up some of the best known architectures such as of the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building, and the Port of Liverpool Building, collectively known as the Three Graces - with striking views of the river. In June 2005, Planning and Development Brief prepared by Liverpool Vision in collaboration with the two landowners, National Museums Liverpool and Northwest Regional Development Agency, was endorsed by the Liverpool City Council. This is the first step towards implementing the idea of rejuvenating this part of the city. Commercial district - This area was established in the 19th Century. Two of the most important stock exchanges Corn Exchange (Dale Street) and Cotton Exchange (Old Hall Street) are located in this district. Using resources, Liverpool Visions has ambitions to create a 21st century business environment, in commercials district to make up for the shortage of high quality commercial space in Liverpool. In October 2005, Liverpool Vision was given the Outline Planning consent for a new Commercial Quarter in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. The proposals put forth will see the creation of 1.5m sq ft of high quality commercial space, new public spaces, and associated car parking on the area bounded by Leeds Street, Pall Mall, Tithebarn Street and Old Hall Street. Castle Street (Live Work District) - This area is made up of Victorian office buildings, which are now being converted into apartments, with their ground floors being used for commercial purposes. Liverpool Vision is not just concerned with bringing new developments into residential and official area, but it also aims to remove traffic from main routes of this areas in order to, create a more pedestrian friendly environment. Lime Street Gateway - Lime street gateway is the key gateway to Liverpool city centre. Lime street station is surrounded by a collection of outstanding buildings such as St Georges Hall and the Walker Art Gallery, and is within the designated World Heritage Site. Liverpool Vision and English Partnerships, together with Network Rail, Liverpool City Council and Merseytravel, are to transform this important entrance to the city. Other key areas of focus on the plans for rejuvenation are Liverpool retail core, university district, lighting and rope walks. An introspect of the stakeholders role, benefits and opportunities - Liverpool vision company's stakeholders are people who have a direct interest or benefit from the investments made into the regeneration of Liverpool. Role of stakeholders - The stakeholder's role would be one which looks into each aspect of proposed development, study its feasibility and finally look into its implementation and completion. The Strategic Framework put forth by Liverpool Vision Company, is a combination of their aims with practical implementation, measured by milestones. It proposes to upgrade the city, by improving the regional, national and international perception of the city through ideas such as a European Capital of Culture bid, projects designed to help celebrate Liverpool's 800th birthday and through improved business and growth opportunities and quality development. It is the role of the stakeholder to assess these ideas in the light of evidence provided by the company. Assessment must be made from three angles. These include the economic angle, the social angle and the physical angle. The economic angle should look into the current demands in the office, retail, residential, tourism and city business sectors and see if the proposal put forth by the company meets up to these demands. The economic angle should assess the challenges facing the City of Liverpool and its citizens today and how these are going to be addressed by the company. The physical angle looks into the built environment of the City Centre, including its buildings, public realm and transport infrastructure. Benefits to stakeholders - There are many benefits that stockholders will receive from investments into the Liverpool Vision company. They company will take necessary steps to develop and attract competitive businesses. They will improve the key sectors of the existing city centre. They will take initiatives to develop and responding to new opportunities in the knowledge-based economy. Stakeholders directly benefit from all these activities. As a result of such activities, they stand to gain by way of their investments through a state-of-the-art advanced infrastructure in Liverpool city. These include improved physical links to surrounding communities and the change of the city to one of learning and innovation. The company envisages taking steps for affordable quality City Centre housing in order to create balanced residential communities and also aims to reduce the fear of crime in the city. One the economic front stakeholders gain by way of improved economic growth and more employment opportunities and opportunities for new businesses. Issues which stakeholders are likely to face - The possible problems which stakeholders will face will be in terms of the issues that have to be overcome so that the aims of Liverpool vision can be achieved. Liverpool is a historic city, but over the past decades it has suffered as a result of the shift of economic gravity towards Europe. Many of its industries are facing declining demand. As a result, it has not been able to attract office based occupiers. It's been taken over by .Manchester as the country leading commercial centre. Due to the low levels of economic activity, there is also a lack of office rental growth and very limited development of new office stock. Though Liverpool is a city with the third largest population and is ranked third largest in terms of size of office stock at 744,600 sq.m (8.015 m sq.ft)(PMA, January 2000). Its office stock has reduced significantly since 1986 partly as a result of residential conversions. Therefore it is vital for to develop areas for offices of high quality and innovative design and for this, supported is required in the form of direct public sector support for schemes which increase economic activity. The quality of Liverpool's stock compares poorly to comparable other cities, which is another issue that needs to be addressed by the company as part of it plans to rejuvenate the city. Advantageous offered by the company to its stakeholders Liverpool Vision aims to look into the potential and strengths for existing business growth and new company formation in certain key sectors of the city. They will be making changes to its operational environment, so that it becomes the most competitive, in order to make Liverpool the most business friendly city in the UK. Stakeholder of Liverpool Vision can best take advantage of it city of culture designation though the aims set forth by Liverpool Vision, which are as follows: Creation of a high quality safe urban environment, that offers benefits to investors, employers, residents and visitors generating a sense of pride in the City Use of complementary and contemporary design initiatives, to enhance the City Center's rich historic character Make provisions for the establishment of a 21st Century economy in Liverpool, so that it can compete with other European cities and to create new job prospects for the people of Liverpool. Encourage the development of skilled and adaptable workforce in order to make contributions to and share the benefits of sustainable economic growth. Identify public attractions in Liverpool and enhances their attractiveness so that Liverpool is known as a world class visitor destination. Convert the city into one which is a much sought after shopping destination Bring in young people by providing learning opportunities and competitive career prospects and retain and promote their interests and skills sets. Establish Liverpool as a modern European City All the aims of the company are advantages for the stakeholders. In order to achieve these aims the company will make use of the city's heritage, international brand and world-class cultural assets so that they can create a European city for the 21st Century. At present, the Liverpool Culture Company and Liverpool Vision have grouped areas of stakeholder interest. They have established various teams such as the creative delivery team, The Tourism team and the heritage team. The Creative Delivery Team take are of looking into the events regarding arts and the community. They work with community groups, galleries and artists and provide a line of communication and involvement for those individuals who are interested in being a part of the Capital of Culture. The Tourism team comprises of a group communication to benefit the marketing of Liverpool as a first class tourist destination. The tourism team consists of stakeholders like hotels (which provide accommodation to tourists), tourist centres ( which are an effective tool for marketing and producing tourism experience) and development agencies (which provide necessary infrastructure). They work with partners to develop future investments made into the heritage of Liverpool city and the centre of their plans is to marketing huge heritage events like the Liverpool's 800th birthday, which happens in the year 2007. It is important for effective communication to take place between stakeholders, both within and outside Liverpool. Therefore, a system has been created to ensure that the message of Liverpool as a positive and memorable visitor experience is being spread nationally and internationally. The Communications team take on the role of giving information and educating community groups and organisations about how to handle the media as well as how to deal with negative media attention. They give information to stakeholders including MP's, development corporations in the light of what is going on in Liverpool towards 2008. Is Liverpool Vision's the ideas of rejuvenation a sustainable one There is considerable proof of sustainability of the Strategic Framework of Liverpool Vision for rejuvenation of the city of Liverpool. This framework recommends taking steps to improve the city's by improving its regional, national and international perception as a European Capital of Culture bid and implementation of projects which are designed to help celebrate Liverpool's 800th birthday. It aims also to improved business and growth opportunities and bring in quality developments. An independent review into Liverpool Vision confirms the sustainability of their idea in regenerating Liverpool City Centre. The positive aspects of the review are a follows: Liverpool Vision has given a strong strategic focus and program management to itscity rejuvenation plan. The company has adopted a pragmatic approach towards developing constructive relationships with their partners. It has been largely due to the activities of Liverpool Vision that the Liverpool City Centre has got key priority in their partners plans and necessary action was taken to implement the city rejuvenation ideas. Liverpool Vision has provided added value at the project level by means of accelerated plan implementation, higher quality standards and stronger private sector commitment. The independent nature of the company has been a key feature which enabled the it provide 'added value' services. The 'added value' of Liverpool Vision - in general and in the development of particular projects, is a very positive factor in the economic growth of the city. The ideas of Liverpool Vision have made considerable impact on the physical fabric of the City Centre and have increased general confidence levels. Liverpool Vision is committed to attracting new investment and business to the city, by using the existing opportunities of the city's status as a visitor destination and its growing status as one of Europe's most exciting and dynamic cities. As a result a number of high profile companies have started their office in Liverpool city centre, thereby demonstrating the city's reputation as one of the UK's fastest growing business destinations. These include the investment bank 'JP Morgan' and insurance provider 'Unisys' and 'Royal Bank of Scotland'. References Butler, R (1998) The Concept of a Tourism Area Cycle of Evolution. Canadian Geographer 24, 5-12 Gray, B (1989) 'Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems, San Francisco Hayhurst, Lee (2005) 'City centre gets cruise terminal' Travel Weekly: The Choice of Travel Professionals (Reed) Issue 1771 BBC Online, (Tuesday, 25 October 2005) 'Cleanup to Attract City Shoppers' Available at: BBC Online, (Friday, 25 November 2005) 'Parade - a is Work in Progress' Available at: Strategic Available at: Action Areas Available at: Lierpool Visison Available at: Regeneration and development.Available at: Independent review into Liverpool Vision confirms key role in regenerating Liverpool City Centre. Available at: Read More