The event, attended by over 100 representatives from Cambridge businesses, started with a summary of Property Trends in Cambridge, including the current status of the market and where it is heading, presented by Independent Consultant Steve Mallen.
He outlined the buoyant state of the property market, now stronger and more stable and realising favourable returns. However there are also some challenges: housing shortfall, a volatile construction market struggling to ramp-up with a lack of skills and materials and the outcome of an EU referendum in 2016-17.
Councillor Lewis Herbert, Leader of Cambridge City Council & Chair of City Deal Board gave a presentation on the contents of the Deal which included an initial £100 million investment in transport, delivering more housing and tackling skills shortages.
The seminar also played host to the launch of ‘The Case For Cambridge’ by Cambridge Ahead which explained why the new national Government should understand the city’s special position and role as an engine for growth in the UK economy.
Cambridge Ahead speakers Matthew Bullock and Jane Paterson-Todd revealed the results of Phase 1 of a research programme to analyse the existing economy and recent growth. Highlights included: a much larger ‘Knowledge Intensive’ sector - incorporating ICT, Life Sciences, Wireless, Cleantech and Agritech - than had been seen in previous research, with 4,500 companies located within a 25 mile radius of Cambridge. This data will be used for Phase 2 to produce a forecast of growth and local barriers to growth and Phase 3, for a review of spatial growth options.
The session concluded with a Q&A session which saw questions from the floor on such matters as Government versus local funding; tax increments to pay for infrastructure improvements; the challenge of creating communities against a backdrop of high house prices; and how commercial property can deliver the stock and quality required in a rapidly growing market.
Patrick McMahon, Bidwells Senior Partner who introduced the seminar said: “It is not surprising that this seminar attracted a huge response from our business community which is passionate about Cambridge as a fascinating city in which to live and work.
Unquestionably Cambridge has huge potential but there are challenges to its growth in the years ahead. We hope that this session has furthered the debate on how we can solve some of the key issues such as: transport and traffic congestion, obtaining more funding, solving the housing crisis and ensuring that university funding is available to continue to attract, retain and reward academics.”
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