Station Quarter is on the right lines

Representatives from the worlds of business, education and local government came together at the offices of Handelsbanken for Lancashire Business View’s Preston ‘Hotspot’ conference. They set the agenda and discussed the issues at the forefronts of their minds and the challenges and opportunities facing the city.

PRESENT

• Andrew Atkinson. Fairhaven Housing
• Nicole Billington, Preston City Council
• Robert Binns, Cotton Court
• John Chesworth, Harrison Drury
• Michael Conlon, Conlon Construction
• David Cox, David Cox Architects
• Russell Millhouse, UCLan
• Adrian Phillips, Preston City Council
• Rizwan Seth, WRKSPACE
• Anthony Smith, Bar Pintxos
• Liz Tapner, Selnet
• John Williams, Handelsbanken

Delivering Preston’s Station Quarter vision with much-needed Grade A office space is seen as vital for the city’s future as a major commercial centre.

The huge potential of the area around Lancashire’s gateway rail station was laid out earlier this year with the publication of a framework to guide its regeneration and redevelopment.

At its heart is the development of a new commercial quarter to deliver those offices and with them more employment opportunities.

A partnership approach is driving the initiative. The framework document was created by consultants for Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), working with landowners in the area.

The need to deliver Grade A offices in the city has been long recognised. Adrian Phillips, chief executive of the city council, says: “The success of Preston has always been based on a range of initiatives and its proximity, its connectivity.

“The future is around expanding the cultural offer, but we also know we have an outstanding need for Grade A office accommodation and our partnership work with UCLan and the county council is at the heart of seeking a means of delivering that through the emerging Station Quarter.

“We are pitching for the investment zone initiative. We have a range of levelling up options that are sitting with the government at the moment, but we appreciate that one of the things we don’t have is an adequate supply of high-quality office accommodation.

“So that is very much at the heart of what we’re seeking. We believe we’ve got the ingredients for continuing success but are very much aware of the need for future strategic investments.”

John Chesworth is executive chairman of law firm Harrison Drury and chairs the city’s Towns Fund board. He says: “Station Quarter is something that has to happen really from the business perspective.

“We’ve got really talented kids growing up in this area, getting educated in a really good school system, and a fantastic further and higher education provision being led by UCLan and other colleges and FE organisations.

“We’ll end up losing these people down the M61 or down the train line to Manchester or to London if we can’t deliver the high-quality jobs that they want.

“We have an opportunity to bring some exciting employment opportunities to Preston. We hope to have a HS2 hub. Preston is ideally placed but we need that provision of great office space.”

Preston entrepreneur Rob Binns, who owns the Cotton Court business centre in the city and chairs Downtown in Business in the county, believes a new commercial quarter could benefit from the arrival of the National Cyber Force (NCF) in Samlesbury.

He points to positive impact GCHQ has had on Cheltenham’s economy since its arrival in the Gloucestershire town and says Preston can get a similar boost and attract tech and cyber firms.

He says: “When it comes to the NCF headquarters, everyone is going to land at that train station. It is a great opportunity. We need to entice companies into the area with the connectivity and with the office space.”

Michael Conlon chairs Preston headquartered building firm Conlon Construction. The company has been involved in several regeneration projects in the city. He sees the Station Quarter as an opportunity to provide high quality jobs that will keep young talent in Preston.

He says: “There are lots of really talented people that come to our city to get an education and we don’t want them to leave. The Station Quarter can provide employment to keep them here in our city. We need to keep the talent here.”

Rizwan Seth, managing director of service office provider W_RKSPACE, says: “While offices aren’t frequented as much, the office is here to stay, because it’s a core of the business itself. Without an office, I don’t think the business functions in a sense, because people want to come into something.

“It could be a hybrid; people are going to spend one or two days in the office, the rest at home. However, there definitely is a requirement for Grade A office space to attract the larger companies in Preston.”

However, David Cox, who heads city-based David Cox Architects, sounds a note of caution. He talks of the “challenge” of getting Grade A office space built in the current climate. He says: “It was hard enough in 2018 when there were people queuing up to sign up for large office leases. The demand disappeared in the pandemic and I think it is going to be a major challenge to get it back.”

John Williams is manager of Handelsbanken in Preston. It moved out of the city centre earlier this year to an office in the docklands. He says: “We were in Winckley Square for many years and moved out to Navigation Way in February. The main reason was because there wasn’t any Grade A type accommodation available in the city centre.

“Our preference absolutely would have been to stay in the city centre. Old buildings in city centres are difficult to repurpose when you’ve got Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) considerations to consider.”

He adds: “I draw comparisons with Liverpool where I worked for many years in the 90s. Liverpool started to build Grade A office space and everybody looked and thought ‘It’s empty’. It’s not anymore, it’s full.

“You’ve got to have the buildings to draw people in. You have got to build office accommodation to attract people.”