Agenda item

            The Committee was provided with an update on the Renewed Ambition Programme focusing on real estate investment, including ongoing research on the social, economic and environmental impact of real estate investment in the Belfast City Region.

            The Committee was reminded that the Future City Centre (FCC) programme currently had six cross cutting pillars aimed at revitalising the city centre and creating a vibrant shared city centre where people would want to live, work and invest, but also enhancing connectivity with surrounding communities.

            One of the key pillars within the FCC programme of work was ‘Position the City to Compete’, which seeks to build on the city’s reputation as a unique destination for investment, tourism, development and ultimately inclusive economic growth.

            The Director of City Regeneration and Development advised that, in order to support both the recovery and longer term growth ambitions for the city as a whole, it was important that Belfast proactively promoted itself to the investment and real estate community. This required partnership working across the public and private sector to build awareness of the Belfast investment proposition and facilitate investor engagement to support delivery of regeneration projects across the city, projects which would create the economic and social infrastructure / assets that were needed for inclusive growth.

            She reminded Members that the Council and other partners were involved in various activities to promote Belfast internationally. Showcasing Belfast to both the local and international real estate investment, development and occupier market was an important part of this jigsaw as we seek to attract investment into the city to drive the delivery of key regeneration projects, including housing and commercial developments which would help the Council  provide for sustainable inclusive growth in the city.

            In addition, continuing to work in collaboration with Department for International Trade (DIT) and Invest NI to promote investment opportunities in Belfast was also critical.

            In the past, the Council alongside a wider ‘Team Belfast’ made up of public/private partners had attended international real estate and investment events in order to promote the investment opportunity in the city as part of a wider ‘Position the City to Compete’

proposition.

            The Director of City Regeneration and Development explained that, given the Covid-19 global pandemic, many of these events including MIPIM 2020 were cancelled. The Renewed Ambition Task Force was, however, keen that this should not preclude the continued promotion of Belfast as a place to invest, particularly given the need for continued growth at a time of economic downturn. It was also felt that it was important not to lose momentum on the strong collaborative approach across the wider Team Belfast partners with the need for a shared narrative and approach to positioning Belfast. It was therefore agreed to deliver a comprehensive initiative known as the Renewed Ambition Programme (RAP). This Programme aimed to position the Belfast City Region for real estate investment during 2020/21, with a view to reconsidering engagement at real estate and other investment events in future years.

            She informed the Committee that the delivery of this Programme was via a Renewed Ambition Taskforce, chaired by Mr. J. O’Neill, Chief Executive of Belfast Harbour, with Lanyon Communications, a consultancy agency appointed to support delivery of the RAP. She advised that the Membership of the Taskforce included Council officers, BRCD representation, INI, and representatives from the developer, housing association and financial services organisations together with Belfast Chamber.

            The Director of City Regeneration and Development provided an overview of Renewed Ambition Programme (RAP), a 5 pillared programme which focused on activities to ensure Belfast was positioned to continue to attract investment and deliver on inclusive growth.

            The 5 pillars included:

·        Programme of Content aimed at the real estate audience, both here and further afield. There had been a number of activities showcasing the Belfast City Region for future real estate investment, also building upon opportunities on foot of the Belfast Region City Deal. This had included webinars and podcasts through channels such as Estate Gazette, Real Estate Live, Reed Midem, the Dept for International Trade (DIT) and Downing Street;

·        Programme of Engagement and Advocacy to facilitate two-way conversations with policy makers and showcase real estate opportunities to the investor community. This aimed to position the Belfast City Region positively and sought to identify and try to address barriers that investors, developers and occupiers might face when they considered Belfast as a destination. Work to date had included issuing joint public private partnership responses to key Government consultations such as Living with Water. Targeted engagement had also taken place with the Invest NI teams globally, the DIT, Downing Street - Investing in Cities event, the US Consulate and NI Bureau Washington to highlight investment opportunities in the Belfast City Region and sought to influence decision makers and international investors. Subject to Members agreement, it was proposed that representative members of the Renewed Ambition Taskforce attend a future Committee meeting to provide an overview of activity and priority issues and sought Members views accordingly;

·        Media and Stakeholder Engagement reinforcing positive messaging around Belfast’s investment proposition. This had involved editorials in sectoral publications, targeted conversations with key journalists, a revamp of the investinbelfast.com website and producing monthly newsletters highlighting the positive news stories in the Belfast City Region;

·        A shared access Repository was also created for the Renewed Ambition Programme partners, which facilitates sharing of data, marketing collateral and intel to help ensure consistent messaging and shared narrative was used by all partners when promoting the city region; and

·        Research aligned to the impact of real estate investment. To date this included two ongoing areas of research. Firstly, a Markets Insights piece which was nearing completion and included market commentary in terms of the Belfast City Region as a location and across all development asset classes; asset performance and comparison with other cities and sources of finance. This work would help provide a useful summary document for the Belfast investment proposition, particularly in the context of comparability with other similar cities. As set out below, the second piece of ongoing research sought to examine the wider social, economic and environmental impact of real estate investment, looking at developments in the Belfast City Region, as well as best practice elsewhere.

            The Director of City Regeneration and Development provided a summary of the Social, Economic and Environmental Impact of Real Estate Investment Research. She explained that the main aim was to allow the Renewed Ambition partners, including the Council, and other BRCD Councils to better understand the wider economic, social and environmental impact resulting from real estate investment, and sought to ensure the maximum social and environmental impact was realised from such investment and development. The work should help inform the case for investment support, attract future investment and ensure that this investment has the most positive and inclusive impact on the city region.

            She informed the Committee that it was important to maximise the potential of future real estate investment across many areas, including social and environmental impacts, jobs, public sector services, transport links, green spaces, carbon neutral buildings, etc. Whilst recognising that real estate investment could be viewed as one pillar of the success of a city region, this research sought to understand how benefits go beyond the traditional direct economic impacts to better contribute to the overall inclusive growth agenda. She highlighted that an objective of the work included an assessment of how best to achieve and measure environmental, social impact and inclusive growth impacts from investment and development.

            She advised that a Members workshop was proposed in August to ensure Members input into the report and consider priority areas and the role that Council and its partners could play to maximise the impact of real estate investment and a final research report would be presented to Members at a future meeting. She highlighted that this research was commissioned via the Renewed Ambition Programme, although with a strong Council focus.

            In response to query about forthcoming workshop for Members and potential for this to be merged with other stakeholders, the Director of City Regeneration and Development advised that this Workshop could potentially also include representatives from other sectors such as BRCD Council representatives, or with members of the Community Planning City Development Board.

The Members of the Committee recommended that, in accordance with the Council decision of 4th May, the Chief Executive exercise her delegated authority to:

·        Note the update on the Renewed Ambition Programme which is being delivered via a public/private partnership;

·        Approve Members participation in a forthcoming workshop, relating to research into the social, economic and environmental impact of real estate investment in the Belfast City Region; and

·        Agree that representatives from the Renewed Ambition Taskforce attend a future Committee meeting to update on activity and priority issues and seek Members views accordingly.