Jones Lang LaSalle puts South West in the spotlight6th June 2012

National and international property investors and developers gathered last week in London to find out more about commercial opportunities in the South West.

The event was organised by Jones Lang LaSalle in a bid to attract more inward-investment into the region.

A team of senior directors from the firm’s Bristol, Bath, Exeter and Cardiff offices gave detailed briefings on the market to 100 top London-based investors from major banks, pension funds, property companies and developers, at the firm’s West End offices.

According to Jeremy Richards, Head of the Bristol office at Jones Lang LaSalle:

“The South West is the best region to invest in outside London, being more resilient than most areas due to the breadth of its economy, and we need to get this message across. The region has major clusters across a diverse range of sectors including science and technology, green tech, manufacturing and aerospace and creative and media in the Bristol area, while cities like Bath are strong in retail and further south, leisure and tourism are leading sectors.”

“There is also important news to convey about improvements to our infrastructure, which has, for a long time, been one of the region’s major challenges. We now have £300m committed from the Government for new roads around Bristol, and road improvements elsewhere in the South West such as the South Devon Link Road. Rail electrification to increase speed and capacity is coming on the main route from Cardiff to Paddington, a £150m expansion is planned at Bristol Airport and superfast broadband is available in Bristol’s Enterprise Zone and the Science Park.

“A year on from the merger of King Sturge with Jones Lang LaSalle, it’s clear that as a business we now have access to a huge range of clients and contacts across the world which we can harness for the benefit of the region. We know there’s strong interest for property investment in the South West, but rather than wait for busy investors to find time to come here, we decided to fly the flag for the region by taking it to the Capital.”