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A rejuvenated Birmingham leads the West Midlands as distribution hub, conference and business mecca.
The West Midlands is currently the UK’s most successful inward investment region, and is among the top five in Europe. Companies choosing the West Midlands include Gap, Bidcom, Neoproducts, Manusoft, Dana and Lryeco, taking the number of overseas-owned businesses now present in the West Midlands to nearly 2000. The West Midlands is still a key UK manufacturing centre. Manufacturing produces 30% of the region’s GDP and employs 27% of workers. Many manufacturing businesses have diversified from traditional markets, the automotive sector in particular, into plastics and rubber, electronics and telecommunications, food and drink, jewellery, glass and leather. Growth in the service sector has been the fastest of any UK region, particularly in retail and distribution. The region’s central location puts the whole country within fast and easy reach by road, rail and air, which has made the West Midlands the heart of the national distribution network. All major national multiple retailers have distribution centres in the West Midlands. Food and drink manufacturing industries are particularly strongly represented, with 700 companies employing 37,000 people, transforming the agricultural riches of the region into everything from Worcestershire sauce to tortillas. Other growing service areas include business services, and the hotel/catering sector. These are particularly strong in Birmingham, where a thriving business services sector offers software consultancy, legal, accounting, market research, advertising, architectural and design services. The city centre has been rejuvenated in recent years as a major European conference and exhibition centre, regularly attracting more than 40% of the UK’s conference business. The National Indoor Arena (NIA), Symphony Hall and International Convention Centre make up a complex which has been used for global events such as the G8 summit, while the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) hosts regular and sizable events and entertainment. The NEC is situated adjacent to the Birmingham International Airport, its railway station serviced by trains to and from London every 30 minutes. Knowledge centre Centres of excellence cover a wide range of IT and communications: Staffordshire University started the first course in interactive game design; Coventry University has expertise in biomedical computing. The Birmingham Research Park has the UK’s first dedicated incubator centre for ICT companies, while the region’s nine universities and 60 higher/further education colleges produce 13% of the UK’s first-time IT and computer science graduates. A recent report highlights the region’s buoyant environment industry, employing more than 90,000 people in the West Midlands. Growth drivers include regeneration activities, climate change research and agri-environment. Contacts & websites: |
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You
can’t get much more central than the UK’s West Midlands.
Birthplace of the industrial revolution, the region is closely associated
with the country’s second city of Birmingham and the urban
areas of Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton,
but also includes the rural counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire,
Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.