Business profile: Murray Carr

Mar 12 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

Tony McDonough meets MURRAY CARR, head of the North West division of Priority Sites

MERSEYSIDE’S commercial property market will need to wean itself off public subsidy in the next five years, so says Murray Carr.

Carr, 41, heads up the North West division of commercial space developer Priority Sites, a joint venture between the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and English Partnerships.

RBS is the majority partner with a 51% stake and Carr insists that, despite the presence of such a large public sector element to the venture, Priority Sites is run on a purely commercial basis.

Since its first foray into the Merseyside market with the Speke Approaches development, the company has invested more than £30m in all areas of the county, creating 150,000 sq ft of space and around 300 jobs.

It is currently active in three sites in Merseyside bringing forward a total of 275,000 sq ft of commercial premises, with a further 225,000 sq ft in the pipeline for 2008/9. The projects will create up to 1,400 jobs in total when fully occupied.

Some of its projects locally have benefited from public sector support through the European Objective 1 programme.

Carr feels this support is still important to help make major development projects viable but believes this will change soon.

He said: “I think it is inevitable that funding streams from the public sector will eventually be reduced but, at the moment, it is still necessary.

“If you want to build the kind of quality commercial premises demanded by investors and occupiers, then that costs money.

“But I think, in the next five years, those funding streams will start to dry up and Merseyside will have to stand on its own two feet. That’s not such a bad thing and I think it is what we all want eventually.”

Carr was approached to set up Priority Sites’ North West office early in 2006 while working for Liverpool Land Development Company (LLDC).

He and senior project manager Tony Ellis set up shop in Liverpool city centre in February of that year and, in early 2007, the division moved to new premises at Dakota Business Park, in Garston, a £5.5m Priority Sites development.

Now four-strong, the team is busy developing the company’s portfolio across Merseyside. About 75% of the space created is industrial-warehouse accommodation with 25% office premises. Once developed, Priority looks to sell off its business parks to commercial property investors. It does not asset-manage long term.

Carr said the recent credit crunch has had a negative impact on the business, but insists there are now signs of a revival.

“We have noticed a downturn in the last few months both in the occupation and investment markets – I think it was inevitable with the credit crunch,” he added.

“The issue with occupiers hasn’t been a lack of demand but their difficulty in obtaining funding from the banks. But that situation seems to be slowly improving and we are now starting to see an increase in enquiries again and there are deals there to be done.

“The investment market took quite a big hit, and I think it is going to take a little while longer for that to pick up again.

“I think Merseyside remains a strong market and there is still a lot of room here for growth. Manchester, I think, is more mature.

“There is always a demand from business owners looking to own their own premises which they can put into their pension funds. We still see plenty of opportunity in the office market, too.”

Carr, a father of three, was born and brought up in Warrington. His father was a civil engineer so there was an early interest in the property sector. After leaving school, he enrolled on a land management degree course at De Montfort University in Leicester. On graduation, he joined Salford Council working across a number of property-related areas including estate management and compulsory purchase orders.

He spent five years there before leaving to work for the local council in his home town of Warrington, dealing with major regeneration projects. These included the huge redevelopment of the town’s Golden Square Shopping centre.

After 12 years there, he spent two years at LLDC, based in Speke, after which he was poached to take up his current role.

“I had worked on a number of projects for LLDC alongside Priority Sites and they eventually asked me to come and set up their North West operation,” he said.

Carr claims to maintain a healthy work-life balance and makes sure he spends as much quality time as possible with wife Ceri and their children. They have two boys aged nine and six and a two-year-old girl.

He added: “It is very important to try to maintain a balance and see you family as much as possible. You have to make that work.”

He is a keen Rugby League fan and is a Warrington Wolves season ticket holder. He used to play himself but, since hanging up his boots, he has coached a mini-rugby team.

Carr insists Priority Sites will remain committed to building its speculative development in Merseyside so long as the demand remains.

Although most of its developments to date have been mainly out of town, Carr said city centre development was definitely “on our radar”.

He added: “Everything we build is speculative. We go out of our way to act as a catalyst for regeneration in areas like Merseyside. We have already invested more than £30m here and we are very proud of the quality of the floorspace that we have created and continue to create.”

tonymcdonough