Confidence is the special ingredient for potential investors

Jun 4 2008 By Matt Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

WHAT makes a business want to invest in one location, rather than another? It's not a question that has a simple answer. There are so many variables.

The type of business and the support or infrastructure it requires; the availability and aptitude of a potential workforce; the availability of suitable premises; the appeal of the location. And that’s just for starters.

Different investors or entrepreneurs will have different priorities, different boxes to tick before they make their decision.

One factor that surely appears on the checklist of every potential investor is the quality of the wider offer provided by a potential location – the sort of things that may be harder to quantify but which, increasingly, play an important part in this process.

And in this complex mix is the image or perception of a location as a place to do business. What sort of buzz a place creates.

Right now, as Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture reaches its halfway stage, I'd venture to say there are very few places with a buzz quite like ours.

Big events – and they don't come much bigger than Gustav Klimt or Sir Paul McCartney – are just a part of it. In the last two weeks or so, since the Queen enjoyed her own sneak preview of the new shops at Liverpool One, there's been a discernible rise in the city's stock.

Put these "blockbuster" events aside and, for me, the whole ‘08 experience has moved up a gear or two.

Strolling through the city centre at the weekend, it was hard not to sense the buzz about the place. Having a good half of the city centre back was a part of it – and not just because there are shiny new shops to enjoy.

What seems to have been the epicentre of the Big Dig, The Strand and Wapping, are slowly returning to some sort of order, easing the frustrations of drivers and pedestrians alike.

Instead of sitting or standing at red lights seething, we can now marvel at the scope, scale and quality of what's emerged from behind the hoardings around the building sites.

At Albert Dock on Friday, there was an orderly queue of people outside the Tate, excited to be on their way to the Klimt exhibition. Across the Dock, the new Jury's Inn hotel, opposite the new Convention Centre and Arena, was busy, too.

Next door, the finishing touches are being put to another new hotel.

These are just a handful of the new investments that are transforming the waterfront and beyond.

They may be striking in their appearance, but in many respects the real impression they create is one of confidence.

Confidence among residents and visitors alike, and confidence among investors – many of whom are leading by example.

Others will surely follow.

* MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando group.