Gloucester has continued to attract an impressive level of investment over the past few years. This is thanks to a number of factors, including population growth, location and opportunity. This growth in investment looks set to continue as many more big – and small – businesses look to invest money by locating themselves in this charming city.
Gloucester investment: the stats
Gloucester has attracted £700m-worth of inward investment to date and the population growth has seen numbers rise by 10 per cent between the census years of 2001 and 2011.
In 2013/14 alone, there were eight foreign investments into Gloucester, which created 50 jobs and safeguarded 580; in fact, in the first half of 2013 nearly 450 new businesses were set up in the city, an upward trend that has not stopped. In 2014 the city entered into the top 20 most competitive cities in the UK ranking list. Gloucester is a young city, with nearly 40 per cent of the population aged under 30 years.
The benefits of Gloucester
Gloucester has not just ‘got lucky’ when it comes to the reasons for this increased inward investment; in fact, it is a combination of luck and other factors that have contributed to this influx of industry and commerce. Despite being a small city, Gloucester is surrounded by villages and is very close to a number of other cities and towns including Cheltenham, Bristol and Worcester, with even Bath, Birmingham and Cardiff not that far away. The great location may be luck, but the excellent transport infrastructure that connects it to other cities has been the result of well-invested money and decades-long good decision making. This makes for a large catchment in terms of both employees and customers. The surrounding area is also affluent in comparison to much of the UK.
Despite the affluence of the area, rents for businesses remain appealing low and the council is also supportive and encouraging of new and incoming businesses.
In addition to large amounts of continued inward investment, existing firms such as estate agency www.tgres.co.uk continue to thrive as the result of a buoyant housing market with plenty of houses for sale in Gloucester.
This inward investment is expected to continue, helping to ensure Gloucester continues to be the exciting, vibrant and progressive city it is today.
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