New investment hub HQ revealed Base will help attract £15m of foreign cash and create 1,400 jobs in 3 years
ANEW hub tasked with delivering more high-value foreign investment projects into the Midlands will be based in Birmingham city centre.
The foreign investment hub, which was first revealed by former Business Minister Anna Soubry earlier this month, will be housed in Baskerville House in Centenary Square.
It will bring together the Midlands’ 11 local enterprise partnerships and staff from government body UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and be based within the existing Birmingham Business Hub.
This is operated by inward investment agency Marketing Birmingham and comprises Finance Birmingham, Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) and business support provider GBSLEP Growth Hub and Winning Moves.
The new headquarters will be responsible for creating 1,400 jobs and bringing £15 million of foreign investment into the region over the next three years, it is claimed.
Sir John Peace, chairman of the Government’s ‘Midlands Engine’ project, said: “As we transition into a strong, new government with its own new global investment strategy, it’s now more important than ever to have a central hub for attracting investment to the UK. We are telling the world that the Midlands is open for business.
“This investment hub will act as the focal point for those efforts, leading overseas trade missions and events to showcase the region’s credentials to important investors across the world.
“We’re bringing together experts from UKTI, with specialists in all major sectors including regeneration to be based in the hub in Birmingham.
“And there will also be representatives from all 11 LEPs in the region to brief potential investors on opportu- nities in major Midlands.”
Marketing Birmingham’s chief executive Neil Rami added: “Joining forces with the Midlands’ LEPs and UKTI experts here in Birmingham is an exciting prospect.
“Since moving to the Birmingham Business Hub in 2011, we’ve been able to collaborate more closely with public and private sector bodies across the city, resulting in record levels of foreign direct investment and more jobs being created.”
The new foreign investment hub is expected to be operational by the autumn. sectors across the