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Britain's most Up-and-Coming cities : Where? If not London.


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Britain's most Up-and-Coming cities : Where? If not London.

 

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There was a time when London was affordable. But those days are long-gone

 

As London property prices have soared into the stratosphere, prices in the rest of the UK have moved little, or even drifted lower. Result: the Gap between London and Rest-of-UK prices have reached an unprecedented level.

 

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Here-in is the opportunity: Sell and London, and Buy cheaper elsewhere. But the UK has not second London. There is nowhere with all the same walkability, cultural attractions, and other advantages (high paying jobs?) that attract people to London.

 

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Some cities are trying hard to create the right environment (to move to). Within the UK are many Up-and-Coming cities. Let's identify them, and talk about the improvements in the living environment that people are seeing.

 

Over time, I will create a Top-5 or Top-10 List here. What should be on it ?

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(here are some of the postings from the London Crash thread, that inspired this one):

 

(1)

The quality of London comes from four things in my view:

1. Size + Density = it makes business models & events (any niche you want) possible that are not viable in smaller or more spread out towns.

2. Transport/Location = both in the city itself, and to the city (Eurostar, Heathrow and the closest major city to the mainlaind by car.) Least bad climate of major British cities.

3. Legacy = as a capital of a former empire, it has an architectural and institutional legacy that is hard to rival.

4. International draw = as a business & academic centre + English as the main language.

 

 

I can't see how you can build that up anywhere "new" in less than a century, and such growth requires massive economic growth, capital and population influx.

Berlin has a chance, but has language and location going against it.

 

Winner takes all. Again. Unfortunately.

I don't disagree.

However, I think you may find some "up-and-coming" areas make a bid to win the hearts of those who are being priced out of London.

 

Understanding what makes it work (a superb "walkable" environment is a big part of it, IMHO), will give rising cities (in the UK) and elsewhere, and decent chance of winning new residents from London.

 

While not remotely a competitor of London, I have my eyes on some of the suburbs of Charlotte NC, America's Number 2 financial city (after New York City.) Here's one new project that I find particularly attractive as a new walkable community, using some New Urbanist principles:

 

RIVERWALK in Rock Hill South Carolina : http://www.greenener...showtopic=17439

 

What do people think of this as a place to live (do not expect it to rival London) ?

 

Where are the attractive new "Walkable" areas in the UK, and near London?

 

(2)

Though it looks lovely, it's a 20 mile drive to Charlotte and has no public transport option (that I could find). It's not much of an improvement over a sub-urb. It's still a car-centric way of life.

You might as well head for any of Europe's historical market towns satelliting capital cities, like say "http://en.wikipedia..../wiki/Mechelen" where good public commuter transport to the workplace in key cities exists.

 

Place like Rock Hill feed off the large nearby urban area. Any growth will invariably be due to that nearby city and not because of Rock Hill's qualities.

 

For spotting up and coming areas, I'd look for a growing arts scene, new record labels and startup companies in a place of historical importance but currently less significant than it use to be.

That way, you get a town centre, connectivity and possibly a university that's out of its league for the money currently in the town. In other words, undervalued or over equipped. Berlin, Bristol and Bilbao all had those signs a decade ago.

 

Because they're historical cities, they'll be walkable and livable, self-sustainable places (unlike suburbs).

 

(3)

Spot on -

I like historic places particularly early Industrial heritage, and even better a maritime slant - Bristol, London. It needs young creative people, edgy bars and clubs, artists etc. London's fringe with the City for example.

 

You can't build that from new.

 

(4)

Interesting.

I have heard good things about Bristol.

And I personally like Bath, but it is a bit too quiet there.

Manchester and perhaps Birmingham might have a bit of the edgy-ness you want

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Photos of "the Fab Four", as mentioned above

 

Bristol / source-food review

Bristoledited.jpg

 

Bath / source-shutterstock

stock-photo-panoramic-view-of-the-historic-city-of-bath-england-66962350.jpg

 

Manchester / source-travel-info

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Birmingham / source-Hotel-website

Birmingham-Hotels1.jpg

 

(Apologies to those in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Should I include Scotland?)

 

The Importance of transport... / From the Manchester source, above:

"There are regular trains between the airport and Manchester Piccadilly railway station, which has connections to destinations throughout the UK. Buses service Manchester city centre as well as other local towns and cities. National Express operates coach services to cities all over the UK. All buses, coaches and trains leave from The Station, the airport's new transport interchange that is connected to all terminals by a covered walkway. Taxis are available outside all terminals."

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10 Techniques for Making Cities More Walkable

 

Kaid Benfield / Dec 03, 2012 / 110 Comments

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In Jeff Speck’s excellent new book, Walkable City, he suggests that there are ten keys to creating walkability. Most of them also have something to do with redressing the deleterious effects caused by our allowing cars to dominate urban spaces for decades...

 

Here are the author’s ten steps of walkability, with a memorable line from his description of each:

 

1. Put cars in their place. ("Traffic studies are bullshit.") A car-first approach has hurt American cities.

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Photo courtesy of Flickr user Richard Masoner

 

2. Mix the uses. ("Cities were created to bring things together.") The research shows that neighborhoods with a diversity of uses – places to walk to – have significantly more walking than those that don’t. Jeff makes the point that, for most American downtowns, it is housing – places to walk from, if you will – that is in particularly short supply.

 

3. Get the parking right. ("Ample parking encourages driving that would not otherwise occur without it.") As do many progressive city thinkers, Jeff points out that we have a huge oversupply of underpriced parking, in large part due to minimum parking requirements for buildings and businesses.

 

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4. Let transit work. (“While walkability benefits from good transit, good transit relies absolutely on walkability.") Jeff cites the disappointing experience of light rail in Dallas as an example of what not to do to support transit: insufficient residential densities, too much downtown parking, routes separated from the busiest areas, infrequent service, and a lack of mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods near the stops. Jeff recommends concentrating on those transit corridors that can be improved to support ten-minute headways, and working there to simultaneously improve both the transit and the urban fabric.

 

 

MORE Tips :

5. Protect the pedestrian. ("The safest roads are those that feel the least safe.")

6. Welcome bikes. ("In Amsterdam, a city of 783,000, about 400,000 people are out riding their bikes on any given day.")

7. Shape the spaces. ("Get the design right and people will walk in almost any climate.")

8. Plant trees.

9. Make friendly and unique [building] faces.

10. Pick your winners. ("Where can spending the least money make the most difference?") The subtitle here could well be, "in the real world, you can’t do everything." True enough. Jeff argues for focusing on downtowns first, and on short corridors that can connect walkable neighborhoods.

===

/Go to the article for more detail:

http://www.theatlant...-walkable/4047/

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++ Continues ++

/ this part of the review is excellent /:

 

To become competitive in the new marketplace for the best and brightest, cities must respond:

The conventional wisdom used to be that creating a strong economy came first, and that increased population and a higher quality of life would follow. The converse now seems more likely: creating a higher quality of life is the first step to attracting new residents and jobs.

 

Vancouver and Portland, Jeff argues, are among the places that are doing just that.

There’s a subtext to the book that I am not entirely comfortable with but that comes through strongly: if we just stop making driving so convenient, easy and inexpensive, people will do less of it and walk more. Put another way, making driving less convenient, more difficult, and more expensive will be good for walkers and for cities. Sure, there are more politically skillful ways of phrasing it, but I think it’s undeniable that there is a sort of ideology and, in some circles, even hostility forming around this belief ("Cars suck" was the way one of my Facebook friends put it. "Has a place ever been made better by making it easier to drive to?" chimes another, rhetorically.) There are losers as well as winners in this approach to walkability.

/see: http://www.theatlant...-walkable/4047/

 

========

Yeah. hostility is natural and rational - Making cars Happy has ruined things for pedestrians in many cities.

And so, to put cars in a more appropriate position, I have my "Cars are Last!", CAL slogan.

Or as someone put it on a thread: "Hit 'em with an f---king brick!"

 

Later, he adds this:

"The most commonly discussed form of congestion pricing is called "cordon pricing," under which drivers are charged for entering downtown at certain times of day. It works in London, and might even work in New York, cities whose downtowns are so strong that they can withstand being taxed in a way that their suburbs are not. But the last thing that still-recovering downtowns need is to give people and businesses another reason not to go there."

- A nice tip-of-hat to London.

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The Attractions of Bristol, (from the London Crash thread):

 

Spot on - I like historic places particularly early Industrial heritage, and even better a maritime slant - Bristol, London. It needs young creative people, edgy bars and clubs, artists etc. London's fringe with the City for example.

 

You can't build that from new.

 

Young creative people means there needs to be university, art/fashion schools and startups/boutiques. To be viable it needs to be far enough from a "magnet city" like London. Too much competition otherwise and people be drawn to the magnet, offering better and more choice. Is Bristol far enough from London? Possibly.

 

From wikipedia "Based on its environmental performance, quality of life, future-proofing and how well it is addressing climate change, recycling and biodiversity, Bristol was ranked as Britain's most sustainable city, topping environmental charity Forum for the Future's Sustainable Cities Index 2008."

Population grew by over 10% over the last decade, but barely over its 1971 peak.

- per XX

===

/see-post#xxx :

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  • 7 months later...

This thread needs to be more bullish and expand to move into a new direction in how to take advantage of the existing bull market. The bubble phase has yet to develop..

 

There is money to be made in the current market and too many people are still debating the moral standing of UK house prices rather than the opportunity it offers.

 

CS,

You could be right, and I have been saying the same with respect to Properties OUTSIDE LONDON

 

Any Ideas on how to play it?

 

(I think it is time to revive the Outside London thread - while still keeping an eye on BDEV, etc for Early Warnings of surprises.)

 

See also:

A FINAL Rally in London property? How to play it.

http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=17737

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Photos of "the Fab Four", as mentioned above

 

+ Bristol / source-food review

 

 

+ Bath / source-shutterstock

 

+ Manchester / source-travel-info

 

+ Birmingham / source-Hotel-website

 

(Apologies to those in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Should I include Scotland?)

 

The Importance of transport... / From the Manchester source, above:

"There are regular trains between the airport and Manchester Piccadilly railway station, which has connections to destinations throughout the UK. Buses service Manchester city centre as well as other local towns and cities. National Express operates coach services to cities all over the UK. All buses, coaches and trains leave from The Station, the airport's new transport interchange that is connected to all terminals by a covered walkway. Taxis are available outside all terminals."

 

A friend in London was not at all impressed with my "Fab Four" cities.

 

He says :

 

+ It would be better to focus on cities within commuting distance of London and its airports

 

+ The new transport infrastructure (Crossrail, Eurostar) is opening some interesting new options

 

+ Gatwick way be expanded, and it would make sense to look at locations along the rail-line thru Gatwick

 

+ Yes, that might include Chichester, "an interesting possibility"

 

Also :

There has been a recent press release by a think tank, who wants to free up large homes in London, where single retirees and couples are living, which could accommodate a larger number of young people (families?)

 

They may want to find ways to encourage these people to relocate outside London.

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  • 1 year later...

HANWELL ?

 

London Property market - Hates those "crazy prices"

 

I see things like this offered in the HK newspaper (The Standard, Nov. 24, 2014)

 

London highrises, off-plan

 

Lexicon (36 storey glass tower, overlooking Regents canal) : 1 BR: from 695,000

Eagle Black (Art-deco tower, 3 minutes walk to Old Street ) : 1 BR: from 895,000

 

I am sorry folks, but these prices are way beyond madness.

Renting a GBP 700k flat with a 5% yield will cost : GBP xx per month

 

WHO can afford that?

Especially for a 1BR flat in what is not really a prime location (let's be honest)

 

This is crazy !
And the market is beginning to realise. (These projects could crash, I reckon.)

 

At the SMART property conference this weekend, there were three outside-London

properties being promoted, and I spoke to the people promoting them, and they

quietly admitted that "London Luxury property prices have dropped."

One guy said: "Some of the properties above GBP 2mn are down 20%"

 

One of the areas being suggested at the SMART conference was Chelmsford

 

He has a project there with Studios at GBP 125K and 1-BR's were around 200k,

if my memory is accurate. That's a huge savings, more than 50% relative to Central London,

with a rapid commute into Liverpool St. (for jobs?)

 

He also suggested that Hanwell might be a big beneficiary from Crossrail

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  • 2 months later...

London's Lead is falling down

 

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Prime reasons to Quit London - FT, 2/15/2015

 

The family friendly towns and cities attracting buyers from the capital... Many people are choosing to flee the capital for small, more family friendly cities

 

In a report entitled, "new Prime Urban markets", Knight Frank highlighted four locations they think will be worthy of Special attention.

 

(What GBP 1 million can buy you in...):

+ Oxford: A 3BR, semi-detached house in Jericho, near the city centre

+ Cheltenham: A 5BR, Regency townhouse in the centre

+ Bristol: A 4BR, Edwardian house in Clifton, an affluent suburb

+ Bath: A pretty six BR townhouse, a short walk from the city centre

 

What they're aiming for:

"The Best of both worlds, (a cheaper price, like 40-50% cheaper and) ... you can be in the centre of town and have the buzz of being in London, with coffee shops and restaurants, and in 10 minutes you're walking through a field overlooking and empty valley" (or some other non-urban experience you may favor.)

 

"They are all very different... But they have similar drivers: good schools, a good cultural offer, and attractive period housing - and that's what sets them apart."

 

The price shift has already started, with three of these areas outperforming London:

+ Prime Central London : +5.1%

+ Bath : +5.0%

+ Oxford : +6.1%

+ Bristol and Cheltenham, both: +6.8%

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MANCHESTER is mentioned in the Weekend FT:

 

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Office space in New Islington

 

Manchester's Second Coming

 

Manchester's extraordinary resurgence is the best model for

Closing the North-south economic divide

 

+ The long decline of industry left many empty warehouses, mills, factories

+ The Sharp project now houses 60 companies, with rows of converted shipping containers housing businesses, while looking like a Mondrian painting

+ "Today, there is much opportunity in Manchester as there is in London"

+ Some are saying: Manch. isn't the 2nd city: London & Birmingham can fight it out for 2nd: "swagger and confidence are Mancunian traits"

+ The Manchester model is seen as the last hope to close north-south divide

+ Elsewhere that gap has widened, but not in Manchester

+ "Everyone sings from the same hymnsheet in Manchester" - Jim O'Neill

+ The decline of Manch. took 80 years, and could not be reversed overnight

 

+ Manch. has a legacy of "free trade and economic individualism", and has been blessed with stable and enlighten political leadership in recent years (mainly two guys: Howard Bernstein and Richard Leese)

 

+ M. aims to bring people to jobs rather than jobs to people. That has been helped by TRANSPORT : with the city spending money on tram lines, to bring in people from (nearby) places where they want to live

 

+ The living environment has improved in a way that has made old areas attractive to the young. Businesses are springing up in old factory spaces, while bars, restaurants and coffeeshops are packed and loud.

+ The City and local pension funds have made some crucial investments: One St Peters Sq is owned by public pension funds. The council owns The Sharp Projects building. Some local airport have eased transport bottlenecks. They operate coherently, "like a giant PLC"

 

+ People are hoping that the dynamism of Manch. can spread out. Oldham, the old millionaire's town, is a place to watch

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