Working with existing businesses in the city to grow and expand
The number of enterprises in the city in 2023 grew by 40 compared with the previous year, to stand at 10,335. This is a rate of 300 per 10k population which is lower than Warwickshire (451), WMCA (316), and national (407). However, this progress should be considered in the context of a challenging business environment with historically high interest rates, elevated costs of both energy and materials, and the UK economy briefly entering recession in 2023. Support from the Council and our partners to encourage new business start-ups and the growth and the continuing expansion of existing ones remains a key area for development.
Business Support Programmes
A new suite UK Shared Prosperity Fund-funded business support programmes began in Q4 2023, operating under the banner of Business Growth West Midlands, after European Regional Development Fund (ERDF – the primary funder of business support activities over many years) ended in June 2023. While the overall level of UKSPF funding is lower previous sources, we have put together a comprehensive and integrated business support offer, which includes account management delivery to support businesses through their growth and development journey, specialist assistance focussing on start-ups and social enterprises, tailored decarbonisation support, and accompanying capital grants. Whereas our previous programmes funded through ERDF had Coventry & Warwickshire-wide geographical coverage, the new Business Growth West Midlands service is now focussed on businesses in Coventry alone (plus those in the other 6 WMCA Constituent Authority areas). As of the end of the 2023/24 financial year, the Business Growth West Midlands Service had given in-depth support to 480 Coventry businesses, and awarded 31 grants, offering a total of £449,497 to local firms.
Delivering Capital Regeneration Schemes
City Centre South
City Centre South will transform seven hectares of the city through a new mixed-use development scheme that will provide approximately 1,550 new homes, a high-quality public realm environment and exciting leisure and retail spaces. Key milestones achieved this year include: the securing of a detailed Planning Consent for the first phase of the scheme; the completion of the first stage of archaeological investigation ground investigations and the provision of fantastic new Shopmobility facilities in Salt Lane. Many of the existing businesses in the area have moved to new premises, including the Council’s Job Shop, which has relocated to the West Orchards Shopping Centre.
Friargate Business District
Coventry’s newest office building, Two Friargate, formally opened this year, providing 134,000 square feet of Grade A office space. The building has now welcomed its first new occupants, with teams from Octopus and Segro now moved in. Ofqual has also taken space in One Friargate. The Friargate Business District was further expanded with the opening of the new four-star, 100-room Indigo Hotel in January, a £20m project which took just 19 months to complete.
Palmer Lane
Work began this year on a new project to uncover a section of the River Sherbourne as part of a new regeneration scheme on Palmer Lane. The site is the only part of the city where the river is visible, and the plans will see a new public space created there. Work includes the demolition of the culvert – a large concrete slab, which sits over the river. The scheme, which is a joint project between CCC, Historic Coventry Trust, Severn Trent Water, and the Environment Agency, will cost £2.4m and will create a pleasant public area, with steps leading down to the river, green landscaping, and improvements to biodiversity and planting. The project is due for completion by the end of 2024.
Supporting the Creative, Cultural, and Tourism Sector
Following a record year for the tourism sector in 2022/23 and building on the successes of the UK City of Culture 2021 year programme, Coventry has been named as one of the best cities to attend cultural events in the UK. New research by IT firm Adobe Express found there are 1,782 festivals or creative events in the Coventry area (including Leamington, Kenilworth and border areas of Solihull borough) this year, placing it above London and Manchester.
The growing interest in the city’s events, opportunities and attractions is also reflected in the number of residents signing up as new GoCV members, which has grown at an increasingly rapid rate since 2021, driven heavily by work to publicise the app. The member total now stands at over 100,000, and the number of GoCV+ members also continues to rise, and now stands at more than 8,000.
Construction work is now underway to develop the former IKEA store into the City Centre Cultural Gateway, which will further build on the legacy of the UK City of Culture year. The project consists of three phases:
- Phase One: convert specified floors into bespoke facilities for the storage, care and management of nationally significant arts, cultural and heritage artefacts. This will become the Collections Centre, a joint venture with Arts Council England, the British Council, and Culture Coventry Trust.
- Phase Two: a cultural hub, proposed by Coventry University, to provide a range of cultural educational, engagement, training and professional development opportunities.
- Phase Three: to carry out ‘shell and core’ works to the remaining floors to make them ready for future lease opportunities.
The ambition for this project is to create a beacon of cultural activity for the city, to secure partnerships with two national cultural organisations and strengthen the partnership with Coventry University through the development of a ‘Cultural Hub’. This will facilitate the growth and development of wider cultural partnerships in the city, thereby contributing to the city’s Cultural Strategy. It will also present further opportunities for the city to work collaboratively for exhibition content and curation, including at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.
Cultural events in the city have received additional funding as part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Fund. The Godiva Festival and Caribbean Reggae Fever are just two of the events in the Region that have benefited from the £3m fund.