< Previous18 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NNORTH AMERICAN REPORTSby G ARY DAUGHTERSgar y.daug hter s @ site s ele c tion.c omVancouver’s Port UpgradeThe Port of Vancouver USA, in late July, dedicated a decade-long, $251-million investment in rail and infrastructure at the Washington port. The West Vancouver Freight Access Project (WVFA) is designed to improve freight-rail movement through the port and along the BNSF Railway and Union Paci c Railroad mainlines connecting the Paci c Northwest to major rail hubs in Chicago and Houston, and from Canada to Mexico. Funded through port dollars and federal and state grants, WVFA is projected to help lower costs for U.S. manufacturers and farmers, making them more competitive in global markets. Port tenants including United Grain Corp., Great Western Maltin and Farwest Steel have invested more than $200 million to take advantage of the increased rail capacity.12Duke Realty Has a New Home in a Familiar PlaceDuke Realty Corporation will move its operations from Carmel, Indiana, into a new 78,000-sq.-ft. (7,246-sq.-m.) of ce building to be known as 8711 at River North, on the north side of Indy. The company, which owns and operates approximately 150 million rentable sq. ft. (13.9 million sq. m.) of industrial assets in 20 logistics markets, calls itself the leading domestic-focused logistics real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. “Our new location,” says Jim Connor, chairman and CEO, “will meet associates’ preference for a Northside location with convenient interstate access and provide them with access to many walkable amenities.” The building, which will include a new restaurant, is to be located on the site of a closed Champps restaurant. The site is in the River North at Keystone mixed-use development just east of the city’s Fashion Mall in the Keystone at the Crossing area, which Duke helped develop in the 1980s.Source: Port of Vancouver USASource: Duke Realty Corporation14Vancouver’s Port UpgradeSource: Port of Vancouver USA S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 19Big Win for Holland, MichiganJR Automation, a manufacturer of custom automation technologies, selected Michigan over Tennessee for a facilities expansion expected to generate a capital investment of $4 million and 100 high-tech jobs. The company is receiving an $800,000 grant from the Michigan Business Development Program for its expansion in the city of Holland, as well as an economic development incentive rider from the city that will result in savings on electrical demand charges for three years. “JR Automation has and continues to experience tremendous growth, both here in Michigan and internationally,” said Bryan Jones, JR Automation CEO. The company employs more than 2,000 people in 23 locations across North America, Europe and Asia.Barge Tour Traces Historic Corning RelocationThe Corning Museum of Glass is commemorating the 150th anniversary of glassmaking in upstate New York with a four-month tour of the Erie Canal by a barge decked out with glass blowing equipment. The GlassBarge tour salutes the relocation via New York waterways of the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company — now known as Corning Incorporated — to the city of Corning in 1868. The boat is docking along the way for glass-blowing demonstrations. McLaren Engineering Group spearheaded the barge’s redesign and engineering. “This project is a perfect example of our rm’s applied ingenuity approach — blending our creativity and engineering expertise,” says Malcolm G. McLaren, president and CEO, McLaren Engineering Group.Source: McLaren Engineering GroupU.S. Job Growth at Record-Setting PaceThe U.S. economy added 219,000 jobs in July, the 94th straight month of job growth. Growth was led by medium-sized companies employing 50 to 499 people, which expanded payrolls by 119,000. Large businesses added 48,000 jobs while small businesses added 52,000.4Source: JR Automation3523520 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NGranada Studios in Manchester was the first purpose-built TV studio complex in the nation, known for hosting such productions as “King Lear with Sir Laurence Olivier,” “Brideshead Revisited” and the first TV concert given by the Beatles, in 1962. Closed in 2013 after ITV Granada and ITV Studios moved to MediaCityUK in Salford Quays and Trafford Quays, the area has been reborn as St John’s Quarter. This summer the district found an anchor as Booking.com’s ground transportation division decided to site its global headquarters in Manchester Goods Yard at Enterprise City, where the travel e-commerce company agreed to a 12-year, 222,000-sq.-ft. (20,624-sq.-m.) lease.The company plans to invest approximately £100 million (US$127 million) over 10 years at the new HQ, where it will consolidate more than 1,500 staff from four city-center sites. The company said it has created 75 new jobs in Manchester in 2018 thus far, is looking to hire another 200 as soon as possible, and plans to hire many more over the next 18 months at what will be the company’s second largest location outside of its hub in Amsterdam. Construction of Manchester Goods Yard will begin this year and is due to be complete in 2020. “We are committed to the city of Manchester and to its future as one of Europe’s largest and most important tech hubs,” said Ian Brown, CEO of Booking.com’s transport division, which recently invested half a billion dollars in Chinese ride hailing app Didi Chuxing, adding it to its other global ground transport brands. Rentalcars.com handles more than 8 million bookings a year worldwide, while Rideways pre-books airport transfers at more than 900 airports.Brown and his communications colleagues declined to answer questions about Brexit considerations, or about what the company will save through the consolidation, but he did offer some insight into the project’s rationale and context.“The growth in e-commerce and online travel services is a global trend that is only going in one direction,” he says. “Meanwhile, Manchester and the UK remain the perfect place for us to Brexit or not, new corporate campuses bring thousands of jobs to UK cities.by ADAM BRUNSadam.br uns @ site s ele c tion.c omUNITED KINGDOMBloomberg’s new European HQ in London is considered one of the world’s most sustainable buildings. Photo courtesy of Foster + Partners S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 21be based. We hunt for talent globally, so access to skilled individuals from the EU and wider world is important to us, as much as supporting the growth of the UK’s skills base.”New ChannelsTaking a cue from Amazon, UK public broadcaster Channel 4 is pursuing its own HQ sweepstakes. The network in May announced that seven cities have been shortlisted from a total of 30 submissions for consideration as a national HQ or creative hub. A further six have been shortlisted for consideration as a creative hub only:Channel 4 announced its “4 All the UK” plan in March 2018 — a strategy to ensure that Channel 4 serves the whole of the UK. It plans to significantly increase its Nations & Regions content spend from its current quota of 35 percent to a new voluntary target of 50 percent by 2023, meaning a cumulative boost of over £250 million ($318 million) in Channel 4’s Nations & Regions commissioning spend — which will benefit all parts of the UK.One of those HQ finalists — Glasgow — received welcome news already, on the same July day Spirit AeroSystems announced an investment in Prestwick. Barclays plans to develop a new campus at Buchanan Wharf for the bank’s functions, technology and operations teams, purchasing the property from Drum Property Group Ltd. Once completed, the campus should accommodate up to 2,500 additional roles, doubling Barclays’ current workforce in Scotland and making the bank one of Glasgow’s biggest commercial employers.Helping cement the deal were assistance from Glasgow City Council and from Scottish Enterprise, which has pledged a £12.75-million (US$16.2-million) grant on the conditions that at least 42 percent of the new jobs be high value, and at least 341 be for disadvantaged workers or those who have a disability.“The Glasgow campus, alongside others in Whippany, New Jersey, and Pune, India, is part of a global strategy to create world-class facilities for our functions, technology and operations teams,” said Barclays COO Paul Compton. “This is a fantastic opportunity to deepen our close ties with local communities and academic institutions to attract and retain the very best talent.” National HQ or Creative HubBristolCardiffGlasgowGreater ManchesterLeedsLiverpoolWest Midlands (Birmingham)Creative Hub onlyBelfastBrightonNewcastle-GatesheadNottinghamSheffieldStoke-on-Trent22 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NINVESTMENT PROFILE:BUSINESS BIRMINGHAMBirmingham’s city center revs the growth engine of an area leading the UK in startups, FDI and talent.Asked about the Birmingham of a generation ago, Martin Guest, managing director of CBRE’s Birmingham offi ce, describes a gray city of drab concrete architecture, surrounded by a ring road that eff ectively created a barrier around the city center. Huge fl ocks of starlings fi lled the sky, and all in all, it wasn’t the most inspiring of locations.Today the ring is mostly demolished, making the city far more open to investments such as the headquarters HSBC UK chose to set up in Birmingham, now welcoming up to , staff to a new complex in the city center. ey’re part of a fi nancial and professional services cluster in the region that got started a decade ago when Deutsche Bank moved a handful of people into Brindleyplace, where the German bank now has , people in the city center.HSBC cited Birmingham’s central location as a driving factor for the location decision, as well as the site’s central location just a -minute walk from Birmingham New Street Station, where an easy rail journey of under minutes to London will soon be more than halved by the arrival of the UK’s High Speed (HS) rail service.“ irty years ago, that station was one of those places you’d arrive at and want to stay on the train,” says Guest. About three years ago, a mixed-use refurbishment opened, and now the opposite dynamic is in play: “Now, if they arrive by car, we will absolutely take them to see Grand Central,” Guest says. “It’s one of the busiest stations outside of central London, and a big connector.”“Birmingham is booming,” J. Tate Godfrey, executive director of the Industrial Asset Management Council, wrote me recently as he waited at that very train station for a return trip to London after a meeting. “An incredible by ADAM BRUNSadam.br uns @ site s ele c tion.c omRegion on the RiseRegion on the Rise S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 23This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of the West Midlands Growth Company, whose mission is to help create new jobs, build and expand businesses, attract regional investment and encourage tourism. For more information, visit wmgrowth.com or call the head office in Birmingham at +44 (0)121 202 5115.number of cranes in sight in the downtown area is a highly visible indicator of Birmingham’s recent economic development success.”The city also is on the short list as the new home for UK public broadcasting service Channel 4, and will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The connections only figure to multiply as HS2 ramps up toward its 2026 launch. In addition to creating tens of thousands of jobs as a project, HS2’s executive HQ is headquartered in Birmingham, driving a further uptick in jobs and in real estate demand in an already surging market.Good NumbersAmong the 12 sectors examined for Site Selection publisher Conway Inc.’s 2017 World’s Most Competitive Cities report, Birmingham was in the top five in Europe in half. Those findings jibe well with the sectors the region’s lead inward investment agency, Business Birmingham, continues to target: advanced manufacturing; life sciences; business, professional & financial services; tech & digital; and food & drink.Figures released in June 2018 by the UK Department for International Trade showed the West Midlands to be the only area in the country seeing growth in both foreign direct investment (FDI) projects and in the jobs those projects create. A total of 171 new FDI projects (a 13-percent increase) were recorded during 2017/18, with the number of associated jobs reaching 9,424 — a 43-percent increase, and the highest number of new jobs created in any area outside London. “Foreign companies are investing here as they to look to capitalize on the flourishing network of innovation hubs, R&D facilities and enterprise zones that underpin the West Midlands’ success,” said Neil Rami, chief executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, which operates Business Birmingham. Those areas in turn are underpinned by what he called a “world-class talent pool.”You might say those flocks of starlings have been dispersed by flocks of stars. And whether they’re companies or citizens, lower costs allow those stars to shine.Guest points out that the all-in office occupancy costs come in at around 50 percent of London’s. Zoopla online’s May 2018 annual survey of hours & earnings found the average house price in Birmingham of just over £200,000 placed it well down the list at 10th most expensive metro market in the UK. Sub-regions like the Jewellery Quarter and Digbeth are proving to be ideal places for young professionals to live.“I’m often asked whether I miss London,” says Dave Shaw, an assessment and capability manager at HSBC. “I can honestly say that my answer has never changed — I love it here in Birmingham. It’s awesome. It has almost everything that London has but everywhere is within such close walking distance — I walk everywhere, including on my so-called ‘commute,’ which is now just a stunning 20-minute walk along canals.”“More people are moving here from London and the southeast than any other UK city,” says Waheed Nazir, corporate director, economy for the Birmingham City Council, “and significantly, around half of our graduates are choosing to stay on in the city.”Leasing activity surpassed 1 million sq. ft. in 2017. In addition to attracting the most UK internal migrants, the metro area is also leading the way in startups: Between 2015 and 2016, their number ballooned to 17,473 (second only to London among the UK’s 16 major metro markets), a growth rate of 23.5 percent (second to none). “However, what’s genuinely exciting,” says Nazir, “is that Birmingham is not even at the mid-point of its growth curve.” LEFT: With major leases to HSBC, HRMC, HS2, software firm Advanced and others, Birmingham’s city center (featuring the Arena Central district pictured) is fast becoming a central arena for nation-leading economic development.Image courtesy of Miller Developments and Core MarketingThe youngest city in Europe, Birmingham’s population is projected to rise by 171,000 to 1.3 million over the next two decades.24 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NWORLD REPORTSby G ARY DAUGHTERSgar y.daug hter s @ site s ele c tion.c omStudy: U.S. Leads in AVsThe U.S. and Singapore are positioned to lead the way in the deployment of autonomous vehicles, says a July 2 report from IT research rm Juniper. Countries rounding out the top ve are Japan, the UK and South Korea, followed by the Netherlands, Malaysia, India, China and France. Juniper predicts that by the end of 2026, more than 50 million self-driving vehicles will be on the world’s roads, with more than one- fth of them in the U.S. “The U.S.,” says study author Michael Larner, “has all the key ingredients for autonomous vehicles to operate at scale.” The study ranks Google’s Waymo as the most promising entrant in the autonomous space, followed by Volvo, Tesla, Daimler and Audi.224More Spirit in SubangKansas-based Spirit AeroSystems, in June, cut the ribbon on a new logistics warehouse in Subang, Malaysia. The company says the 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) facility will accommodate increasing volumes of assembly work for commercial airliners. Spirit also operates sites in the U.S., UK and France, where it designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. The new warehouse sits on Spirit’s existing campus in the Malaysia International Aerospace Center near Kuala Lumpur. “This site,” says Spirit Vice President Scott McClarty, “is at the epicenter of growth in aerospace.”11 S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 25China Leads U.S. in ManufacturingChina leads the world in manufacturing, with over $2 trillion in output, according to gures examined by the Brookings Institution. Manufacturing constitutes 27 percent of China’s overall national output, which accounts for 20 percent of the world’s manufacturing output. China’s closest competitors are the United States ($1.867 trillion), Japan ($1.063 trillion), Germany ($700 billion), and South Korea ($372 billion).3Source: Getty ImagesCountry Manufacturing Output Percent of Percent of (USD in billions) National Output Global ManufacturingChina $2,010 27% 20%United States 1,867 12% 18%Japan 1,063 19% 10%Germany 700 23% 7%South Korea 372 29% 4%Source: Brookings Institution31Where the Reindeer RoamNorway’s High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, located in the far northern city of Tromsø, has completed a major expansion. Also know as Fram Centre, it is the largest Arctic science community north of the Arctic Circle. Opened in 1998, Fram Centre now comprises 263,715 feet (24,500 sq.-m.) and houses 500 workers, including teams from the Institutes for Air and Marine Research, Barents Watch and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry. At latitude 69.6492 N, Tromsø is the third largest city north of the Arctic Circle after Murmansk and Norilsk, Russia. The city of 75,000 people is 1,367 miles (2,200 km) south of the North Pole.4426 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NPhDs and MDs Drive Economic RedevelopmentLocating medical schools, biomedical centers and institutional research facilities in cities can boost local, regional and state economies.Universities and hospitals have long served as economic anchors for their communities. Today healthcare and university mixed-use districts, so-called “meds and eds” clusters, are breathing new life into urban areas across the United States. Within these districts, design is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring the coordination of complex programming, multiple stakeholders and inclusive integration into the existing community. Three recent projects in the northeastern U.S. demonstrate the economic power of eds-and-meds districts to serve as catalysts for further development, including corporate and start-up operations. Camden, New Jersey: Joint Health Sciences Center Currently under construction, this center will be the first facility in the state to co-locate four higher education institutions under one roo, offering classrooms, labs and other learning resources for students from Rutgers University, Rowan University, Camden County College and Rowan College at Gloucester. The Center is designed based on the “mesh economy model” that works to integrate talents, goods and services. The model merges students of various academic aspirations and backgrounds who share resources ranging from laboratories and equipment to classrooms, and exposes them to a broader field and greater depth of educational rigor. Diverse programming within the facility will accommodate shared biomedical research, biomedical and biomechanical, clinical, simulation laboratories and instructional spaces. A report commissioned by the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors found that 33 percent of jobs in Camden are currently in health or education and that eds and meds will represent one in six jobs in New Jersey by 2020.University at Buffalo: Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical SciencesOfficially opened last December, this facility anchors a vibrant mixed-use district in downtown Buffalo, New York. The project — which includes a mass-transit station — brings students, faculty and staff to downtown Buffalo along with an increased demand for services, housing and more. With the move of the medical school downtown, there will be 2,000 additional people living and working on the Buffalo Niagara Medical campus.by TIM O’CONNELL & DAVID SCHWAR T Z, HOKe ditor @ site s ele c tion.c omEDS & MEDSThe design for the University of Maryland, Baltimore – Health Sciences Research Facility creates an efficient lab block oriented east-west.Photo by Alan Karchmer courtesy of HOK S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 27“Our fi rst semester in the new building has been exceedingly positive,” said Dr. Michael E. Cain, dean of the Jacobs School.” I hear from our students, faculty and staff that the new building has generated a new energy, which was exactly what we had hoped to achieve. Instead of having scientifi c and clinical faculty split on two campuses, they are now able to share innovations and ideas informally, in the atrium or the café, and those conversations often include our students, too.” e $-million facility puts research and science on full display with glass-walled labs and classrooms. e building was the fi rst project to receive grant funding through the NYSUNY program designed to spur regional economic development and aff ordable education.More growth is already in the works for Buff alo’s eds and meds distric. e state announced an additional $ million for University at Buff alo to create an “Innovation Hub” at its New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, located a few blocks away from the new medical school.University of Maryland, Baltimore: Health Sciences Research FacilityMore than one in fi ve residents of Baltimore work in healthcare or education, according to a study by Moody’s Investors Service. is complex and its faculty and staff burnish the city’s reputation as an eds and meds hub. e building — the largest facility ever constructed in Maryland’s university system — provides cutting-edge laboratory and multidisciplinary workspaces for researchers working to develop therapeutics, vaccines and cures.“Over the past decade, we have had extraordinary growth in our research programs, and have built a formidable biomedical research enterprise,” says E. Albert Reece, executive vice president for medical aff airs, UM Baltimore and dean of the UM School of Medicine. “Now, with our new Health Sciences Research Facility, and the recruitment of leading teams of scientists, we are posed to accelerate the trajectory of discovery and innovation in medicine.” Tim O’Connell (above) is a senior principal and director of HOK’s global Science + Technology practice.Next >