There's a lot of electricity in the air along the Mersey these days and it's not just the wattage generated by the six wind turbines at the Port of Liverpool. Anticipation is building in the run-up to the city's turn at being the European Capital of Culture in 2008. That comes a year after the city observes its 800th birthday and follows its designation as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It's all spurring an estimated £3 billion (US$5.5 billion) in office, retail and residential development around the city.
   "I've been here all my life and I've never known a period like this," says Frank Robotham, group marketing director for the Peel Ports Group, owner and operator of the Port of Liverpool. "It's just as exciting here today as when the Beatles kicked off."
   The port, the leading conduit of sea cargo between the U.K. and the U.S.,

The MerseyBIO incubator is a catalyst for developing biotech firms in the Liverpool area. The facility is home to 15 promising start-up firms.

is in a period of sustained growth, reaching a record 34.7 million tons of cargo in 2005. That growth is forecast to continue, and to handle it, the port has proposed building a £90-million (US$165-million) container terminal by 2010 to accommodate larger post-Panamax vessels. Port officials say the plan could get government approval this fall.
   "The new terminal will allow the port to build on its increased trade," Robotham says.
   Much of the area's industrial expansion has come in the Speke-Garston section of South Liverpool. Recent investments have included expansions in the automotive and life sciences sectors.
   Jaguar's Halewood Plant, which employs 2,400 to assemble the line's X-Type car, is investing an undisclosed amount to broaden its product range to include production of the Land Rover Freelander. Getrag Ford has invested £115 million ($211.8 million) for a new transmission plant.
   Nearly 100 life sciences companies are in the Liverpool area, including some of the sector's biggest names:

   • Flu shots that wind up being injected into American arms more than likely are manufactured at the Novartis plant, formerly operated by Chiron.
   • Eli Lilly has the U.K.'s largest bulk biotechnology facility with products including the human growth hormone and a tuberculosis treatment.
   • The new £34-million ($62.6-million) National Biomanufacturing Centre will develop and manufacture biopharmaceutical medicines for clinical trials.
   • MerseyBIO, an organization promoting life sciences development in the region, has assisted more than 20 start-up companies at its incubator at the University of Liverpool since 2002.
   • The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is building a new Centre for Tropical & Infectious Diseases courtesy of a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

   "We're a value creation agency," says Dr. Geoff Wainright, MerseyBIO's incubator manager. "Liverpool's strength is biomanufacturing."