Blackpool Council has committed to promoting the town at one of the UK’s emerging investment hotspots at a leading property conference next year.

Blackpool Council will exhibit at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF 2024) in May.

The conference, held in Leeds, brings together some of the leading investment funds and commercial property developers from the UK and across the world, focused on discovering opportunities for property investment. Over 8,000 delegates attended this year’s event, where representatives from Blackpool Council promoted the town and a range of development sites to potential investors.

Cllr Mark Smith, Cabinet Member for Levelling Up (Place) at Blackpool Council said:

“Blackpool is quickly becoming one of the most investible towns in the UK, with a huge number of major regeneration projects underway. “As a Council we have led the way in the first phases of the town’s regeneration, but we also need private sector support to take on future stages and create more quality commercial and residential developments.

“Exhibiting at UKREiiF for the third successive year allows us to tell Blackpool’s regeneration story to leading investors and property groups, who in turn can help us deliver our plans to make Blackpool better for everybody who lives and works here.”

Blackpool is currently midway through a major £2bn growth and prosperity programme. Following previous regenerations of the Promenade, leisure assets such as The Blackpool Tower and Winter Gardens, upgrades to the tramway and new branded hotels over the last decade, three major investment projects are currently underway.

A £350m investment to the Talbot Gateway around Blackpool North train station is currently in its third phase, with a new Holiday Inn and tram extension opening in Easter 2023 and a new 215,000 sq ft Civil Service hub ready in 2024. Future stages including building a new Multiversity campus are also aiming to start next year.

Additionally, a £300m investment at Blackpool Central, creating a new year-round leisure complex is nearing completion of its enabling stage with a new 1,300 space multi storey car park with future phases including a series of indoor entertainment centres, hotel, restaurant and heritage quarter. The development is expected to create 1,000 new jobs and boost annual spend in the town by £75m.

The new development of the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone is also expected to attract £300m of private sector investment and aims to create 5,000 new jobs. A 10.5 hectare site is currently being prepared with construction of a new link road starting later this year, which will create 235,000 sq ft of land for commercial development and a new access road for growing businesses. A future phase is also earmarked to create Silicon Sands, a technology quarter driven by ethically powered data centres.

On Blackpool’s third partnership with UKREiiF, Amanda Griffiths, Director of BuiltEnvironment Networking, which runs the conference, said:

“Many know Blackpool as the coastal destination – and the town is going through a major regeneration programme at present to truly revive the high street whilst attracting tourism. But Blackpool is much more than that, which was seen at UKREiiF in 2023.

The region has UK-leading industry sectors and a skilled workforce to match, particularly in areas like aerospace, data and advanced engineering, and we’re delighted that we can help showcase this to a domestic and international audience at our UKREiiF event in 2024.”

For more information on regeneration projects, investment and business opportunities in Blackpool, visit www.businessinblackpool.com.