The UK capital is the top-rated city for half of the 12 factors which
are ranked to give the overall league table. This year, London has
improved its scores in areas including climate created by government
(up three places to No 2). However, it fell nine places to 25th for
cost of staff.
European Cities Monitor (ECM) is based on interviews with senior
managers and board directors in charge of location of 500 top European
companies. It looks at factors regarded as important by companies when
deciding where to locate, and then compares the performance of 33 of
Europe’s leading business cities on each factor.
Availability of qualified staff, considered an ‘absolutely essential’
factor by 62 per cent of respondents, has overtaken access to markets
as being the most important factor to consider when locating a
business. In third place is quality of telecommunications, which this
year overtakes external transport links.
Regarding London’s position, James Young, Head of the City of London
office of Cushman & Wakefield, comments: “From year to year London
is consolidating its position as part of an elite group of global
cities, together with New York and Tokyo. With the Olympic Games on the
horizon in 2012, providing there is no major global economic downturn,
London’s future seems to be only in one direction – up.”
In last year’s ECM, London achieved a weighted score of 0.91, which has
now increased to 0.92, while Paris’ has gone from 0.59 to 0.57. Back in
1990, the first year of the annual survey, London’s score was 0.81 and
Paris’ 0.66.
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Behind London and Paris comes Frankfurt, and then the closely grouped
cities of Barcelona, Amsterdam and Brussels, with Amsterdam just
overtaking Brussels this year.
The three biggest risers in the ranking are all regional cities:
Geneva, Lyon and Manchester. Elaine Rossall, the author of ECM and
C&W’s Head of Business Space Research & Consultancy, explains:
“Regional cities are increasingly becoming more business oriented, and
are proving that you don’t have to be a capital to attract business.
They are also benefiting from a more cost-conscious business world,
with, as the survey shows, a third of those interviewed saying that to
offset rising operational costs they would either relocate to another
destination in the same country or another lower-cost international
destination.”
Geneva is the biggest riser in the overall ranking, up eight places to
12th, reflecting significant rises in the individual rankings for
access to markets (up 13 places to 14th), telecommunications (up 11 to
9th), external transport (up seven to 15th) and quality of life (up
seven to second). Robert Curzon Price, Head of Client Solutions of
C&W’s Alliance Partner in Switzerland SPG Intercity says: “Geneva
is geographically in the heart of Europe and has excellent
communication links with other cities and countries, while when it
comes to quality of life – a key factor in attracting expatriate
workers – it comes second only to Barcelona.”
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