Home of our head office and most of our investment team, Wakefield is a rapidly growing city thanks to the swarm of investment helping to develop both local businesses and attracting companies to make their home in the ‘Merrie City.’
Despite investors often looking at Wakefield’s northern counterparts such as Leeds and Sheffield, there has been a surge in developments in the city attracting vast amounts of professionals to the area, creating a new demand for properties.
A city steeped in history dating back to the War of Roses, where the famous Battle of Wakefield took place, Wakefield is becoming a prime location for businesses to set their bases there thanks to its easy access to the M1 and M62 motorways.
In fact, in 2018 Wakefield was ranked the tenth-fastest growing city economy in the UK.
Whereas the busier, more densely populated neighbors down the motorways are projected to suffer from increased house prices, Wakefield still enjoys lower than average prices. Because of this, investors are quickly turning their attention to the city, with a steady increase in HMOs in the area to accommodate the steady rise of professionals.
Through various initiatives designed to promote local businesses and the redevelopment of the city centre, the core priorities of the plan strives to create over 1000 jobs per year and an Apprenticeship Training Academy.
The arrival of major businesses such as the Coca Cola plant and the Haribo factory has brought confidence into the local economy and attracted investment into the city. With this investment, the future of Wakefield’s economy will heavily rely on these new enterprises who will be connected to an integrated package of business support to provide access to advice, assistance, finance and premises should they be required.
This plan to increase jobs stems from findings back in 2012, with low wages identified as a long term issue in the district with average pay said to be 8.1% below the Yorkshire average. With the council setting up the Wakefield Poverty and Prosperity Commission, the key aim was to ensure both young people and those of a working age alike have the required skills and qualifications to be better equipped to access these paid jobs.
The desire to increase skills and qualifications in the local area has also been reaffirmed through plans to create a Wakefield University to attract more students to the city.
Here’s just a small selection of our developments in the Wakefield area: