Bracknell needs to market itself better to continue to attract investment, delegates were told at Invest in Bracknell 2023.
Upgrading the sustainability of its buildings was a key theme at the November 23 conference, put on by Bracknell BID and UK Property Forums at the extensively refurbished Maxis development, and speakers argued the town needs to get its message out about its successes.
In a debate on the future of the town’s offices, Andrew Hunter, executive director place, planning and regeneration for Bracknell Forest Council, said: “Bracknell is a great place to work, great place to live, it’s got really amazing access, not only to the M3, M4 but also London and the airports – and we need to really market Bracknell.
“We need to make sure that Bracknell is on everyone’s thought list as to where they are going to come.”
He said refurbishments, adaptations and making buildings greener would help attract investment. But he added: “We also need to market the place better than we’ve done in the past.”
Chairing the debate, Nick Hardy, director of Page Hardy Harris, compared it to nearby towns.
He said: “Bracknell actually is a planned town, most towns are not planned. Most towns evolve.
“Slough’s a riven development around a World War One military yard. Windsor is a town that developed around a castle, Bracknell has actually been planned.
“It has a road network that was planned, an industrial area that was planned and that’s the message I would like to get put there.”
Helen Barnett, marketing manager for Frasers Property, owner of Maxis, said: “Bracknell is very lucky because it has the BID and it has all you people.
“It has Bracknell Forest who have been extremely forward thinking in planning their town centre, working with Schroder’s, getting the best that they could get for the town. And they are very good at doing that, whether it’s in planning terms or just general promotion.
“I think it’s for everybody to talk Bracknell up, that’s the really important thing.”
Ms Barnett had worked on the town’s regeneration for than 13 years and urged delegates to spread the message about its success.
She added: “The more we talk up the town, the more we are likely to get more tenants coming in.
“People are doing everything they can to their buildings, you can get here very easily, you don’t get stuck in traffic, there’s so much going for Bracknell that everybody should be singing from the rooftops about it.”
See also: Bracknell office market outperforming its neighbours
Image shows (l-r): Martin Gibbons from Vital Property Solutions, Helen Barnett from Frasers Property, Andrew Hunter from Bracknell Forest Council and Nick Hardy from Page Hardy Harris.
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As Managing Director and Founder of Thames Valley Commercial specialists, Rare, I couldn’t agree more that Bracknell has much to commend it and I recently persuaded my clients, Basis Technology, who were previously based in Richmond upon Thames to relocate to the town. What attracted them was the fact that the town is connected to Richmond (and central London) by a regular train service; it boasts a quality shopping centre; motorway access from a wide swathe of the South East is straightforward and perhaps most importantly, it has a good supply of reasonably priced, quality buildings. My clients acquired 3872 sqft of Grade A+ office space in One Arlington Square located close to the town centre. The building has been refurbished to a high standard by Capital London Investments and yet was available at a considerable discount to other comparable space in the Thames Valley. Although as Nick refers to in his comments above, Bracknell is a planned town being originally conceived as a New Town in the 1950’s. “planned towns” or new towns don’t always have the best image (think Milton Keynes). This reflects a typically British attitude of shunning anything “new” and is in stark contrast to attitudes found abroad. I have just returned from travelling to Australia, via Dubai and in both Melbourne and more significantly, in Dubai, it’s all about “The Future” and wow what amazing results both cities have achieved by embracing the new and redeveloping the old. Everyone aiming for a career in the property industry should take the time to visit Dubai which is a gleaming example of ambition and achievement in creating a world class city where the sheer pride of its residents and the widely shared beliefs of its ruler that rather than the “skies being the limit” they are just the start are evidenced by what has been created. Bracknell and indeed, the UK as a whole would do well to adopt a much more patriotic and self confident attitude and go out and get its new occupiers confident in what it can offer.