Birkenhead: a watershed in the Mersey's revival

Designated one of 11 enterprise zones around the country, Wirral Waters gains Council approval, and a trade hub is born.

It'll create 3,000 Merseyside jobs and revitalise run down docklands. The new international trade centre will "be made up of four multi-level buildings, totalling about 230,000sq m (2,475,699 sq ft) which Peel (the developer) said will enable more than 1,000 companies from emerging Asian markets in China, India and South Korea to exhibit and distribute their goods throughout Europe" relates the BBC.

This is one of numerous projects either recently completed or underway on Merseyside. With some 32% of Liverpool households classed as "workless" by the Office of National Statistics, this regenerative programme couldn't come soon enough. 

But with a huge influx of Chinese investment guaranteed, and the effervescent energy of companies like Peel, it's likely that we're witnessing the unpredicted rebirth of Merseyside as an iconic national metropolis.

It's now likely that twenty years from now no-one will tour Liverpool and ask locals why they haven't ventured south to London for work. It'll be obvious why they didn't desert their city but stayed to savour Liverpudlian culture and the new buzz the city emanates.

For now, we wait to see how fast they pull off this seemingly impossible feat. But I suspect they'll succeed. "I've got a lot of Chinese companies who want space" a Peel director told the BBC. Liverpool is twinned with Shanghai, and apparently making best use of that experience and connections.

The Merseybeat returns. Yet this time it's the drumming up of economic growth.

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