Birmingham partnership sets up London

PR Week UK, Friday, 29 October 2004, 12:00am,

Birmingham City Council has teamed up with the city’s two promotional bodies, Birmingham Forward and Marketing Birmingham, as well as the NEC Group and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, to open a London office.

The promotional partnership will target the capital’s businesses and media and Whitehall to encourage investment in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Council leader Mike Whitby said: ‘The first port of call is London – the seat of government and policy makers, the centre of finance and the base of the national media. We should be leading, not following, and therefore we must be at the cutting edge of policy and funding decisions.’

The move follows a change in the council’s administration to the Conservative Party earlier this year, a new Marketing Birmingham CEO and a new NEC Group chief executive.

Birmingham Forward chief executive Simon Murphy added: ‘We want to find a network of companies in London to support the activities of the office.’

The office will be in Green Park and will open before Christmas, according to Birmingham acting head of comms Audrey Geber.