Bringing Newcastle’s economy ‘back to life’ - what ‘levelling up’ really means to the city

We have been hearing a lot about levelling up in recent years, but it hasn’t always been clear what exactly this means and how it will be achieved.

To summarize, the plans across the UK, including the North East, means creating more well paid jobs, improved infrastructure & environment, and establishing communities where people can prosper.

Legal & General Group are one of the investors involved, and have had a hand in projects boosting local jobs and driving economic growth in the North East.

However, the latest Legal & General Rebuilding Britain Index (RBI) has underlined the scale of the challenges facing the UK. The RBI was established to measure the UK’s progress in levelling up on a quarterly basis, surveying 20,000 people and tracking social and economic progress across 52 measures, including Health and Social Care, Education, Housing, Jobs & Economic Prosperity, Environment, Energy, Transport and Digital.

In Newcastle Helix, they’ve focused on how urban regeneration is enabling job creation.

The project will create 4,000 new jobs, putting Newcastle at the forefront of scientific research and technology.

With the Newcastle helix comes modern offices suitable for businesses of all sizes, and it also acts as a hub for innovation, with future plans for housing developments for the area. The hope is to create self sustaining communities that are desirable to live and work in.

In Sunderland Riverside, they’re looking at how urban regeneration boosts productivity and creates happier lives.

The project could bring potentially 3,000 new jobs into Sunderland and shows how the city is becoming a new core business district in the UK

When the Government first pledged to “level up every part of the UK” as part of their 2019 manifesto they could not have foreseen the huge financial, social and logistical challenges brought about by the pandemic, yet Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson still doubled down on this aim, with their stated intention to Build Back Better a key tenet of the recovery.