Peterborough

Peterborough is a medieval city with a population of 183,600 residents, a wider catchment of over 800,000 people and is set to be England’s fastest growing city by 2025 (McKinsey Report 2011).

The city enjoys excellent transport connections: London is just 45 minutes away by train and the rest of the UK is accessed quickly via the A1M, A14 and the A47 interchange. The international market is within easy reach too, with five airports situated within a 75 minute drive.

Peterborough is the UK’s top commuter city and has a vibrant workforce with a younger working population than the UK average. It has a pioneering skills vision which matches training provision with the needs of city businesses to ensure the local workforce is skilled in areas demanded by industry.

Peterborough is the number one city for housing stock growth (Cities Outlook 2012) and has an excellent house price to earnings ratio index. The city also boasts award-winning business parks and excellent commercial buildings at affordable rates.

Peterborough’s environment capital is long-standing and strong. The city is home to the UK’s largest cluster of environmental businesses – 380 and rising – and with partners like IBM, has developed the Peterborough Model, an internationally recognised system for visualising city-wide environmental performance. The city is currently building one of the UK’s largest low-carbon housing developments and is intending to build a new BREEAM Excellent sustainable skills centre right in the heart of the city.

Peterborough plays host to a number of leading financial institutions – Handelsbanken, Clydesdale, Barclays, Royal Sun Alliance, Travelex, Diligenta and BGL – the name behind the Meerkat – and global manufacturers like Caterpillar Perkins, Dresser-Rand and Redring Xpelair.