25 years and counting…
25 years and counting – celebrating major milestone with unique Homes England relationship, prestigious industry appointments and other major work wins AMION Consulting is marking the start of 2025 with a series of big announcements. The economics advisory consultancy started the year with a highly competitive appointment onto the new £15 million Homes England Strategic Research, Economics and Evaluation Framework, and is the only firm to have been a member of the framework since its start in 2000. Membership of the framework, which can be used by any public sector organisation, is seen as the hallmark of quality within the economic development sector. Under past frameworks, AMION has helped to produce several industry-standard economics policy guides such as the pioneering Additionality Guide, now used across the globe to assess the real, additional impact of public interventions. In addition, AMION was selected to conduct the official economic impact assessment for Bradford City of Culture 2025. With over 1,000 events taking place, the year-long event is anticipated to provide a long-lasting boost to economic growth in Bradford and West Yorkshire. AMION’s innovative two-year study will not only assess the short-term economic impacts associated with events but will rigorously evaluate the longer-term legacy impacts around jobs, GVA, tourism, volunteering and an improved city image. January has also seen AMION pick up a flurry of new appointments right across the UK including Aston Villa Football Club, Liverpool John Moores University, Manchester City Council, Dudley Council, South Yorkshire Combined Authority, West of England Combined Authority and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. During 2025, AMION will continue to support some of the country’s biggest economic development and regeneration projects including the £3.9 billion Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent, the £1.9 billion Smithfield development in Birmingham and the £1.0 billion Investment Zone in Wrexham and Flintshire. This year also marks the start of director, Simon Dancer’s tenure on the Board of Institute of Economic Development (IED) – the UK’s leading professional body for economic development and regeneration practitioners. Simon added: “With over 25 years’ experience under my belt, 16 in the public sector and now having established myself with AMION, putting myself forward for the IED Board felt like a natural next step. I see the IED as the kitemark for our profession and I’m looking forward to supporting the wider profession in its growth and development.” And finally, the consultancy is marking a major milestone this year as it celebrates 25 years in business. Graham Russell, Chief Executive said: “We are delighted to mark our 25th anniversary in business. For a quarter of a century, we’ve been building our reputation in the economic development and regeneration sector to become trusted advisors and nationally recognised experts. Whilst we’re celebrating our own milestone as a business, it’s all thanks to the outstanding talent we have across our team who consistently deliver rigorous and innovative work for our clients. It’s a credit to them that we’ve been able to develop long-lasting client partnerships over the last 25 years.”
AMION joins the Good Business Charter
AMION is delighted to announce that we have recently achieved accreditation with the Good Business Charter. This simple accreditation, open to UK businesses and organisations of all sizes, recognises responsible business behaviour across ten key components. We feel that it is important to be accountable in the way we do business, and by gaining accreditation we are demonstrating our commitment to our staff, suppliers, customers and the environment. As an organisation with under 51 employees: We commit to pay our directly employed and regularly contracted staff the real living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. We commit to only use zero or minimal hours contracts when it is mutually beneficial and accepted by both us and the employee. We will actively support and encourage employee well-being treating those with legitimate sickness in a fair and respectful manner and promote access to impartial support and advice for employees with physical and mental health needs. We commit to having a way where every employee can make suggestions or raise issues with senior management. We commit to have robust measures in place to encourage diversity at key stages of recruitment, selection and retention of employees and to prevent harassment or victimisation in the workplace. We care about the environment and encourage the development of good environmental practice as an organisation, seeking to minimise our impact and commit to improve it. We commit to pay our taxes where applicable, only use tax allowances for the purpose intended, and be transparent in our relationship with HMRC. We have a clear commitment to our stakeholders and prioritise addressing and learning from stakeholder feedback, seeking to put negative issues right. We commit to ethical sourcing of anything we purchase, such as by applying standards set out in the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code where relevant. We commit to paying our suppliers promptly, and within at least 30 days. If you would like to find out more, please visit www.goodbusinesscharter.com
Levelling Up Fund – Round 3
The government has announced the third round of successful Levelling Up Fund (LUF) bids across the country. Building on successes in Rounds 1 & 2, AMION has further cemented its status as market-leaders in funding bid applications, having now helped to secure £459 million of LUF grant across the country. This success is unparalleled in the sector. Highlights from Round 3 include AMION assisting Wolverhampton City Council’s Green Innovation Corridor which was awarded £19.9 million. AMION also worked with Wigan Council on the Leigh Town Centre scheme which received £11.4 million. In Manchester, AMION supported the economic analysis underpinning the Wythenshawe Town Centre bid which got £20 million. In Wales, AMION helped Pembrokeshire County Council with their Westgate to Eastgate project which was allocated £10.5 million.
Eurovision 2023 – Impact on Liverpool City Region Economy
AMION Consulting was commissioned by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in April 2023 to undertake an economic impact assessment of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. The study examined the direct and indirect economic benefits of the event, including analysis of the number of visitors attracted to the city and the generation of expenditure, employment, and Gross Value Added (GVA). The report shows that the event provided a £54.8m net economic boost to the Liverpool City Region with 473,000 attendees at Eurovision events and 2 million people reached through the education and community programmes. You can read the report the summary report here AMION – Eurovision Economic Impact – Summary Report Or the full report here AMION – Eurovision Economic Impact – Full Report The economic impact assessment is being funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Liverpool City Council, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
