The battle for the Green Investment Bank: round four

Just four candidates remain in Blue & Green Tomorrow’s Green Investment Bank location recommendation. But which two cities will progress to the final? Find out in round four of the series.

You join us in the latter stages of a thorough and impartial analysis into which of the 32 bidding cities should host the Government’s £3 billion Green Investment Bank (GIB).

Bids from London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol, as well as 23 other locations in the UK, have been rejected by Blue & Green Tomorrow’s selection process, with only four candidates remaining going into the penultimate round:

Brighton, Leicester, Nottingham and Sunderland.

Before we transform this quartet into a duo, let’s just remind ourselves how we got to stage four in our series.

To begin with, the initial 32 bidders were whittled down to 16 by looking at each city’s carbon emission levels.

Then, 16 turned into eight after examination of the financial service industries.

And yesterday, we reached a final four by looking at the performance and sustainability of each candidate’s higher education institutions.

All in all, going into round four, Blue & Green Tomorrow’s ideal template for the GIB location so far is a city that is green (and/or getting greener), needs a boost in its financial services industry, and is home to a respectable, sustainable university.

The lucky four that have made it to this stage, tick all three boxes.

The fourth round of examination covers economic development – specifically, the average weekly wage and the annual percentage change in weekly pay, of each candidate city and its county.

So as well as Brighton, Leicester, Nottingham and Sunderland figures, we also took readings from Sussex, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Tyne and Wear.

The data was again sourced from the Office for National Statistics.

Working on the basis that the ideal location for the GIB would be a place with a lower weekly wage, as well as a low or negative percentage change in pay, we attributed points of one to four to each city and county.

The two with the lowest overall total once the four boxes had been added up would then progress to the final. This would be because Blue & Green Tomorrow deemed them most in need of the economic development brought by the GIB.

What’s the point in choosing a place that already has a high, or increasingly high, weekly wage? As with the previous three rounds, the underlying ethic in Blue & Green’s choice is to ensure that there is significant benefit for the chosen city.

So, once again, cross your fingers and toes for the revealing of our results. Here we go.

Click to enlarge.Round four sees Leicester and Sunderland eliminated, with Brighton and Nottingham going head-to-head in the final of our GIB location recommendation series.

Although Nottingham had the highest weekly wage out of all four cities (£453), it made the final two after being let down significantly by its county, Nottinghamshire, which had the lowest wage of the four counties, and a negative percentage change.

Leicester was consistently high across all four areas, meaning it wouldn’t adhere to Blue & Green’s mantra of the GIB turning around a city’s fortunes or spurring on economic development.

Brighton progresses after finishing bottom of both criteria, with Sussex not faring much better, having finished third both times.

The final city, Sunderland, was prevented from making the final two by Tyne and Wear’s impressive weekly pay and annual percentage change scores.  

We’ll be revealing the overall winner, and in theory, the best-equipped city to host the GIB, next week. This chosen candidate will also be the place that we think will benefit the most.

Representatives from both Brighton and Nottingham will be pledging their cases forward as to why it should be them, but in the meantime, we’d love to hear from you about which place should be picked.

Maybe you disagree with our process and overall choice? Perhaps you’re a maddened Mancunian, or a brassed off Bristolian, or displeased Derbeian. We want to hear from you.

Comment on this article, or get in touch via Facebook or Twitter to voice your opinions.

If Blue & Green Tomorrow hasn’t totally quenched your thirst for information about the GIB then you can always read up about the Bank on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) website.

And if you’re interested in contributing to the prospect of a green economy, you can. Ask your financial adviser about the best ways to invest your money sustainably, or alternatively, fill in our online form and we’ll show you how.

Here’s a round-up of Blue & Green’s GIB location battle after round four.

Click to enlarge.Infographics: Ben Willers. Picture source: Ryan Hyde.