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Grant Thornton Live Lab to accelerate inclusive growth in Leeds

Andy Wood, Managing Partner at Grant Thornton Leeds

Over 300 leading figures from across the Leeds and wider region’s private, public and third sectors have signed up to come together later this month and create a long-lasting action plan to accelerate inclusive growth and help the Leeds City Region reach its full potential.

Led by leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP, the Live Lab event will take place at the Royal Armouries on Tuesday 31 January. The Live Lab will be run using an ‘appreciative inquiry’ methodology which engages stakeholders in self determined change. It will encourage attendees to focus on the positive things that are taking place, collaborate to build on this positive core and design a future for Leeds where all sectors can connect to create inclusive growth. The event will generate ideas to help make this a reality.

Attendees will include senior representatives from a host of organisations, including Leeds City Council, Sky Betting and Gaming, Jaywing, Marks & Spencer, Leeds Beckett University, Jet2 and the Leeds Community Foundation to name just a few. Together, they will share their experiences of living and working in the City Region and plan practical ways of building it a better future. The aim of the event is to tackle some of the fundamental challenges that face the City Region by utilising its collective resources, creativity and the belief that everyone can make a difference.

The good news is that Leeds is the UK’s fastest growing city. Grant Thornton’s Vibrant Economy Index* which measures how towns and cities in England compare on a range of factors, from prosperity to health, wellbeing and happiness, and inclusion and equality, reveals that the Leeds City Region demonstrates strong levels of economic prosperity and dynamism and opportunity. This means it is producing wealth and jobs and also developing an entrepreneurial and innovative culture that will help drive future growth. However, the index also reveals that Leeds scores below the national average (100) in the inclusion and equality indicator (94.66), with unemployment inequality based on ethnicity at the second highest level in the City Region. Leeds also has the highest level of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETS). The challenge comes in ensuring that everyone living and working in Leeds can share in its strong economic prosperity and finding ways to allow the area to realise its true potential.


Commenting on the event Andy Wood, Practice Leader, Grant Thornton Yorkshire, said: “We’re bringing everyone together at the Live Lab for a ‘sleeves rolled-up’ day of innovation, inquiry and transformation, which will help us to reflect on the region’s strengths and create an exciting, connected and vibrant future for us all. We will meet with the aim of answering the question: How can we make Leeds a home where all sectors connect to create inclusive growth?

“Leeds is a dynamic and exciting place and one which is undergoing a period of rapid transformation. We’re home to a diverse range of organisations from the private, public and third sectors which all offer significant growth opportunities, however, our research has uncovered a vital need to find a way to ensure that everyone living and working here benefits from this success.”

The event forms part of Grant Thornton’s ongoing drive to shape a vibrant economy in the UK – it follows the success of a series of similar events held across the UK in 2016, in Sheffield, Reading and Manchester with further events planned in Birmingham and Bristol.