Ashley Moore, managing director of West Bay Capital, developer of 30 Pall Mall in Liverpool, explains why Liverpool should benefit from civil service relocations ahead of other cities:

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The publication of former Reed Elsevier chief executive Ian Smith’s paper, Relocation — Transforming Where and How Government Works, last month has given fresh momentum to Sir Michael Lyons’ relocation agenda and sets an ambitious target to decant 15,000 civil service jobs from the capital over the next five years.

In the north-west, Smith’s report has been seen as a Green light for Manchester’s Mayfield project and the enticing vision of a “Whitehall of the north”. Smith himself commends the Mayfield model and Manchester must be congratulated for its prescience in anticipating government thinking.

Mayfield is a lot more compelling than the problematic reality. The site presents potentially taxing challenges and there is, as yet, no coherent planning framework for its delivery. If the north-west is looking for a deliverable alternative for the sort of campus development envisaged by Smith, it is to be found 30 miles down the M62.

Liverpool Vision has already produced a masterplan framework for the Pall Mall Exchange quarter to accommodate more than 2m sq ft of grade A office space. Planning permission is already granted for the first phase at 30 Pall Mall and a development competition is underway for the Northwest Regional Development Agency-owned second phase.

It is not just deliverability that gives Pall Mall a competitive edge over Mayfield. Smith asserts that the prime driver for relocation is better value for money and comparative real estate costs. If the same criteria is applied at regional level then Liverpool provides a conspicuously better-value option.

Above all, Smith argues for transparency and objectivity in decision-making, and it is on that basis that the case for Pall Mall should be considered.

• Pall Mall stalled by Liverpool’s public sector
• Budget 2010: report to help create “Whitehall of North”
• ‘Whitehall of the North’ masterplan unveiled
• Manchester nod for ‘Whitehall of north’
• Budget 2010: 15,000 more Whitehall jobs to move