LIVERPOOL CITY REGION - ST.HELENS

St.Helens is located to the east of Liverpool and is one of the most accessible boroughs in the City Region. It enjoys a prime position at the heart of the North West's M6 and M62 motorway networks and lies partway between the cities of Liverpool & Manchester.

The borough has a population of almost 180,000 and has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years to become a growing regional location of choice.

Key facts and features

• St.Helens is a global centre for glass manufacturing technology, a fact underlined by the £2.2billion acquisition of Pilkington by the world's second-largest glassmaker NSG.
• Knauf has invested more than £25million in St.Helens, safeguarding 250 jobs and significantly increasing capacity for building materials/services.
• Somerfield, which serves 1,275 supermarkets in the UK, selected St.Helens for its regional distribution base.
• St.Helens Chamber has been named as the country's top Chamber of Commerce, at the National Chamber Awards 2007.
• Home to top-class rugby league, St.Helens 'Saints' is a global household name and the most successful British team of the Superleague era, not to mention treble-winners and BBC team of the year in 2006.
• Haydock Park Racecourse offers year-round flat and jump horseracing, with 30 high calibre annual race meetings.
• Home to Dream, a 20 metre high sculpture by world renowned artist Jerome Plensa set on the site of the former Sutton Manor Colliery and visible from the M62
• The council is rated 4* in the most recent government rankings.
• St.Helens was awarded £13.4million round one Local Enterprise Growth Initiative funding.
• More than half the borough is rural, boasting eight golf courses and several country parks.
  

Existing investors include:

Pilkington Europe Ltd, Wincanton, Auto Trader Magazine, J Sainsbury, Booker Distribution, NGF Europe Ltd, Knauf Insulation, Lancashire Tea, Saint Gobain, Nichols Foods (Vimto), Corus, Unifrax, Bachem, BOC, Flamco and Nijman Zeetank.