Businesses on a growth curve may look for a new home for a number of reasons. They may have outgrown their existing premises, need a purpose-built facility, seek easier access to markets or closer proximity to a pool of skilled labour. Looking at the bottom line, a new location can simply mean a reduction in costs, both on labour or existing rent and rates.

Accommodation and costs
Some businesses may feel the need to have a city centre location. However, considerable savings can be made on the cost of city accommodation by moving out of the centre, where land costs are cheaper and there‘s more space to grow.

People and skills
Can you find the right people to run and work in your business? If you employ graduates, how close are the universities? How does the local labour market operate? Does the economic profile of an area match your needs? How easy will it be to recruit and what are local wage rates like? With Scotland‘s youngest and fastest growing population, West Lothian - situated mid way between Edinburgh and Glasgow - has to be a serious contender when considering relocation options north of the border.

Transport and accessibility
Is your business easily accessible by your workforce? And how quickly and easily can you reach your markets? Three million people live within one hour of West Lothian, some 60% of Scotland‘s consumer market. Excellent transport links to Scotland‘s two major cities ensure that businesses located in West Lothian can draw on a substantial skilled labour pool.

Lifestyle and working environment
A move out of a city can provide an enhanced quality of life and working environment, with more green spaces and less traffic congestion. In April 2007, West Lothian was declared Britain‘s seventh best place to bring up a family in a Readers Digest poll, thanks to its unique blend of quality town and country living, an enviable mix of leisure and retail facilities, not to mention its modern business parks.

Dynamic local economy
An area with a dynamic local economy provides a fitting environment for a business with growth ambitions. It is likely to have excellent business networks in place, providing a supportive backdrop to fast growing companies. It‘s worth checking out if other businesses in your sector have moved into the area. Chances are they‘ve already identified the success factors that are helping them to grow.

Business-friendly
Finally, how business-friendly is the local council? A forward-thinking planning authority can be crucial in expediting a planning application. An integrated approach to providing support for business can help move things along more swiftly and get you quickly in front of the people you need to know.

West Lothian is ideally placed to deliver location solutions for growing companies. Its strategic location in central Scotland and easy access to the major population centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow, competitive property costs, access to skilled labour and outstanding quality of life add up to a winning formula for business. Find out more at www.westlothian.com or sign up for our free monthly email business update by emailing enterprise@westlothian.gov.uk

So you are considering growing your business and thinking about moving into a new geographical area. You are doing your research, but what are the key factors in deciding where to locate?

As you would expect, the important factors vary a little by type of company, but on the whole, the essential factors boil down to:

• Easy access to markets, customer or clients

• Ease of recruiting qualified staff

• Communication links particularly international; and

• Cost factors including both staff and accommodation.

Here in Birmingham, we have built up a powerful network of business and property professionals. They can provide you with independent advice, but probably more importantly, they will make you feel at home in the business community. They might talk about the thriving business community, the ease to conduct business, the friendly atmosphere but, simply, they point to the reasons why they consider the city is best for business.

So how do we rate against those key factors? Birmingham is the perfect location for ease of access that is so all-important. Air, road and rail connections provide access to 400 million people in the rest of Europe and over 98% of the UK market, customers and clients lie within a four-hour drive.

Accommodation?
No problem. To quote from the 2006 Cushman & Wakefield UK Cities Monitor, Birmingham is the top rated city for the availability of office space and for the availability and cost of car parking.

Recruiting qualified staff? What a choice! Birmingham is considered young and talented:

• We have the highest proportion of under 16 year olds in Western Europe

• There are 19,000 graduates every year from the city‘s three universities; and

• With a labourforce of some 1.5m in the immediate urban area, we have the skills and expertise to suit your needs

And if you have any doubts consult the experts. For more information visit www.locatebirmingham.com/

Companies relocating to Kent and Medway are attracted by its wide range of suitable commercial property, skilled workforce and unrivalled links to UK and European markets. Kent is also an extremely cost-effective location, with reasonable office rents, competitive salaries and grants available in certain areas of the county.

Kent offers a wide range of prime business and science parks including Kings Hill, Kent Science Park and Chatham Maritime. New commercial sites are currently being constructed at the Ebbsfleet Valley development in North Kent and at Lakesview International Business Park and White Cliffs Business Park, both in East Kent. The county is already home to many blue-chip businesses including Pfizer, Kimberly-Clark, Coty, Barclays and Eurostar.

A company coming to Kent will find itself within 24 hours drive of over 450m potential consumers. Fast rail services from the new Ebbsfleet International Station in North Kent in November will mean Northern Europe will be even closer to the county: Lille, for example, will only be 70 minutes away. Once domestic services launch in 2009, journey times to London and the rest of the county will be vastly improved. Traveling times to the City will be cut by up to half, with the journey to London St Pancras taking only 17 minutes from Ebbsfleet and only 37 minutes from Ashford.

Despite being less than a 60-minute drive from London, Kent and Medway‘s commercial property prices are up to 60% lower than in the City and salaries can be almost 50% lower. Some companies relocating to Kent from London have saved 40% overall on their operating costs.

Start-ups and expanding businesses investing in property, plant and machinery in designated areas of Kent and Medway can benefit from grants through the Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE) scheme. The South East Grant Advisory Service, (Se-gas), a partner of Locate in Kent, offers advice on grants and can guide businesses through the application process.

Any company looking to move or expand its business should consider Kent as a location. Its available and skilled workforce, variety of commercial properties, unbeatable links to the UK and Europe and the exciting new developments currently underway in the county make it the place to do business.

Any company looking to move into the area should contact Locate in Kent, which offers free, confidential relocation advice and support, including supplying information about potential sites and properties and grants, undertaking location-specific research and providing local knowledge. For more information visit www.locateinkent.com or call 01732 520 700

In the age of globalisation and the internet, some would argue that location simply doesn‘t matter any more. For high volume products and processes that are easily replicated, this is undoubtedly true. But high value, knowledge-based sectors such as professional and legal services demonstrate that proximity to and the ability to service your customer base is essential.

"Service and speed of response is critical to our clients," explains Guy Jackson, managing partner at law firm Cobbetts, which recently moved to prestigious new offices in the west end of Leeds. A central location and a striking, modern building were crucial for the firm, which has grown its Leeds office through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions, and needed to be close to the rest of the city‘s professional and business community.

According to the Euro Cities Monitor by global commercial property consultants Cushman & Wakefield, "access to markets, customers and clients" is the single most important issue for companies to consider when deciding where to locate their business. In their survey of over 500 senior executives from companies across Europe, nearly two-thirds cited easy access to markets as their number one priority, followed by the availability of qualified staff.

In comparison with our European counterparts, UK cities perform well on both counts. London, of course, leads the field. However, four other cities - Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds - feature among the top 30 'best cities to locate a business today‘. Significantly, they outperform or are in direct competition with major European cities and capitals, such as Rome, Copenhagen, Geneva, Athens and Oslo.

The ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees is crucial, both in the service sector and for manufacturing companies, which rely on specialised skills and knowledge intensive processes to stay ahead of overseas competition. However much we hear about the death of UK manufacturing and the relocation of production to low-cost economies in Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific countries, manufacturing companies continue to account for a significant part of the business base in cities such as Leeds and Birmingham.

Supply chain relationships are also critical and aren‘t something that can be developed overnight. An extended sector support network can therefore make a big difference to companies relocating or expanding their operations into new territories. It‘s the difference between, on the one hand starting from scratch and doing it all yourself, and on the other hand being able to plug the business directly into the existing supply chain, networks and potential customers.

Leeds City Council‘s business and enterprise team offers a wide range of support for companies looking to expand or relocate their operations. For further information visit www.locateinleeds.co.uk