London and Paris Named as Europe’s Best Cities for Business In New Report From Cushman & Wakefield

London and Paris have been named as Europe’s most business friendly cities while Moscow can expect the biggest influx of companies over the next five years. The findings in the 19th annual European Cities Monitor report from global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield also named Barcelona as the city with the highest quality of life with cities as diverse as Brussels, Zurich, Dusseldorf and Manchester all rising significantly in the rankings.

The annual report is based on interviews with senior managers and board directors in charge of location for 500 of Europe’s largest companies. In addition to the overall ranking, 34 cities are ranked against a number of criteria such as transport links, telecommunications, access to markets, availability and quality of staff, cost of office space and quality of life. The research is undertaken independently for Cushman & Wakefield by Taylor Nelson Sofre.

Brussels enters into the top five of the overall ranking (up to 4th from 6th) at the expense of Barcelona and Amsterdam which move down to 5th and 6th respectively. Frankfurt is ranked 3rd. The biggest risers are all regional cities including Zurich (up to 10th from 13th), Dusseldorf (up to 12th from 16th) and Manchester (up to 14th from 18th).

London is ranked the number one city in half of the 12 major rankings including access to markets, availability of qualified staff and international and internal transport links. It scores poorly, however, on the cost of staff, the cost of office space and levels of pollution.

James Young, City of London office head, Cushman & Wakefield, said: “London is fortunate to be situated geographically between the economic powerhouses of the Far East and the United States. It is a truly international city which, although driven by the banking and financial services sector, is also a European media and creative hub. The city is one of the main destinations for international investment and this will increase as it benefits from domestic investment in infrastructure and sporting venues as host of the 2012 Olympic Games.”

Those surveyed also said that fears over the performance of the European economy followed by the growth of Central & Eastern Europe are the factors most likely to impact their business over the next ten years. More than a fifth of companies had outsourced operations overseas in the last 12 months with the new EU member states the most popular destination closely followed by India.

European Cities Monitor 2008: The 10 best cities in which to locate a business today

(full ranking contained in the report) Rank 2008 (2007) City
1. (1) London
2. (2) Paris
3. (3) Frankfurt
4. (6) Brussels
5. (4) Barcelona
6. (5) Amsterdam
7. (7) Madrid
8. (8) Berlin
9. (9) Munich
10. (13) Zurich

Contacts

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Chris Bond
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Chris.Bond {at} Eur.Cushwake(.)Com
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