Management Today has ranked Bournemouth as the 17th best place to do business in the UK – other than London.
The ranking accounted for productivity, talent pool, innovation and rate of growth – as well as a number of other factors.
BCP Council’s recent unification has seen the conurbation’s population rise to over 400,000, with the aim of creating a city by the sea.
The area now includes the major manufacturing hubs of Poole Harbour and Bournemouth Airport, worth around £1.2bn a year to the local economy according to Management Today.
What makes it so good?
Bournemouth finds itself above major cities like Aberdeen and Leicester thanks to its position as a cost-effective home for major financial service providers such as JP Morgan, Vitality and BNY Mellon.
Since 2013 development investment has topped £1bn, Council investment into infrastructure and digital technology has helped facilitate this.
Due to the high rates of investment BCP now boasts one of the fastest growing technology sectors in the country.
In 2017 Tech Nation rated the area as the best in the country for high-growth digital technology businesses.
They also recorded job growth in the technology industry of 25% between 2014 and 2017.