The first phase of Manchester’s new business district has been revealed, and is set to massively expand the city and attract even more young professionals.
Four new projects are planned for the new Enterprise City development, which will be centred around the old Granada Studios near Castlefield towards the west of Manchester city centre, led by investment from property firm Allied London.
The development is part of the major St John’s masterplan, which will be a neighbourhood containing 560,000 square feet of office space, 240,000 square feet of retail, 320 hotel rooms and 13 acres of public space, as well as new residential accommodation attracting thousands of new inhabitants to the city centre.
According to its website, Enterprise City will be the “commercial heartbeat” of St John’s, creating places to work, stay, eat, drink and shop to reconfigure “how we do business in the 21st century”.
Speaking on its new updated vision, Allied London chief executive Michael Ingall said: “We aim to connect modern industries within a new cluster of creativity, opportunity and innovation. On completion, Enterprise City will create 10,000 jobs in Manchester, promoting diversity in industry and ensuring the city can attract and retain the talent it needs to develop even further.
“Clusters don’t just pop up anywhere, they develop where an environment enables activity to thrive. Enterprise City is driven by the intention to create a wide and diverse series of spaces and facilities that will support modern industries and companies of all sizes, from SME’s through to large-scale growing and expanding businesses.”
The four new areas
- The ABC Buildings have been empty for almost 10 years and were going to be demolished, but will now be refurbished while keeping their original 1960s architecture and design.
- The Bonded Warehouse is a Victorian construction that used to be a terminus linking Manchester and Liverpool, and will now be converted into a new tech and workspace destination as a “central pillar” of Enterprise City
- The Department is another new workspace that will house Manchester’s technology hub, inviting new start-ups and growing tech businesses to use the space within.
- All Studios is an existing company within the Old Granada Studios set up last year by Allied London, with more than 100,000 square feet of TV and film studios.
