Manchester’s Mayor’s Big Plan

Another article about the North Powerhouse… it seems to be the most potent topic in the regions at the moment!

We attended the Estates Gazette Question Time conference in Manchester yesterday evening, where once again, the event held an interesting panel discussing an array of key topics in the real estate sector. From a personal perspective, I found it extremely interesting to hear the viewpoints of the newly elected Greater Manchester Mayor, Andrew Burnham, on how he feels Manchester should approach the devolution programme and ‘break free’ from Westminster. The aim of such would be to control our own funding and dictate how to best take our city forward. Naturally, a key talking point from this was property, both commercial and residential.

In regards to residential, we are all aware of the volume of cranes around the city centre and the majority of which are focused on residential developments. Below I have focused on two current residential projects in Manchester which are pushing the market forward.

Capital and Centric have long been praised for their approach to development and looking at spaces in a way which others may not. The Crusader building on Chapletown Street is no different, where the open-house day in July saw queues formed from as early as 7 am and a number of apartments sold off plan. I actually had the pleasure of visiting the scheme on the day and saw the plans and I believe the fact that it is a purely owner-occupier building will allow for growth in the local area of Ancoats; maintaining the culture of Manchester – a key point Capital and Centric have focused on throughout their developments.

The other project which has brought particular interest to me is the Angel Meadows site. A scheme owned by Far East Consortium with the project management outsourced to Arcadis. The plans reveal the creation of 754 new houses reaching a total project cost of over £200million –  another true trophy development within the city centre itself.

These projects – and others – are a clear sign of Manchester’s commitment to becoming a world city. As stated by Andrew Burnham yesterday evening, the next challenge is to continue this scale of development whilst also looking to do the same in the neighbouring towns of the city centre.

Manchester is sure to be a place to watch over the next five years!

Bradley Flatt, Real Estate, Foundation Recruitment