Partner Sought for Manchester Campus Development

Following board approval, Manchester University is seeking a corporate partner to develop its city-centre based North Campus site into a world-class innovation district over the course of the next 20 years. The University has been discussing early stage plans with Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the next step will be a rigorous search for a partner. It is envisaged that work on the site will begin after the University transfers its engineering schools to a new multi-million Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD) adjacent to the University’s main Oxford Road campus, scheduled for 2021.

The plans are to transform the mixed-use 11.8 hectare (29 acre) site and buildings around Sackville Street and adjacent to Piccadilly Rail and Metrolink stations, into an exciting research and business campus also incorporating cultural developments and residential space. As an active partner the University, which will continue to hold the freehold rights, will have significant strategic and decision-making influence; it will retain the south end of the site where it has significant research activity, including the newly built Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology.

The site will focus on specialities which combine the research and industrial strengths of the University and the city region with national economic priorities, including advanced materials, applied health innovation, artificial intelligence and digital technology and industrial biotechnology.

The development is projected to generate potentially up to £2 billion of growth over the next 20 years or more for the local economy and is projected to create up to 6,000 jobs.