Manchester Airport is planning to create a £659 million ‘Airport City’ on its doorstep to turn it into an international business destination.
The scheme was revealed by chancellor George Osborne yesterday (Thursday January 12). It will be the first development of its kind in the UK and is designated as one of the government’s new Enterprise Zones.
Manchester Airports Group has unveiled a masterplan for the 150-acre site which will include more than five million square feet of business space, which it hopes will be used by multi-national companies.
The Airport City project could create up to 20,000 new jobs over the next 15 years. The two core areas of development at the airport are on sites next to the railway station and its existing cargo centre.
The project will create 1.5 million square feet of office space, 650,000 square feet of manufacturing, around 2,500 hotel beds and 100,000 square feet of retail and leisure.
Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said: “Airport City is a concept we have been developing for a number of years and we are now at a critical stage in the project’s life as we bring it to the market and commence phase one.
“We were enthused by the government’s recognition of Airport City’s potential when it was named as the focal point of their new Enterprise Zone, as we feel that this project presents a generational opportunity not only for the wider region, but nationally in order to attract new investment to the UK during the economic downturn.”
The first part of the project involves putting in roads, landscaping, infrastructure and utilities to allow the initial phase of the development to proceed.
Report by Rob Gill
