Airport City Enterprise Zone

[VoldemortBlack]

It probably will be pretty boring to be honest. Schemes like this are meant for the economy, not for aesthetics. I doubt there'll be any street life at all like the renders suggest, it'll be cold and windswept in winter and empty and lifeless in summer.

Good for jobs and the economy though

[bank street]

Think it must be another airline to etihad as they're locating in one of the existing buildings already at the airport rather than one of these new buildings.

There's some extra images of this scheme on the Airport's Facebook if anyone can do the honours....?

There's a rumour about PZ Cussons moving more ops here too in addition to the existing HQ at MBP next door.

[TheFly]

The other one will be Emirates relocating from Wilmslow for more space if it x2 airlines.

[man med]

Full article here http://worldlandscapearchitect.com/m.../#.TyCh9VyqB2A





A landscaped ‘Central Park’ area of over 800m long, featuring a number of pavilions and a large-scale event space, will form the centrepiece of Airport City, along with traditional components of a conventional city centre such as retail outlets, coffee houses, bars and restaurants. The Central Park will also integrate with the existing green space at Painswick Park in order to provide greater connectivity from Wythenshawe’s Woodhouse Park housing estate so that Painswick Park benefits from a series of regenerative enhancements as a result.

[WatcherZero]

Missed a couple of up close ones from that article.

[bank street]

Not sure how to make it appear on here, but this is a new video on Airport City via @manairport on Twitter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhg5RVBidLk

[WatcherZero]

You take the bit of the address after the = sign and put it between the following two codes.

[ Youtube ] [ /youtube ] (without the spaces)

[flange]

Cornish: developer hunt is Airport City's next task

9th March 2012

MANCHESTER Airports Group chief executive Charlie Cornish has said that the key task for Airport City's project team over the next 3-6 months is to select "one or two" developers to help bring the £800m project to life.

Speaking at the MIPIM property conference in Cannes, Mr Cornish said that the development team for the project would spend the next 12-18 months on a £27m programme to install the necessary infrastructure at the 150-acre site site, where it is planning to build around 5m sq ft of property over a 10-15 year period which could attract around 20,000 jobs to the area.

The Airport City plan, he said, had been developed over a three-year period and had "been subject to detailed scrutiny".

"We've looked at the market in detail and we're convinced that we have a really strong, viable commercial offering".

University Hospitals of South Manchester (UHSM) chairman Felicity Goodey also spoke of the opportunities for its 200-acre proposed Medipark scheme, which also forms part of the Airport City enterprise zone.

The park will serve as a gateway for firms looking to trade with the "huge cluster of biotechnology and health-related companies already in Manchester", she said.

The city has already been identified by the government of having a biotech cluster of international significance, she said, while GlaxoSmithkline had placed it in the "European super league".

The 200-acre site has been assembled by UHSM joining its 35 acres of land holdings with 90 owned by Royal London Asset Management and 75 owned by south Manchester developer Bluemantle, alongside council and airport-owned land.

Ms Goodey said the Enterprise Zone status enjoyed by the proposed Medipark "means we can get to the head of the UKTI hit-list and have government support" when attracting overseas investors to the park.

Masterplanning for the Medipark is already underway by BDP and Urban Strategies, and talks are also well underway with potential funders as well as anchor tenants. The scheme is set to be launched in June and site preparation works will begin by the end of the year.

Ms Goodey described the Medipark as "a fantastic opportunity to create something that simply does not exist anywhere else in the UK".

"There is no other site in the UK that can rival this," she added.

http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news

[hulmeman2]

Airport City simulation shown at MIPIM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhg5R...ayer_embedded#!

[jrb]

Place North West.

MAG prepares team for Airport City

9 May 2012, 09:23


Manchester Airports Group has promoted Stephanie Mullenger to general manager property and recruited Suresh Gorasia from Allied London as property and assets finance director.

Gorasia was group financial controller and finance manager at Allied London, helping to deliver the Spinningfields scheme in Manchester city centre. He was responsible for all aspects of finance, construction and development accounting matters and corporate transactions.

In his new role he will oversee the financial management of MAG's assets division, which encompasses the commercial property, airport infrastructure and capital investment functions across the four airports; Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside. His key area of focus will be funding the £650m Airport City project at Manchester Airport.

Mullenger will oversee MAG Developments' existing £335m property portfolio following the appointment of former managing director, John Atkins, as Airport City Director in December. Mullenger joined MAG Developments, the commercial property arm of Manchester Airports Group, as business development director in 2009.

Mullenger will be responsible for facilities management and property management, both recently brought in-house from DTZ; plus the property marketing, lettings and agency; professional and customer services functions. She also retains the remit of developing business leads with new and existing customers; and will work closely with the Airport City Director to market the £650m Enterprise Zone development at Manchester. She was previously director of Colliers CRE and managing director of Urban Splash Work from 2001 to 2006.

[EverythingButABeach]

What'll really get people into offices round here is if HS2 put a station in this location. It'll be the perfect place to put Management Consultancy offices (e.g. to add to Accenture's Consulting Wing who are already round the corner). That'll be a huge deal to Manchester's economy and local employment prospects.

[heatonparkincakes]

I see your point Beach, but all the evidence is that senior Mancunian consultancy, legal and financial folk prefer to cluster in the city centre or near that, than disperse round the region.

HSt might prove though to be a curious commuter service in one sense.

We don't know what work practices will be like in a generation when HSt comes on line for the north.

A generation back and it was a "liquid" lunch and hacking away at a typewriter or fax machine for yer white collar drone.

BBC radio 4 broadcasted a great play by Ian Hislop about Wapping that was partially about this last night.

[flange]

Regeneration in Greater Manchester: Airport City off to a flier

24th May 2012

By Mike Fahy - Assistant Editor

THE introduction of Enterprise Zone status at Airport City and Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus is proving to be a draw to new investors, but only due to the strong fundamentals of each location.

The Enterprise Zones offer incentives to potential occupiers that include a discount on business rates worth up to £275,000 over a five-year period, a light-tough planning regime and access to superfast broadband.

Mike Davies, chairman of Manchester Airport Group, said that the £690m Airport City scheme was already attracting a lot of interest. "Obviously it is early days. We had the launch in January and it has attracted a considerable number of enquiries –– with 2,500 hits on the website and 20 firm enquiries for R&D facilities, office space and hotel enquiries. At this stage, we would say the interest is healthy.”

Whether or not this is directly due to its Enterprise Zone status is open to debate, as the scheme was in the pipeline for several years beforehand. However, with both of the region's Enterprise Zones they were chosen not only because of the unique nature of their offer - meaning the potential for displacement is reduced - but also because they offer the greatest potential uplift in tax receipts, meaning the local authorities can plough back revenues into other projects.

"The economic benefits of the Enterprise Zone are an additional fillip but the greater economic benefit is the retention of those rate savings in the wider region," said Davies.

John Downes, managing director of Langtree Group, which is the private sector delivery partner at Daresbury Science and Enterprise Campus, agreed.

"It’’s the retention of business rates that allows the local authority to draw down financial resources to put the infrastructure in to make the facilities available," he said.

He added that he felt the financial incentives on offer to potential tenants were pitched "about right".

"It’’s making the decision easier for smaller businesses, which are nervous about scaling up because of impact on P&L. It should be irrelevant to a larger business really, which wants to be there for the right reasons."

Adam Robson, assistant director at Drivers Jonas Deloitte, said that to an inward investor, the financial incentives on offer at Airport City were not the overriding attraction.

"MAG’’s ambition and strategy is clear," he said. "The success of the scheme is yet to be seen, however few other locations can offer the level of connectivity to local, regional and national and international business markets, which means that Airport City has more than one USP with which to attract occupiers."

http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/

[WingTips]

Anyone make any sense of the above jargon? after reading this I was very little the wiser!

[WatcherZero]

* Since they started taking expressions of interest in January interest has been good.
* Its benefitting more from its location than the tax breaks, being a specialist location its also not just causing existing companies to migrate from elsewhere in the region to save a buck.
* The tax from companies that invest in the EZ can be respent across the region
* The extra tax allows them to pay off the public infrastructure costs faster
* Tax pricing is 'just right'
* MAG ambition good, they have grand vision and it was already in the planning.

[future.architect]

Originally Posted by WingTips

Anyone make any sense of the above jargon? after reading this I was very little the wiser!

More management speak than The Apprentice.

[Cobbydaler]

Originally Posted by WatcherZero

* Since they started taking expressions of interest in January interest has been good.
* Its benefitting more from its location than the tax breaks, being a specialist location its also not just causing existing companies to migrate from elsewhere in the region to save a buck.
* The tax from companies that invest in the EZ can be respent across the region
* The extra tax allows them to pay off the public infrastructure costs faster
* Tax pricing is 'just right'
* MAG ambition good, they have grand vision and it was already in the planning.

Plus light-tough = light-touch, P&L = Profit & Loss...

[ferge]

With this one, I don't really understand why they need to cut down so many trees - I'm sure they could easily fit the same amount of square footage of office space within a masterplan that did not lose all these mature trees (instead of these sparsely dotted lines of trees here and there in atypical masterplan style).

[WatcherZero]

Originally Posted by ferge

With this one, I don't really understand why they need to cut down so many trees - I'm sure they could easily fit the same amount of square footage of office space within a masterplan that did not lose all these mature trees (instead of these sparsely dotted lines of trees here and there in atypical masterplan style).

Its a friggin forest at the moment, you couldnt build anything without removing some trees but look closely at the plans, their squeezing them in as much as possible!

[bank street]

From M.E.N. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereven...-china-mission

Airport City bosses in £650m China mission

Manchester Airport is bidding to attract Chinese businesses to its Airport City project – and bring billions of pounds of investment to the region.

Director John Atkins – who is leading the £650m project – flew to Shanghai to brief more than 200 potential investors at a conference.

Bosses hope Airport City will create up to 20,000 jobs over the next 15 years and want to transform the airport from a regional transport hub into a world-class international business destination in its own right.

Interest in Airport City from China and the Far East has been strong – and airport bosses believe it offers the perfect location for the European headquarters of Chinese businesses looking to enter the global market.

Trade links between the north west and China are currently worth more than £4bn a year – and Manchester is home to the third largest Chinese population in Europe.

Airport bosses hope to build on the connections – and hope to introduce the first direct flights to China within a year.

Talks are progressing with airlines, it is understood.

Mr Atkins unveiled a film in Mandarin Chinese and a 32-page promotional document in the language at Shanghai’s Airport Construction Summit.

He said: “Airport City has the potential to be act as catalyst and serve as a magnet to Manchester, not just for Chinese and Far Eastern businesses looking to enter UK and European markets, but also to airlines to operate direct passenger services between the North of England and China.

"Airport cities form the basis upon which many new airports in countries with rapidly expanding economies are being planned and built.

“Many big corporations that are based at successful airport cities such as Hong Kong or Beijing, may well look to locate a European presence in a similar location – so there is lot of interest in our plans to develop the first airport city in the UK around an established international airport, at Manchester.”