Manchester's Economy (updates)

[ricsinsk9y]

The figures are taken from Rightmove.co.uk, which is by far the most used website nationally for estate agents advertising houses for sale on-line.

The search criteria I used was min price £1m, within 10, 15 and 20 miles of M1 post code. There are currrently 292 listed properties within 15 miles of M1.

The results for other cities for 15 miles of centre are:

Brum (B1) - 80
Liverpool (L1) - 67
Leeds (LS1) - 24
Bristol (BS1) - 51
Edinburgh (EH1) - 11
Glasgow (G1) - 9
Sheffield (S1) - 16
York (YR1) - 8

Its not that scientific and the figures will change daily, but still a good measure of comparison and another stone to throw at the wanabees from down the M6 and over the Pennines. On this measure, it would seem real wealth is being created in and around Manc. But than we all knew that anyway.

[Metrolink]

those 67 in Liverpool probably all work in Manchester

[jrb]

Two more Labour conferences for city



This year's conference was successful

LABOUR has confirmed it will hold its 2008 and 2010 conferences in Manchester in a move worth £30m to the local economy.

The decision was taken by the party's National Executive Committee last night after a hugely-successful conference in Manchester this year.

It was greeted with jubilation in the city, which is rapidly carving out a reputation as Britain's new conference capital.

The Conservative and Liberal Democrats are lining up to hold similar events in Manchester and, with other prestigious political and business organisations also booking room at Manchester Central - the new name for the G-MEX - and Manchester International Convention Centre (MICC), the sector could be worth £100m over the next three years.

Manchester city council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "This is great news for our city. Manchester received a huge boost to its international reputation thanks to the way we hosted the 2006 conference.

"We have an outstanding range of national and international events due to take place in the next two years.

"The incredible facilities around our conference quarter will be even better by 2008 and we will keep building on our success to attract even more major conferences which attract more jobs and investment."

Plaudits

This year's Labour conference in September - the first time the party had used the city since 1917 - won plaudits for both the quality of the facilities and security.

A "ring of steel" was thrown up around a conference zone made up of the G-MEX, MICC, and the Radisson and Midland hotels, patrolled by up to 1,000 police each day.

Hazel Blears, the Salford MP and Labour chairman, said there had been an "overwhelming" mood among delegates to return to the city. "It would be impossible not to come back," she said.

Marketing Manchester, the agency which negotiated the deal to bring Labour back in 2008, estimates economic growth in the "business tourism" sector will increase by 30 per cent from the current annual total of £300m over the next three to five years, thanks to the strategy of targeting high-profile conferences.

[jrb]

Billion pound boost for city tourism

The value of tourism to the area has risen by nearly £1bn in five years.

Figures just released confirmed the region's booming reputation as a hotspot - for visitors from Britain and abroad.

Tourism's value rocketed to £3.92bn last year compared to £3.05bn in 2000. On average, an incredible 2,250 people flocked to Greater Manchester from overseas every day. The figures reflect a major push to market the area to tourists, with Manchester Council and Marketing Manchester spearheading the effort with a string of high-profile events.

The 2005 programme included the Manchester Jazz Festival, Manchester Pride, the 24:7 Theatre Festival and the Manchester Mela and Caribbean Carnival, as well as the Manchester Poetry Festival and Manchester Comedy Festival in October.

Sports fans had the Paralympic World Cup, the Salford Triathlon World Cup, the AAA's athletics championships, the BUPA Great Manchester Run and matches from the UEFA European Women's Championship.

Festival

The number and quality of events has been increased again this year, with the return of the big wheel and the Christmas markets bolstered with the appearance of an outdoor ice-rink at Piccadilly Gardens.

And next year will be even more critical with the launch of the Manchester International Festival - a two-and-a-half week, £37m biennial arts event showcasing new work from across the world.

The M.E.N. revealed earlier this year that Manchester's success in hosting the Labour Party's conference could bring in an extra £100m in "business tourism" over the next three years, as political parties and businesses rush to use the G-Mex and Manchester International Convention Centre for similar events.

The new statistics are part of an annual research report commissioned by Marketing Manchester. They show the number of jobs supported by tourism was 59,046 in 2005, up from 51,704 in 2000, while the total number of visitors rose from 79m to 94m. Foreign visitors accounted for 820,000 of those, up from 560,000 five years earlier. The most popular local attraction in 2005 was the Lowry, with 850,000 visitors.

Manchester is already in the top three of most-visited British cities, behind London and Edinburgh.

Andrew Stokes, of Marketing Manchester, said: "Greater Manchester has seen a massive development in innovation and fresh ideas, which combined with the city's excellent tourism product, significant route development and overseas marketing activity has prompted the renaissance and increasing appeal.

"Working closely with VisitBritain and Manchester Airport, Marketing Manchester will continue to invest heavily in skills, quality and research."

[jrb]

UU spend £22m to improve supplies

UNITED UTILITIES and city developers are pouring more than £22m into improving electrical supplies in Manchester, to resolve a power shortage hampering the city's growth.

The situation was so grave that city council cupremo Sir Howard Bernstein and bosses from top property developers such as Argent raised the issue with Philip Green, the new chief executive of Warrington-based UU.

Manchester's economic regeneration in the past decade has seen the city's power infrastructure stretched to breaking point. This led to delays in connecting new or revamped buildings.

United Utilities is to spend £12m on five new primary sub-stations in and around the city, to keep pace with the surge in property development. Developers will put in £10m.

The investment will help to maintain the reliability of electricity supplies for homes and businesses across the whole of Greater Manchester.

And the extra capacity of the new state-of-the-art equipment will help facilitate the city's growth and stand the area in good stead for decades to come.

Chief executive Philip Green said the issue was one "of the highest priority" for United Utilities.

Demand

Julie Spinks, UU's asset strat-egy and planning director, explained: "Over recent years, in Manchester city centre we have seen the demand for power increase substantially. In particular, peak demand has shifted from the winter months to the summer months - the result of more widespread installation of air conditioning in shops, offices and even new apartments.

"It is testament to the success of Manchester's regeneration, but it all puts more strain on the network, and we need to be able to match new developments to existing and planned capacity."

Since May, 2005, UU has been working with Manchester city council to identify a suitable site in the Piccadilly area for a new substation.

As previously revealed in M.E.N. Business, the favoured site is at the Travis Street car park, and UU hopes that the planning authority will be able to resolve any outstanding third party issues in the next few weeks. Once legal title passes to United Utilities, the substation could be built in 18 months.

If planning approval is obtained, the scheme could be underway by early spring, 2007, and completed by May, 2008.

Julie Spinks added: "The substation we are proposing will contain new, compact equipment that can all be housed indoors, so the visual impact of the site will be kept to a minimum."

The five new substations will be located at Travis Street, Spinningfields, Salford, North Manchester Business Park and Victoria Park.

[jrb]

New Carphone centre will create 300 jobs



An artist's impression of the new Opal Telecom centreTHREE HUNDRED jobs will be created in Greater Manchester with an £8.5m investment by telecoms giant Carphone Warehouse.

Opal Telecom its network operations division will build a new centre at Irlam which will be its national engineering headquarters.

The company already has an office on the Northbank Industrial Park in Irlam, where 200 staff are based. The new building will go up nearby and will be for 500 workers.

It will include a call centre, and a base for engineering and support staff. It will also be used as a national centre for management meetings and training.

Carphone Warehouse acquired the firm in 2002.

It currently operates three call centres, two in Warrington, and one in Preston, as well as the Irlam operation, which is the network operations and engineering support centre for the whole of the UK.

Six-fold

But business has expanded six-fold since the business was set up in 1995 and the existing site is no longer big enough.

Opal Telecom offers voice services to the Corporate and small and medium sized enterprises market in the UK.

Carephone is Europe's largest mobile phone retailer and the technology behind its broadband service Talk Talk is being driven by Opal Telecom.

Group Services Director for Carphone Warehouse, Graham Chisnall, said: "Irlam will be the headquarters of the engineering backbone for the Talk Talk network. We have 200 staff there already but over the next few years 300 jobs will be created. The new building will be finished in February 2008. The business is experiencing phenomenal growth."

Meanwhile soap maker Pz Cussons have been planning permission to build a £15m factory, in Agecroft, Salford which will be the UK headquarters for manufacturing.

About 100 staff will move from its existing Kersal Vale site which will close and a small number of new jobs could be created.

[SPIDER-MAN]

xx

[dannyb]

sounds like good stuff wil be interesting to see how exactly they implement it

[andysimo123]

10 Million square foot of office space is like 5 or 6 54 story buildings with large floor plates. That's based on the new Bank of America Tower in New York but that has 5 floors at the bottom which have massive floor plates so make it 6 54 story buildings. We would need 320+ floors of large floors to fill 10 million square foot which is alot of office space.

[ricsinsk9y]

Someone somewhere must be expecting a pretty big influx of investment into the city. 10 million sq ft is over 10 years of total office space take-up!

[andysimo123]

Originally Posted by ricsinsk9y

Someone somewhere must be expecting a pretty big influx of investment into the city. 10 million sq ft is over 10 years of total office space take-up!

It does say over the next decade, so its 1 million sq ft a year over the next 10 years.

[ricsinsk9y]

Originally Posted by andysimo123

It does say over the next decade, so its 1 million sq ft a year over the next 10 years.

yea but no but....what about all the other office schemes that'll be built elsewhere in and around the city centre?

[andysimo123]

I think this also includes some of the offices that are already going up. It does say Spinningfields and Piccadilly. Piccadilly has 300,000 sq foot of office space being built and Spinningfields includes 2.37 million sq ft of office space.

[ricsinsk9y]

You're right! No complaints mind, the addition of so many grade A offices is very welcome.

[majormystery]

Originally Posted by andysimo123

I think this also includes some of the offices that are already going up. It does say Spinningfields and Piccadilly. Piccadilly has 300,000 sq foot of office space being built and Spinningfields includes 2.37 million sq ft of office space.

So thats the equivalent of 4 Spinningfields over the next ten years. That'll ding dang do for me.

[jrb]

Mediacity.

Incalculable.

[SleepyOne]

Co-ordinated, well founded strategic initiatives such as 'Knowledge Capital' will do much more than a supercasino ever could to help create a sustainable and prosperous local economy. Manchester University is a fantastic asset with a proud history and is a potential world class asset, such is their aim. It has spun out some innovative and potentially highly profitable businesses in recent years. Lets hope this new fund mentioned in the following article goes towards realising many more.

£10m fund to boost city's best new ideas
chris barry



SCIENCE and innovation in Manchester received a major leg-up today with the launch of a pioneering £10m fund to help fledgling companies with bright ideas take off.

NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, has launched the fund with a £3m investment, and will work with public and private sector partners to raise the remaining cash for the fund.

Manchester already has a global reputation for science and innovation, thanks to the excellence of its academic facilities. The aim of the new fund is to build on these credentials.

The fund was being launched at Manchester: Knowledge Capital today. Manchester:Knowledge Capital is a partnership of all 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, four universities, the strategic health authority, other key public agencies and leading businesses. Its aim is to promote long-term economic growth through innovation, research, science and knowledge.

Chief executive Cathy Garner said the new fund would have wide-ranging benefits to Greater Manchester.

"The fund will provide a catalyst for innovation across the Manchester city region, enabling a step change in Manchester's sustainable economic growth."

Impressed

Jonathan Kestenbaum, chief executive of NESTA added: "Greater Manchester is one of the leading UK cities for know-ledge, creativity and the application of new ideas. I am hugely impressed with the vision of Manchester as an innovation city and the ambition of its leaders to turn this vision into reality.

"That is why NESTA is delighted to act as a catalyst for this endeavour."

It is expected that the fund will tie in with major capital investment projects in Greater Manchester, including the redevelopment of the Oxford Road corridor and the much anticipated BBC move to MediaCity at Salford Quays.

The fund will help fund new creative businesses and access to skills and networks.

Mr Kestenbaum added: "The fund will allow us to test different approaches to stimulating innovation in a concentrated way.

"It brings huge benefits to Manchester and valuable lessons for the rest of the UK."

[b4mmy]

nice one sleepover, couldn't agree more

[SleepyOne]

Yahoo in Manchester move



MANCHESTER has lured another big-name global company, further enhancing the city's credentials as an international business location.

Internet giant Yahoo! has opened an office in developer Stonemartin's service office facility at Peter House, Oxford Street. It is the company's first regional office outside London. Rival Google already has a base in the city, having opened a sales office in November, 2005.

The new office will employ five people and is headed by Steven Beckwith, who has moved from Yahoo!'s London office to be sales manager, north England.

Blake Chandlee, director of UK media sales, Yahoo! UK & Ireland, said: "Steven's appointment is an investment and clearly indicates our commitment to clients and partners based in northern England."

Colin Sinclair, of MIDAS, Manchester's inward investment agency, said: "This is great news for the city and its creative, new media and digital sector, which goes from strength to strength."

Peter House is home to Manchester's second Internet giant



31/01/2007

Global internet search giant, Yahoo!, is opening its North of England base in Stonemartin's premium managed space offices in Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester. Yahoo! has signed a 12-month term and moved into its new 367 sq ft office. The company has taken five workstations initially, with a view to expanding its team further over the course of the year.

Peter House totals 100,000 sq ft of office space and is operated by Stonemartin as part of its managed and serviced office portfolio. Yahoo!'s tenancy is particularly significant in light of the recent signing of another major New Media client, internet search engine company, Google, who also moved into the building in June 2005.

Stonemartin is delighted with its new tenant, as Jesse Stott, Sales Manager of Peter House, explains: "We are very happy that Yahoo! have chosen Peter House as its new home.

"Yahoo! is a prestigious company and a household name and its presence in the building is certain to create a positive impact."

Manchester's inward investment agency, MIDAS, which worked with Stonemartin during Yahoo!'s relocation to Peter House, sees the investment as a major boost for Manchester.

Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive at MIDAS commented: "This is obviously great news for the city and its creative, new media and digital sector, which continues to go from strength to strength.

"With other global brands and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Sun Microsystems already based in the city, Manchester is fast becoming a hub for ICT/New Media.

"Yahoo!'s move to Peter House will hopefully be a catalyst for its future expansion, and is a ringing endorsement of the services and facilities Manchester has to offer."

A relatively small presence but a good piece of news nonetheless.

[Northbeach]

Originally Posted by SleepyOne

I know iSOFT are going through troubled times but Manchester really needs to be able to hang onto major corporate HQ's such as this if it is to have a hope of realising its ambitions. Im struggling to understand what Banbury in Oxfordshire has over a prime site near Manchester airport. I suppose, as the article says, there is now critical mass of its operations down there now. But really, rather than banging on about stale, 2 year old news about attracting the Bank of NY to Manchester, the city fathers and associated agencies should be trying to figure out why a major FTSE tech company - the very 'knowledge' industry the city is trying to foster - has now all but drained its once significant presense away from the city.


When this sort of thing happens its sort of makes talking about buildings rather trivial.

What Longy said Sleeps.
Don't shed a tear. The company left Manchester (whitworth street) a while ago and moved the staff to a shed overlooking the M6 in Birchwood, Warringwrong (where the majority of ex manchester staff now reside). The Banbury office is Torex's place (with whom iSoft merged with...and guess what, are also being investigate by the serious fraud office). The airport office was merely a bachelor pad for the fat cats; a toy to show off to clients (almost a hundred thousand spent on sculptures in the foyer).
A bunch of greedy accountants who acquired small fish to see themselves in the FTSE 250...quite possible they'll all be doing iPorridge before you know it.

They have Google and Yahoo neon's stuck somewhere on Peter house (next to Aleef's perhaps) - something to show off their limited, but welcome presence.

University of Salford leads the way with creative and cultural industries.

05/02/2007

A major consortium of 15 northern universities has been formed to work closely with the creative and cultural industries, and to maximise the benefits to the north of England of the BBC move to Salford and the MediaCity:UK development at Salford Quays.
Led by the University of Salford, Northern Edge will harness expertise in teaching, learning and research in areas such as journalism, visual arts and music. It is one of only two such organisations to be funded across the north of England.

The initiative is funded by Northern Way - a collaboration between the three northern Regional Development Agencies - and will provide a focal point for the development of professional training, research and knowledge transfer in the creative and cultural industries.

Salford University's Professor Ron Cook, Project Director for Northern Edge, said: "With the BBC move to Salford and the plans for MediaCity:UK, there has never been a better time for northern universities and the creative industry to work together.

"Northern Edge will help raise the national and international profile of the north in these industries by promoting best practice, establishing partnerships with major employers like the BBC and generating research."

There are over 32,000 students and 1,000 staff in the northern region in disciplines related to the creative and cultural industries - and the Northern Edge partners will represent over 40% of this number.

Iain Bennett, Sector Leader - Digital and Creative Industries for the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), said: "MediaCity:UK is an ambitious scheme to create an internationally competitive media hub that will provide employment for 15,500 people and add £200m every year in additional net value to the regional economy.

"It will propel the British creative industry to the forefront of a growing global market. The Northern Edge consortium will maximise the benefits of mediacity:uk by helping the northern universities and the creative industry to work together."

Among the new activities to be considered by the consortium will be mentoring schemes, new programmes of study, and short university courses with industry.

Ron said: "This is an exciting time for northern creative and cultural industries and we are delighted to be able to lead the way with new ways of working. Northern Edge will help us to access the wealth of creative talent among our universities for the benefit of industry partners."

Neville Chamberlain, Chairman of The Northern Way, said: "We are delighted to have provided £0.5m from our Growth Fund to provide new professional development services for the creative and cultural industries across the North.

"We believe this project will enhance the performance of professional services in this sector, and contribute to the closing of the knowledge gap and wealth creation.

"This university collaboration will provide evidence that the North can sort out its own problems and better prepare for a true knowledge economy, thus strengthening our case for further investment from the private and public sectors in the future."