8 Facts About The £800m Business Destination: Airport City Manchester

The number of passenger movements through Manchester Airport has grown by a massive amount in recent years. With improvements to its infrastructure in the pipeline, this trend is set to increase even further.

“Manchester has made a frankly breath-taking list
of contributions to human progress…”

Manchester has always been forward thinking, and what was the world’s first industrialised city, is now set to become the UK’s first Aerotropolis – an innovative and intelligent business destination, connect ingintelligent global businesses with an intelligent global city.

The post-recession world has created a need and desire to do business differently. People want to work smarter, more efficiently and in a way more relevant to their needs, and the needs of a changing world. Just as cities were once built around ports, now businesses are gravitating towards airports – the quickest mode of transport in an increasingly globalised world.

1. £800m landmark property development

Airport City Manchester is one of the most exciting business destinations in development today. This £800m landmark property development – one of the most significant in the UK is perfectly positioned for both national and international markets.

Airport City Manchester will introduce a new concept to the UK – that of the Aerotropolis – taking Manchester Airport beyond its traditional use as a regional transport hub and transform it into an international business destination in its own right. It will provide a major regeneration opportunity for the surrounding Wythenshawe area and help to further boost Manchester’s attractiveness as a major European Business City.

Over the next 10-15 years Manchester Airport will be transformed from a transport gateway into an international business destination, providing a world-class environment for work, play and stay. With 5m sq ft of retail, logistics, advanced manufacturing office and hotel space, it is the perfect for location for a wide range of industries.

Businesses based at Airport City will have direct access to the world – while enjoying all the benefits of Britain’s competitive, pro-business environment, from its most entrepreneurial city.

2. A manifesto for smarter development

Airport City has been designed from the ground up, to address and connect the needs of the modern business world.

3. In-built intelligence

Full of great minds Manchester is a well of intelligence and innovation, and has been for centuries. Airport City is a smart development, perfectly positioned to draw on that pool of knowledge, and become a centre of excellence itself.

As well as an intelligent environment at the centre of technological innovation and advanced manufacturing, Airport City businesses will have access to an unrivalled talent pool.

Internationally recognised, the University of Manchester is one of the UK’s top five UK educational institutions. It has more international students than any other UK institution and more resident Nobel Prize winners than Oxford and Cambridge combined.

Together with other institutions in the region, it produces 28,000 highly educated graduates every year, a cluster that forms Europe’s largest university campus.

4. Affordable and flexible

Airport City has been planned for maximum flexibility. We believe the most successful places adapt to the needs of their inhabitants – with the ability to change as circumstances do.

Airport City tenants will have the opportunity to create a bespoke statement building and to tailor premises to suit any technological, digital or design requirements, while the physical and digital framework of the city encourages evolution.

The space at Airport City will be fully adaptable to meet and change with the needs of each individual occupier. This will be done to meet the ever changing requirements of a modern business and to adapt tonew and existing markets as time goes by.

Designed to be accessible and open to all – businesses, employees and the local community, Airport City will also prompt interaction with open boulevards and pathways to encourage walking and cycling, plus a central park to relax and take time out within.

5. Total connectivity

Designed to be accessible and open to all – businesses, employees and the local community, Airport City will also prompt interaction with open boulevards and pathways to encourage walking and cycling, plus a central park to relax and take time out within.

We believe collaboration and connection are more important than ever. Every place is part of a wider landscape, nothing lives in isolation: people, businesses and organisations thrive when they work together.

Airport City is perfectly positioned for the UK, Europe and the world. Its location and infrastructure makes it the region’s true hub for physical and digital connections. Airport City will blend perfectly with the wider Greater Manchester offer and as well as leveraging off its current economic success, it will significantly add to it.

With an unrivalled location at the heart of the UK, and adjacent to Manchester Airport, Airport City offers direct links to over 200 global destinations, including Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, Chicago, New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and from December 2014, China.

The development itself is also built on the principles of connectivity: all buildings are within a seven- minute walk from the Central Business District, and benefit from an advanced communications infrastructure.

Airport City Manchester will be a huge asset for all types of industry, especially freight and cargo businesses, looking to work on a truly global scale to worldwide markets. Nowhere else can companies plug into such unrivalled connectivity, not only from an air perspective but from road and rail options as well.

6. Quality of life

Airport City is designed for business, and built for people.

We believe cities should be a pleasure to be in, providing a variety of experiences, a sense of place and belonging, and opportunities for surprise and delight.

A brilliant place to live and work Greater Manchester is a premium location, pulsating with culture, but close to the countryside. Airport City is a great place to work and visit, built to meet its inhabitant’s needs. Together, they provide the perfect balance.

When people can use their environment for different purposes, it delivers more value, and they derive more benefits.

The nature and essence of the development will complement the wider environment of Greater Manchester, with its history of innovation, and offers a natural segue to the Cheshire Plains.

A rich mix of retail and leisure options will create energy and activity, reflecting the vibrant culture of the region, and the people who live there.

7. Growth and opportunity

Built on continuing success Manchester is the fastest growing business centre in the UK, a centre of academic excellence and a magnet for tourism.

Airport City is the heart of the Greater Manchester Enterprise Zone and is the city’s most fertile ground for businesses to grow in.

We believe longevity should be planned for and supported – and that new developments flourish most successfully when that framework is in place.

Occupying 75% of the Greater Manchester Enterprise Zone, Airport City businesses will benefit from significant tax incentives and Government support.

Another massive opportunity is that Airport City is ready now and not just a future dream. It is a reality with £1bn investment made in infrastructure and utilities – it is a fully enabled site, ready to do intelligent business from.

8. It’s not where you’re from – it’s where you’re at

Manchester has made a frankly breath-taking list of contributions to human progress, from science and technology to politics, culture, sport, and the arts. It continues to be the UK’s forward thinking city and will become the World’s intelligent business destination.

Welcome to our future. Welcome to Airport City Manchester.

@AirportCityUK

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Words: Lynda Shillaw, Divisional CEO at Manchester Airports Group

Credit: Online Ventures Group