The Manchester Airport Group (MAG) Developments business is planning to deliver a major new mixed-use scheme over the next few years, with offices constituting the bulk of the floor space being made available.
Development will focus on areas close to Manchester’s only major airport, which the government has designated as an ‘enterprise zone’. Chancellor George Osborne has made clear his backing for the expansive project.
Recent reports have suggested that dozens of potential occupiers are interested in taking offices at the planned site. MAG bosses say that the new supplies will not necessarily compete with existing stocks elsewhere in the region.
“Airport City will provide an innovative and complementary offer to Greater Manchester’s existing assets, rather than competing against them, adding new capacity to the city’s existing dynamic economy,” Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese told the Manchester Evening News.
“Manchester is well-placed with an international offer based on established academic research and technology, innovative businesses, communications and transport infrastructure.”
In addition to hundreds of thousands of square feet of new Greater Manchester offices, Airport City will aim to deliver advanced manufacturing facilities, retail and leisure units, a hotel, and warehouse space.
MAG Developments recently announced that it had signed five new occupancy deals on the existing office buildings, forming some of the earliest aspects of its Airport City initiative.
Editor’s notes: Further information about MAG’s developments in South Manchester can be found here.