Campus plan ‘could create 6,000 jobs’
UP to 6,000 new jobs could be created by the University of Manchester’s ambitious North Campus plans.
The potential boost was revealed as university chiefs launched an international hunt to find a developer to transform a 29-acre site in the city centre into a world-class innovation district.
North Campus on Sackville Street, near Piccadilly Station, is home to the university’s engineering schools, which will move into the £330m Manchester Engineering Campus development on Oxford Road in 2021.
It will pave the way for businesses, up to 2,500 apartments, 500 hotel rooms, a 21-storey tower block and 13,000 square metres of retail and restaurant space.
Targeting technology and sciencerelated businesses, the site will focus on specialities which combine the research and industrial strengths of the university, as well as city region and national economic priorities.
These will include advanced materials, applied health innovation, artificial intelligence and digital technology and industrial biotechnology.
The university believes the develop- ment could create up to 6,000 jobs and add up to £2bn to the local economy over 20 years.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: “The development offers the opportunity to transform this quarter of the city centre, generate thousands of new jobs and advance the reputation of the University.
“It will cement the reputation of the city as the place to be for technology, digital, research and development businesses.”
The university has been working on the plan with Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for a number of years.
Last year a draft strategic regeneration framework revealed the masterplan.
But critics raised concerns of the potential loss of some of the city’s best post-war architecture including the Grade II-listed Hollaway Wall.