Robyn Hewson caught up with some of the speakers at Insider's Manchester New Neighbourhoods breakfast event hosted at Fabrica in New Islington. The event which explored the developments set to transform areas of Manchester in years to come was sponsored by Colony, Northern Group and JLL.
00:00Hi, I'm Michelle Humphreys, Director of Strategic Projects at Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.
00:15And we're at the Manchester's New Neighbourhoods Breakfast today, and you've got a novel idea for a new neighbourhood, which is a healthy one, so could you explain a little bit about what that means?
00:24Yeah, absolutely. As part of the master planning for the new hospital scheme, which is really exciting and has government investment on the way for a brand new District General Hospital in North Manchester,
00:33we wanted to think about the NHS land in a wider strategic sense, so creating something that adds value back into the hospital,
00:41thinking about a neighbourhood that can adapt over time to people's care needs, that is an intergenerational neighbourhood,
00:47it's a vibrant neighbourhood, co-created with the community, and yeah, thinking about the fact that a healthy community is better for all of us,
00:57better for individuals, better for families, better for the NHS, and better for a new inclusive economy.
01:04And what's already been delivered, or what's to come next in the neighbourhood?
01:08Yeah, we are, the master plan was approved in 2021, we're already well underway with the master plan,
01:13we've had over £100 million of investment into the new Northview Mental Health Facility, which is operational on site,
01:19it's winning design awards, it's a fantastic facility, but we've also had over £70 million of new hospitals programme,
01:26enabling funding already, so we've managed to demolish some older Victorian buildings,
01:31and we've pushed up to the new multi-storey car park and cycle hub, so ready for that new hospital to come along.
01:38Hi, I'm Michael Camden, I'm an architect, I lead the architecture team within Atkins Realis' new architecture and engineering hub in the North West in Manchester.
01:48Fantastic, and one of the schemes that we've been talking about today is the GPA site on the former central retail park in Atkins Realis,
01:54so how has Atkins Realis been involved in that, and what can we expect to see there?
01:59So, Atkins Realis has led all aspects of the multidisciplinary redesign for the buildings,
02:04and we're involved with the GPA from the outset, in terms of helping them find a site,
02:08work for the flu, develop a feasibility study, work very closely with the City Council to optimise the potential for the site,
02:16whilst also fitting on the GPA's brief.
02:19It's one of a series of multi-modal hubs we've developed with the government across the country,
02:24we've developed similar projects in Croydon, York, Darlington and Birmingham,
02:29which is all about bringing, in Manchester Digital Campus, it's all about bringing together different government departments,
02:37but all focused around digital skills into one central place.
02:42We've got about 7,000 new civil servants who will be in Manchester, in a new, innovative, highly sustainable,
02:49two office buildings, of about 82,000 square metres altogether.
02:54Hi, I'm Nathan from Northern Group.
02:56Brilliant, so we're at the Manchester's New Neighbourhoods Breakfast today,
02:59and one of those exciting new neighbourhoods is Holt Town, isn't it?
03:02So, how is Northern Group involved with Holt Town?
03:05So, Holt Town is an area that we've been involved with for about eight years,
03:09so we're predominantly a landowner in Holt Town,
03:12and we've been involved in the master planning of the area,
03:16and hope to play a key role in its regeneration,
03:20and not just the regeneration, but its future placemaking,
03:25and, you know, be the owner and operator of buildings, both residential and commercial, within the area.
03:32Fantastic, and we're actually sort of in one of your buildings in New Islington today,
03:36and you've also been heavily involved in the regeneration around this area in Ancos.
03:40Yeah.
03:41So, what's that journey been like of helping to create this thriving place here?
03:45Fun, exciting, challenging,
03:48and, you know, I've been doing this for 10 years now,
03:53so you learn an awful lot about what works, what doesn't work, the challenges that you face,
03:58but, you know, we as a business like doing it.
04:03We like challenges, we like tricky things to really placemake,
04:07and you can sort of stand back and actually look at what you've done as an organisation
04:11or as part of the wider community, the wider city.
04:14So, yeah, it's, my overall, my overriding thought on it is, it's fun, it's challenging, and we enjoy it.
04:23So, I'm Hannah Turner, Director of Development and Regeneration at JLL,
04:27and we work across the Northern Region, and predominantly across Manchester and the other regional cities.
04:33Fantastic. So, you work on kind of these master plans for really exciting, large-scale regeneration projects, don't you?
04:38Yeah. So, what do you see as the kind of key ingredients that make these master plans really exciting and work?
04:44Yeah, I think key ingredients in the master plan process is definitely collaboration and partnership
04:49between the public and the private sector.
04:51We can't just rely on the public sector to get things going,
04:54we need the knowledge and the expertise from the private sector to support the public sector.
04:59I think also, given there's so many exciting developments coming forward across Greater Manchester,
05:04it's about finding your inner, the inner, the inner, sorry, the inner-tiveness around that project
05:11and what makes you different, what sets you apart.
05:13So, then that enables a project to be more attractive for funding, it makes it more attractive for occupiers,
05:19and it just gives them another really interesting place for people to come and live and visit.
05:25I am Vinny, I work for MUSE.
05:27And MUSE is working on a project in Withenshaw, which has a massive scale, doesn't it?
05:32So, what's being delivered there to kind of enhance the existing offer?
05:36Yeah, so, in terms of enhancing the existing offer, as you put it,
05:42we're really focusing in the early stages on the town centre, the civic centre,
05:48which is the shopping centre in the centre of Withenshaw,
05:51and to try and diversify the offer. It's a really strong proposition at the moment,
05:56but it's quite one-dimensional. It's a really strong retail-led offer,
06:01but there's no night-time economy to speak of.
06:04So, we're focusing the early efforts into bringing more food, drink, entertainment and leisure options
06:14for the existing residents within the community to enjoy,
06:18and then to kind of build the place as a bit of destination,
06:21which will help support bringing in expanded and new communities down the line.
