Manchester’s city centre has changed dramatically since it hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2002 — but it might go through an even bigger change in the next 20 years.
That’s because, as the inner ring road area becomes ‘saturated’, property developers are turning their attention to other parts of the city. And, one Metrolink line could well just be the key to understanding what the Manchester of tomorrow will look like.
The orange tram line runs from the Etihad Campus in the east, through the current city centre, and out towards Salford Quays in the west — terminating at MediaCityUK. Property experts believe that this route will soon become the new ‘city centre’ — comprised of three hubs.
These hubs would include the current city centre as we know and love it, MediaCity to the west, and the east, the Eithad Campus plus Co-Op Live arena, which is set to open next year. Now, as more developers eye up potential sites to invest in, the Manchester Evening News visits the areas which are yet to be incorporated into the potential 'new centre'.
There, our reporters found that moves are already being made to persuade business owners to sell up, plans are being drawn up to transform huge swathes of land, and some residents are welcoming the potential new work.
Why are these areas being looked at?
As the MEN reported last week , property developers are on the lookout for new sites to develop, and are being forced to find spots further afield than the current city centre. In the East, architect Matt Pickering says that the presence of artisans in industrial areas now is a good marker for future developments.
“We are going to have to start moving out a bit,” he said. “ The [Ancoats] mobility hub is a nice idea. You can keep the cars by the ring road and people can walk in. There’s a whole public realm strategy which will really help the area to have it characterfully developed.”
On the other side of the city is the Regent Road corridor in Salford. James Needham, who is a Director at Alesco Property, explained that the emergence of Deansgate Square, a stone’s throw from that corridor, is a marker that work is moving in that direction.
He said: “There is a lot of new-build on the river and there’s a big patch in the middle for more commercial. That’s how I would see it.
“That’s like Canary Wharf in London. It can be dead and lifeless because it’s new, but once the commercial side catches up why would those people living there go to Deansgate? Most of them will just go down to the river.”
From the Etihad to New Islington: “What’s happened over these 40 years, I cannot believe it”
The construction of the City of Manchester Stadium for the 2002 games was a bellwether moment, turning an unloved corner of east Manchester into a thriving hub for sporting prowess. Along with Manchester City, who moved in a year after the Commonwealth Games, there’s a squash centre, velodrome, and tennis courts.
In the years since, ‘SportCity’ — as it was first christened — has seen the addition of the club’s academy complex, and another stadium which hosted Euros matches this summer. But the building work isn’t done yet. The huge 23,500-seat, £365 million Co-Op Live arena is being built currently, and is set to open at the end of next year.
Alongside it will be ‘32 bars, restaurants, and marketplaces’, which will be accessible to ticket holders before and after their events, Jessica Koravos, chair of OVG International, has said. They have added that ‘we are committed to the local area, investing in walking and cycling routes, regenerating the canal side, and creating spaces for residents and visitors to enjoy.’
However, the MEN understands that discussions are still ongoing on whether those 32 venues can open on non-event days — which could pave the way for the area around the Etihad to become a new neighbourhood in its own right.
One stop towards Manchester’s towers is Holt Town. It’s an area flanked by redbrick industrial units on one side, and Ashton Canal Park on the other. It’s also an area which Coun Gavin White, Manchester City Council's executive member for housing and development, says has ‘huge potential’.
He added: “The land in between, around the Holt Town tram stop, has a huge amount of potential and it is an area that we as a Council have committed to investing in - delivering new affordable homes and commercial opportunities, along with exploring new public space and sustainable, active travel routes through the area.
"This would require investment at scale to deliver the kind of high quality regeneration and place making that we strive for in Manchester and as proposals come forward, we would do so in consultation with local people around any future plans for their area."
Investment in the area is long-overdue, says resident Julie Chadwick. The 62-year-old has called it home for ‘20-odd’ years, and explained: “It has gone downhill here. With the City matches, my son’s car has been damaged, there’s bottles everywhere and they are urinating [in the street]. It is not nice, so it will be for the best.”
And Kaden Russell, who lives in nearby Miles Platting, can see why investors are eyeing up the spot. “It's really close to town and Man City, especially with the short-term lets all around the City stadium,” he said.
“I can see more people moving in just because of how close it is to everything - so it’d be a really convenient place to live as it basically is Ancoats.
“Not everyone who lives round here has got a lot of money and when the house prices increase so does the rent - so it could force a lot of people out of here like in Salford. But I think overall it’ll be good for the area.”
However, an area having ‘potential’ is one thing — but spades in the ground are an altogether different prospect. That might be getting nearer and nearer, according to Steven Tilbrook, who has owned the Tilbrook and Son paintshop — and the building it’s in — since 1983 and ‘cannot believe’ how it’s changed nearby in that time.
“I was offered £250,000 a few months ago,” Mr Tilbrook told the MEN . “He said I could stay in it rent free until it drops [to make way for development]. If I had £250,000 in my hand that would not be [enough to buy] a flat on my land.
“The thing is we are not going to get in the way of development. If it is going to happen, it’s going to happen.”
Not all of the businesses in the area are ready to go. Scott Hargraves, who owns a woodyard two streets from the Tilbrooks, won’t sell.
He explained why: “It took me 10 years to build this place up. There’s no businesses left here now. There’s the paintshop, and there was the sandwich shop, so there’s only us, Doggyland, and the community security company. We are growing at such a big rate that we could do with a bigger place.”
Mr Hargreaves did accept that the area needed ‘uplifting’, however. That’s a view shared by Beth Lemons, manager of Doggyland Park — a dog walking service for city based pet owners, who said the area ‘needed some life breathing into it’ but was concerned about local businesses being forced out due to the development plans.
She added: “From my point of view as a business owner, it's a pretty good spot because it's still walking distance from the city centre and it feels like development is spreading out from New Islington and Ancoats and it just seems to be inevitable that it'll get developed.
“I don't know how local residents who have been there for a while feel about the whole gentrification thing, but from my point of view I think it's a good thing - I live nearby as well. You think the plans must be true because there's no other good reason for the council not wanting new businesses and good ideas for the area to give it a facelift.”
There's less of an appetite one stop down, in New Islington. There are plans to build a new ‘workplace campus’ for small businesses on the green area around the tram station.
“It’s not enough green space, I’ve seen the plans. They should rework them,” was the succinct reply from Joshua Edwards, who was sunbathing on the future site when asked for his views. Electric Box, as it will be known, says that currently, there are four acres of green space around the stop.
That will be cut to 2.5 acres with the development, but will be of ‘significantly better quality’, a spokesperson says, which will go hand-in-hand with an increase in biodiversity by 30 percent.
From MediaCity to Pomona: “They need the right services"
The other end of the Etihad-MediaCity corridor is far more developed than the Eastern portion — but it’s also still waiting to hit its heights. Since broadcasters moved up in 2010, the area has blossomed.
Now home to bars, restaurants, a shopping centre, a theatre, and museums, the area has effectively become the city centre for Salford. Development continues to move out from the Quays towards Manchester city centre, along the waterways and tram stops.
Despite transforming the area, there is a feeling that MediaCity has not yet realised its full potential. One resident, called Ash, said he had noticed that the area was becoming more busy on the weekends: “I think it's good because there’s now more events around here and I don't mind it being busy. The one main issue is anti-social behaviour though — the council have put injunctions out and added CCTV cameras but not much has been done.”
Elizabeth Redfern, who lives in nearby Monton, also thought Salford Quays was definitely improving but “they need to sort the shopping centre out”. She added: “They need better shops.
“I mean, most of them are quite tired and old and there's a few empty units and stuff. They've got nice restaurants and bars around here now so they definitely need to improve that side of things too.”
Trevor Kirk concurred that the shopping centre could do with an “uplift”. He said: “The shopping side of it has gone a bit stale. Lots of shops have been shut and people come here and find it a bit disappointing. But the walks outside are really nice and I like coming here on the weekend for the market.”
Other residents like the area for its ‘peacefulness’, with Martha Hughes, 28, adding ‘it would be nice to keep it’ that way, and not for it to be absorbed into the city centre.
A few stops down is Anchorage, a business-heavy area. It’s quiet midweek, Kerry Cuthbert, who works there, says.
“I see a lot of dog walkers who live in the area and joggers as well as businesses. It’s pretty desolate. There’s nothing much for leisure. There’s a café and if I am not wrong, they have a building for drinks too but for anything else, there needs to be a few bars.”
But it’s another couple of stops down where it feels like it’s a matter of time for developments to start coming in. Pomona is a vast island which is an area of greenery. But architect Abdel Koussa, who works in the area, welcomes development in the area aas a positive process as it is helping to develop land that was “previously contaminated” and put it to good use.
But, he added, it was vital for city centre developments to make sure they have the right infrastructure and services to ensure they can attract families, as well as single people: “They need the right services, they need the schools. Otherwise you get a lot of younger, single people who move in and then leave when they start a family because there isn’t the same provision of schools in the area.”
A Salford City Council spokesperson said 'development continues at pace' across the borough, and welcomed the prospect of more.
A statement added: "Building on the success of the Salford Central development programme, focused on the Chapel Street and New Bailey areas, the council and University of Salford have appointed the English Cities Fund as developer partner for the Crescent area, which sits immediately to the west of Salford Central.
“Guided by the Crescent Development Framework, significant levels of mixed-use development, continued investment in the University Campus, the creation of a new Innovation District and a wide-range of transport and public realm enhancements are proposed across the 99 hectare Crescent area over the next decade and beyond.
“And the redevelopment of Salford Quays has created a world-class business, cultural and residential area. We have a blueprint called ‘Salford Quays: A New Vision 2030’ which sets out five guiding principles for future development at the neighbourhood with it expected to double in size over the next decade."
And a Trafford Council spokesperson said the authority wants to see more development on Pomona Island. They said: “Pomona Island has been identified as part of the Regional Centre for many years.
“The Council has long anticipated its redevelopment at high density and has policies in its local plan to facilitate that development. A masterplan for the site was approved in March 2020, which indicated scope for around 3,000 homes, including 906 apartments which have already been built or are currently under construction.”
When might this happen?
The short answer is that it is difficult to say. In the East, Co-Op Live will open by the end of 2023 — so its first full year of operation will be 2024. As for Holt Town, no building sites are operating at the moment — and there are hurdles to clear like land ownership — but the ambition for the area since 2017 has been to create ‘higher density residential including family homes, employment space for a wide variety of businesses’.
Work on the Electric Box in New Islington gets underway next summer, but no formal completion date has been given yet. That leaves this section of ‘new’ city centre some way off being built — let alone bedded in.
It’s a different story in Salford. MediaCity might be well established and starting to mature as a weekend destination — and not just a network of offices — but spaces around Anchorage, Harbour City, and the Salford Quays Metrolink stops need work to take them from tired inner-city to liveable neighbourhood.
So, Manchester city centre will change — we're just not sure when yet.
Read the latest stories from the Manchester Evening News here.
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