Guest blog: Steve Burne, AEW Architects

Although we have attended MIPIM in the past, this year we are proud to be supporting Manchester as Associate Partner for the first time.

As a significant Architectural practice in the City, we have strong connections and loyalties and we want to support those who are fundamental in the development of our vibrant region.

I like the themes of this year’s Manchester exhibition, Live, Link, Lead. All projects are about creating and connecting places which increase the quality of life for those that use them. Whether that is the accommodation they live in, the shops they use, the places they visit or the places they work. As Architects, it is our job to think about the people using the buildings and spaces first and foremost to make sure we deliver sustainable, flexible developments.

In 2012 we won the Oxford Corridor Design Competition which focuses on the regeneration and connectivity of one of Manchester’s most important gateways, we are also working on various city centre buildings and regional town centres.

We are seeing a growing number of enquiries in the commercial and accommodation sectors as well as significant number of commissions within the retail, industrial, and sport and leisure sectors, which is building on the success of the Olympics. We are currently working with Sir Steve Redgrave, delivering his Legacy by improving sporting facilities in schools across the country. Masterplanning and the fast food retail sectors will continue to be strong in 2013.

Hopefully MIPIM will spread some positive vibes to counter the doom and gloom in the press. With all the nonsense surrounding the talk of triple recession and reduction in AAA rating; the industry remains cautious, as end user finance is still the biggest barrier to development. But Manchester is a great place to do business and if there is any region that can flourish, this is it.

If you’re heading to MIPIM and want to catch up, it would be great to hear from you.

Steve Burne, Managing Director, AEW Architects

Guest blog: Invest in Oldham

Proud to be part of the Manchester Pavilion at MIPIM

It’s our first time here at MIPIM – working alongside the Marketing Manchester team to showcase what is a unique place.

Manchester is a global brand, a worldwide destination with over two and a half million people living in the city region.

What makes Manchester special is it isn’t just one place. Manchester is a collection, a coalition of ten district councils – each with its own distinct offer that, taken together, create a coherent Greater Manchester – one that Oldham is really proud to play its part in.

We’re well connected too, with Metrolink providing a direct link to Manchester City Centre in just 20 minutes. Oldham is located on the edge of Greater Manchester with easy access to both the M60 and M62 motorways – just 20 minutes’ drive to Manchester Airport.

We’ve got an ambitious schedule for regenerating the place and building on our own rich heritage.

Take for example the Old Town Hall – a landmark in the town centre which will become a flagship cinema and restaurant complex. Or Hotel Future, a hotel training academy which will be run as a 120-bedroom luxury hotel while training apprentices, managers and interns alongside experienced members of staff.

There’s also the new Heritage centre and Coliseum theatre planned for Union Street, together with new headquarter premises along the route of the Metrolink tram.

We have set aside multi million pounds for public realm improvements which will bind all these different projects together to create a ‘big bang’ transformation of our town centre.

Outside the town centre, one and a half miles to the south west of Oldham on the main route into Manchester, we have Hollinwood Junction. This 15 acre site, just off junction 22 of the M60, presents a significant development opportunity for quality commercial and business / employment led development.

We have a professional team in place, ready to work with potential partners and investors to speed up the development process, minimise risk and ensure delivery of bold, ambitious, high-quality developments. Perhaps more importantly, we have a ‘can-do’ approach.

Our website has details all of these opportunities: www.investinoldham.com and you can also subscribe to our mailing list for our latest news and events from our Invest in Oldham newsletter.

With so much going on in Oldham we’re excited at the prospect of meeting with developers and investors during the course of MIPIM to talk about all of these opportunities and more.

Our message is simple: If you have an idea or an opportunity and want to have a conversation, please get in touch.

Darren Jones, director of Developments and Infrastructure, Oldham Council

Guest blog: Addleshaw Goddard

Manchester at MIPIM

Here at Addleshaw Goddard, we have completed our final preparations for MIPIM 2013 and are optimistically packing our sunglasses in the hope that there might be some sunshine on the Croisette.
There is definitely an upbeat atmosphere surrounding MIPIM already this year and so there should be – particularly in Manchester!

As a city, we have some great projects both underway and upcoming, all of which we are very proud to be involved in. We are working with the Co-Operative Group on the NOMA project which will bring a 4m sq ft, mixed-use development to 20 acres of Manchester needing regeneration. The sale and leaseback of the HQ building, One Angle Square, was completed in February and is the largest investment deal in the square for some time.

To the south of the city, we have advised a group of public sector businesses including the NHS Trust on a scheme at the Former Royal Eye Hospital (to be known as Citylabs), and Bruntwood at the Manchester Business School. Both projects will deliver state of the art facilities.

Our work with ASK sees the continuing development of the First Street site to create a new home for the Library Theatre and the Cornerhouse, which includes an agreement signed with Melia Hotels for a new 208 bedroom hotel. We are also proud to be a key partner with MMU in its development of the new Business School.

Work continues for Peel at MediaCityUK in Salford with the arrival of the BBC and Salford University (and very soon ITV, including the new Coronation Street production set), and for Muse at the Talbot Gateway regeneration project in Blackpool.

Finance may still be a market issue but Bruntwood were able to complete a £120m refinance of part of its portfolio with Legal & General in December 2012.

Public sector work continued with the exchange of agreements on behalf of the NHS Trust with Pochins for the redevelopment of the hospital in Altrincham.

With so much going on, we look forward to standing side-by-side with the Marketing Manchester Team next week. We cannot wait to demonstrate to the rest of the world how Manchester is leading the way in an upturn in the property and regeneration sectors – and long may it continue!

Additional

The Manchester Real Estate Team was proud to be awarded the title of Property Team of the Year at both the Inside Property Awards and the Manchester Law Society Awards in 2012.

To put the deals into the Live/Link/Lead boxes:

Live:

• First Street because of the cultural aspects/public relations
• Talbot Gateway because of the regeneration aspect

Link:

• MediaCity – digital
• New offices in Oman etc

Lead:

• Citylabs – scientific/technical
• M/C Business school
• NMU Business school
• First Street

- Stephen Kinsey and Mike O’Connor, Addleshaw Goddard

Guest blog: Craig Tatton, ISG

We heart Manchester….

ISG is an international construction company delivering construction, fit out and a range of specialist services. Right now, we are probably most famous for building the Olympic Velodrome and working on overlay for every venue for the London 2012 Games.

Our UK construction business, which delivers around £500 million of construction projects a year, is led from Manchester and we are proud to be part of a city where people innovate and find new ways of doing things that influence the world. As a global organisation with a strategic centre in Manchester we are proud to be influencing the agenda within Manchester, and also for Manchester on a global stage.

We’re now on our fifth office scheme at MediaCityUK, the development creating a new wave of energy and enthusiasm in the region. Our relationship with Landlord, Peel Media, goes from strength to strength and our fit out for tenant, SIS, is up for a British Council of Offices award.

We are also part of the transformation of an iconic Manchester landmark, the Whitworth Art Gallery. We will be creating a beautiful Gallery, embracing its park and the people who use it – fit for the 21st Century.

We are known for our consistent and collaborative approach, key to the North West Construction Hub success. Just down the road from our Salford Quays base, we are deliveringa new Science, Engineering and Technology centre for Trafford College via the Hub, keeping Greater Manchester at the forefront of innovation.

We are also supporting the new Trafford Apprenticeship Scheme, which will see contractors working together to deliver training for 12 new apprentices across projects. We already have some of the new recruits kick starting their careers on site.

We are looking forward to being a part of Manchester at MIPIM 2013, and shouting about what ISG and Manchester as a whole has to offer.

Guest blog: Dan Mitchell, Barton Willmore

Understanding the grain of a city is essential to delivering successful development. A national perspective must be combined with local knowledge, and never is this more true than in Greater Manchester.  As a Planner, I take my role as place-maker very seriously and believe development must always primarily seek to generate new or enhance existing places that will build on the foundations Manchester already has in place, moving our communities forward. As developers and consultants we need to understand how people live, how they move within an area, where they work, where their children go to school, where they go to grab a coffee and where they go to relax. By understanding these relationships and patterns, we can understand how new development and our proposals can fit in.

Live is one of the Manchester at MIPIM focus topics for our few days in Cannes, and it certainly encompasses all these elements of placemaking and city building. The housing crisis being experienced across the UK has not gone unnoticed by anyone, and yet we continue to see an under-delivery of proposed housing each year. My team and I undertook extensive research last year into the need for and delivery of homes across our North West region and the deficit was frightening. The latest Greater Manchester Forecast Model results have done little to allay our fears. but at least there is a strong plan to accommodate a good degree of supply  to the East (30%) and North (20%) of the city centre. Facilitated and supported by extensions of the Metro line in some areas, this spread into the suburbs certainly poses some interesting questions about placemaking, character and infrastructure for our city. In addition, as it reaches beyond the city boundaries, the need for cooperation and innovative thinking across the Authority boundaries becomes heightened.

This issue therefore crosses into all three of the Manchester at MIPIM themes. How do we ensure we Link our expanding communities successfully into the heart and success of Manchester, via physical and technological infrastructure? How do we also ensure that we continue to Lead the field in urban regeneration and expansion to secure our position as a leading European city of commerce and culture?

As leaders of an integrated Planning and Design team, Stephen Tucker and I are looking forward to joining the debates around this and many other exciting Manchester proposals at MIPIM 2013 and we do hope to catch up with you there!

- Dan Mitchell, Partner, Barton Willmore

Guest blog: Willmott Dixon

Anthony’s MIPIM blog

Just back to the office following the MIPIM briefing session with Sir Howard this morning. Fabulous blue skies over Manchester, will Cannes be able to compete?

Speaking with Darren Jones from Oldham, Steve Burne from AEW and Phil Cusack from Aecom, we all agreed that MIPIM this year seems to “have crept up on us”.

All of us agreed though that it’s a fantastic result that Manchester has managed to secure Doctor Brian Cox (must buy book ahead of trip to get signed for son) as a key speaker! Also, with Dan Lejerskar from EON Reality who moved to The Sharp Project last year speaking, the Manchester team have done all of us backing the city at MIPIM proud.

Dan’s inclusion is great for my team at Willmott Dixon, who are working with Sharp to expand their current facilities due to exceptional demand. Looking at key events – listening again to Jim O’Neil will be great. Apart from Sir Howard saying to the leader of Barcelona he would like to buy Messi if they needed extra cash, he was the highlight of MIPIM last year for me.

Finally I would like to wish the NOMA team including 3D Reid and Buro Happold the best of luck in the Awards.

Anthony Dixon, Managing Director, Willmott Dixon

Guest blog: GVA

As a leading multi disciplinary property advisory company GVA view MIPIM as a unique platform to connect with existing and future clients. Our approach is simple, we are there to promote our clients, our own wide and varied services and as supporters of Manchester and the North West region. We look to fully participate in the ‘team Manchester’ ethic that exists between likeminded business’s and individuals who although have personal objectives and drivers share the common goal of promoting the city on a regional, national and international stage. We look to lead on the promotion of our clients developments and projects through effective networking and utilising our own national platform and international partner network to infiltrate new and emerging markets.

Attending from the Manchester office of GVA this year will be Mark Rawstron (Regional Senior Director and head of North West Capital Markets), Iain Jenkinson (Senior Director and head of Planning and Regeneration in the North) and Christopher Cheap (Director and head of North West Offices) this senior representation will be part of a much wider GVA presence providing UK and international coverage and providing a range of expertise.

Christopher Cheap, director, GVA

Guest blog: RE:SYSTEMS

Mobilising our Manchester office

In the run up to MIPIM this year, we’ve had a hectic few months setting up RE:SYSTEMS’ new Manchester office for our dedicated mobile technologies and software solutions team. This will provide specialist development and support for all web design, ticketing and online CRM services across a wealth of clients in the property sector – and beyond.

As leaders in digital communications, the start of mobile executions has been a natural progression for us. Everyone is becoming ‘mobile’, using phones or tablets to be in touch – and our mobile application development helps people do exactly that.

We advise how these innovative technologies can help a business – and enable clients to mobilise anything on the internet.

Our team has extensive experience working with the largest property developers both nationally and internationally for a number of years, providing the necessary tools for public consultations and inward investment agencies.

With head offices based in Bakewell (Derbyshire) for over 15 years, we chose Manchester for our mobile arm of the business for several reasons. The need to provide a cutting edge service and engage a forward thinking team were our primary needs. An excellent digital and transport infrastructure and the opportunity to tap into a fantastic talent pool meant that Manchester was the obvious location!

Come and visit us at the Manchester stand at MIPIM if you want to find out more or visit our website at http://www.re-systems.co.uk

Look forward to meeting you at MIPIM.

Paul Rivers, Steve England, Christopher Clarke & Tim Hutchinson

RE:SYSTEMS

Stand number: B1.00

Email: enquiries@re-systems.co.uk

www.re-systems.co.uk

Guest blog: Nick Riley, Lewis and Hickey Architects

The importance of integrated Digital and Transport Infrastructure for Manchester

Firstly I’d like to say that Lewis and Hickey are delighted to be part of Manchester at Mipim 2013, and also to be posting the first guest blog for this year. I attended Mipim last year and spent some time on the Manchester stand. I came away from Mipim in no doubt that the Manchester Partnership representation at Mipim was impressive and impactful. For our business, the decision to be part of the team this year is important and I very much hope that we raise our profile and become more connected with the Manchester business and property community as a result.

This year’s themes for the Partnership are under three distinct headings; Live, Link and Lead. In this post I’d like to focus briefly on ‘Link’; more specifically the need for ambitious, integrated digital and transport infrastructure strategies and the value of international collaboration.

Manchester has been a leader in infrastructure for many decades. The forethought and innovation of the Manchester Ship Canal built in 1894 (the same year Lewis and Hickey were founded) clearly demonstrates our heritage in thinking ahead. To bring a ship canal 36 miles into the country to facilitate the global manufacture of cotton really defined Manchester. At the time the canal cost over £15m to build (that’s over £1.65 billion in today’s money). What I find hugely impressive about Manchester specifically is that the City has never stopped thinking ahead and leading the way, even though some particularly challenging times over the years.

There is no doubt that our ability to be connected with the world is better and more powerful than it’s ever been. Social Media is a huge part of day-to-day life for individuals, but also in business. In 2012 Social Media played a major influence in news media and public opinion – this trend will only grow. It has enabled everybody to have a voice and is a new means of communicating, especially to raise the profile of subjects. Our business is embracing social media channels to communicate our news and also to raise our profile. We have focussed on LinkedIn and Twitter predominantly. I also write a blog which has attracted a healthy and positive following. With the use of ‘cloud’ type data storage and so much reliance on email communication and social media channels, our need to be connected – and for that connection to be fast, is hugely important. The progression in speed we are seeing at the moment is impressive and this infrastructure investment is necessary and important to our local, national and global economy.

Likewise ease and speed of travel is hugely important. Our company has five offices in the UK and two overseas. Travel is also a big part of business life today. I am the managing director of our Manchester office, but live in the Midlands. I travel to many parts of the UK weekly. Manchester’s road, rail and air infrastructure is already very good, but it can always be improved. There is no doubt that the recent announcement of HS2 Phase 2 to Manchester is great news. I, like many I believe, regard Manchester to be the second city of the UK. Being able to get to and from London in 68 minutes (from 128 minutes currently) will again help promote Manchester and encourage further inward investment. Also Manchester’s Airport is important to our global connectivity. We currently see 19.5m passengers a year from over 200 destinations come in and out of Manchester. The £650m investment into the regions Enterprise Zone at Airport City is again building on our success and promoting inward investment and employment.

So in conclusion, I am in no doubt that integrated Digital and Transport infrastructure absolutely should be key priority for Manchester and will continue to play an influential part in the City’s continued success and economic growth.
Nick Riley | Board Director | Lewis and Hickey Architects.

Manchester at MIPIM: round-up day three, Thursday 8 March 2012

Manchester’s final day of activity at MIPIM 2012 began with another breakfast briefing, this time from MIDAS – the city’s inward investment agency. Over coffee and croissants, a panel-led event chaired by Giles Barrie, editor of Property Week, sought views from Sir Howard Bernstein (Manchester City Council), Charlie Cornish (Manchester Airport Group) and Tim Newns (MIDAS), on how to generate capital investment outside of the Capital. The panel discussed a number of burning issues including High Speed Rail and the Northern Hub, elected mayors and the importance of encouraging growth across the city’s most active business sectors.

As partners arrived on the stand this morning, they were greeted by the unusual site of a solar panel, a sandstone rock, and a bale of straw – an indicator of plans for The Zero Carbon Pavilion (by Walker Simpson); a new learning centre being constructed in East Manchester.

Today’s theme of sustainability and structure was the stage upon which Juergen Maier of Siemens presented the mornings Stand presentation, outlining the organisation’s commitment to the city of Manchester and its renewable energy aspirations. Juergen was joined by David Partridge of Argent Group who presented some impressive plans for the energy provisions of their One St Peter’s Square development. If you missed it, click here.

The final presentation for the day and of the Manchester at MIPIM 2012 Partnership, was delivered by Charlie Cornish of Manchester Airport Group, and Felicity Goodey of University Hospital South Manchester. This included the launch of a new Airport City film – click here. For the full Stand presentation, click here.

For those who depart for the UK tomorrow, especially those on the Manchester flight, we wish you a great journey home. The Manchester Stand will of course still be open for business on the last day of MIPIM 2012. We strongly encourage anybody who hasn’t had chance to visit yet, to pop by and say hello.

A final thanks to those who have been supporting our Twitter activity. So far, we’ve been one of MIPIM 2012′s most prolific tweeters.  Take a look at the stats here.