AN alliance between Manchester City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was announced this week to provide a major stimulus to residential development in the city.
Forecasts suggest that the city has the potential to generate an extra 50,000 jobs by 2023 and that by 2030 the population will exceed 600,000.
The partnership will see a creation of development-ready sites to help the city meet its ambitious target of creating 55,000 new homes by 2027 as set out in the Manchester Residential Growth Prospectus.
Manchester Place will work with investors, developers and others who wish to support high quality housing across the city to ensure there are sufficient opportunities. Where justified, this could include providing access to public resources.
Forecasts suggest that the city has the potential to generate an extra 50,000 jobs by 2023 and that by 2030 the population will exceed 600,000.
“This is a significant partnership which should have a huge positive impact on Manchester’s housing market.” Deborah McLaughlin, North West Executive Director at the HCA has said: “Manchester’s population is growing enormously quickly, and this partnership will accelerate the supply of much-needed housing in the city.”
Key tasks for the partnership, Manchester Place, will include working with landowners to get sites ready for development, assembling land where necessary, and using the land resources and market intelligence of both the Council and HCA to produce a coordinated response to government initiatives encouraging house-building.
An annual investment plan will identify priority areas for public and private sector investment which can create residential growth. These will be designated as Investment Action Areas, with Ancoats and New Islington one of the first.
Phase one of the multi-phased Manchester Life initiative will see the provision for more than 830 homes in Ancoats and New Islington, building on the regeneration activity over the last 15 years to complete their redevelopment.
The development plan has secured investment from partnership Manchester Life, a privately owned company combining Manchester City Football Club and Abu Dhabi United Group who plan to bring 6,000 new homes to east Manchester over the next 10 years.
The activities of Manchester Place will be overseen by a project board, chaired jointly by the chief executive of Manchester City Council and the regional director of the HCA.
These new homes will strengthen Manchester’s economic growth trajectory by providing much needed residential units, helping the city achieve its Residential Growth Strategy to build tens of thousands of new homes by 2027.
