Manchester roundtable: Branding & Image

Do places need a brand? If so should different parts of Manchester city region be distinct from each other or are they part of the same product?

Jackie Potter is chief executive of Corridor Manchester, the agency charged with driving the economy of the area around the universities and hospitals south of the city centre. She made the point that a location's distinctiveness comes logically from particular characteristics: "The biomedical sector is a very great strength of the Corridor area that isn't perhaps as widely known about in the wider market outside those specialist companies and institutions. We have really strong interest in one of our buildings at the moment."

The added broadband capacity being piloted in the Corridor area will add to its appeal and enhance its science and research credentials.

Ian Beaumont, director of MBLA Architects + Urbanists, said the areas that were known to be receiving Government funding related to medicine and hospitals, sciences and research would be better placed in the market.

Perhaps inevitably, talk turned to local authority boundaries before too long. Panellists strongly echoed Central Salford director Hirst's view that Salford is for all intents and purposes a part of Manchester and Chapel Street will be an extension of the city centre. Hirst said: "I think we're just another region of Manchester city centre to be honest. We've got fantastic retail on our doorstep. That's our retail core we don't need to make another one, which is great because we're near to M&S and Harvey Nichols and all the nice stores. In terms of the environment it's a different offer. If you speak to any Salfordians they're very passionate about their area and love it for being a bit different and quirky. I think Chapel Street will create a different environment. We've got a mill on Chapel Street with creative industries in and we've just secured money from the Arts Council to upgrade that. It's where the Ting Tings band were born and there's all these little hidden gems that people don't really know about. It hasn't been shouted about, people have just got on with it. Now it's about how we can enhance it without spoiling it by bringing too many new and shiny buildings in the wrong place."

BNP Paribas's Hamilton added: "Manchester is distinctive in the different bits but collectively very strong. I'm a Salfordian originally but I think the Salford [versus] Manchester thing is a bit pathetic really, to be honest with you, it's just the same area."

From a private sector occupier's point of view, speaking for Pinsent Masons, an occupier of Spinningfields, Ian Barker, partner and head of regeneration, said that so long as connectivity is right, staff and clients can get there easily, the product is right, then the council boundaries or names are irrelevant.

He added: "Above all it was about the right shape of the building that worked for our business."

Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester, concluded: "There is historically a small town mentality in some communities still but I think we've made tremendous progress over the past five years certainly from a local authority point of view. We've still got a very narrow mental map of what Manchester is. We hear people say there are not enough green spaces in Manchester but there are great parks in and around this city region, there are canals and rivers and these assets are just as important as anything else to the brand, even if they are not within the square mile of the city centre. People in London say they are going to Hyde Park and travel three or four miles to get there but they don't think about the distance or what part of London they're in."