860,000 sq ft Manchester Digital Campus edges closer
Early-stage plans for a pair of 10-storey office blocks to be occupied by civil servants and a park at the former Central Retail Park have been submitted.
The Government Property Agency has lodged an EIA Scoping Request with Manchester City Council ahead of the submission of plans for the 860,000 sq ft Manchester Digital Campus.
The city council has also lodged an EIA Scoping Request for a 1.7-acre park next door to the GPA scheme. AtkinsRealis is advising both parties.
View the applications by searching for reference numbers EIASCO/24/001 and EIASCO/24/002 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
A public consultation on both proposals was held earlier this year.
The park and government campus make up the first phase of the city council’s plans for the 10.5-acre former Central Retail Park, which was demolished in 2019.
Manchester Digital Campus
Under the proposals consulted on earlier this year, GPA will construct its two office blocks on five acres of the site. The agency exchanged contracts with Manchester City Council for the land in May. When complete, the Manchester Digital Campus will become the base for 7,000 civil servants dedicated to digital skills.
Retail units will sit in the buildings’ ground floors, fronting Great Ancoats Street. GPA is targeting a NABERS score of 5 stars and a BREEAM rating of Excellent.
With hopes of starting construction in 2026, a planning application is set to be submitted towards the end of this year.
The park
Designed by Planit, the 1.7-acre park will divide the GPA scheme and the phase two land, which is owned by the city council and will come forward separately.
The park will provide additional walking routes and access to Cotton Field Park and Ancoats Marina. It will feature more than 100 trees, a 6,500 sq ft wildflower meadow, space for outdoor gym equipment, three play areas, and seating spaces.
- To hear more about the GPA’s plans for the Manchester Digital Campus book your ticket for Place North West’s Offices and Workspace update this Thursday.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this could have been an amazing skyscraper cluster! Imagine (at least) 8 150m+ skyscrapers here, would have been an incredible skyline addition. What a waste of space.
By MC
Are the proposed 7,000 civil servants jobs all new to the region or is it a consolidation of already regional based civil servants to one site or a combination of both.
By David
@MC well I’m glad it’s not, that sounds truly awful
By Anonymous
That’s a lot more traffic
By Anonymous
@MC yeah totally agree! Skyscrapers should be everywhere in every city!!
By Skyscraper kid
The office is finished as technology has made it obsolete and with that there is zero need for overpriced high rise housing in city centre..Instead capital should be better invested in creating industry instead of rent seeking investment that is destructive of U K economy and society.
By Debbie Jones
@Debbie Jones – If that is the case why are all of the big banks and technology companies demanding their employees back into the office? Ill tell you why its because they are starting to see the results coming through and productivity has dropped through the floor. City living is also more sustainable both economically and environmentally due to concentration. We should be investing event more into our major cities infrastructure and encouraging people to live in cities rather than unproductive urban sprawl that eats up land and requires cars to get anywhere.
By Bob
Spoke to a recruiter the other day who says their new strategy is targeting employees at companies who have just announced Return to Office. Says it’s a piece of cake getting them to leave, and progressive companies who aren’t stuck in the past are hiring them without issue.
Those companies demanding RTO are the companies who will lose talent. Be a dinosaur at your own expense.
By Anonymous
Why not build one building at 20 storeys which frees up more public space? Hybrid working is here to stay and various studies have found that productivity doesn’t drop when working from home.
By GetItBuilt!
I think those who live in nice suburban homes love working from home. Many younger people living in city centre apartments still want the option to go into the office. Most have no decent work space, cant have two people working on the kitchen table on a Teams call. I am happy to go into the office and get free coffee, free heating, free food etc.
By J
Can’t wait until the “Uncle” campus opens!
By Levelling Up Manager
Its a real shame this seems to have dropped the commitment to net-zero that MCC was previously stating. What’s the point in declaring a climate emergency and making targets for all new buildings in GM to be NZC by 2028 if the Gov and MCC can’t even commit to this on their own projects!
By Climate emergency
We have 65 employees, we have max 10 people in the office at any one time
By Anonymous
Government who can’t persuade staff to return to the office submits plans for 860,000sq ft of new offices. Yep. Sounds about right.
By Anonymous
These proposals are ridiculous. We’ve been waiting for this site to be turned into a park in its entirety and now we get this rubbish. Please no jobs, no employment land turn it into a park for us recently moved residents.
By Treesnotcars.com
@Treesnotcars – why have you ‘been waiting’ for something that was never proposed or even put forward as a possibility and isn’t realistic given the investment made to purchase the land.
Perhaps you could crowdsource the funding to buy the land and create a park yourself?
By Trees and People
@ trees and people – talking of the purchase of CRP, can anyone explain why MCC decided buy this in the first place…? And how they justified the extortionate purchase price?
By Anonymous
Anon (6.22pm) It is clearly an strategically important employment site within the expanding City Centre, as proven by the GPA investment. The site as a whole has potential for 1.5m sq. ft of fairly high density, high value employment space and 10,000 plus jobs, of which this is a big step in achieving. Got to be worth hundreds of millions a year to the local economy.
By Local Interest