How Manchester’s growth is not only good for city region but whole UK
Manchester and the city region continue to be a key engine of growth for the North and for the UK at large, writes Becca Heron of Manchester City Council.
We’re outperforming national trends to drive sustainable development across the city-region to maximise growth potential – creating jobs, investing in infrastructure, building homes and helping our residents to succeed.
Central to Greater Manchester’s strategy is a thriving city centre in Manchester, with a strong track record of attracting high-value investment, a pipeline of impactful developments, reinforced by continued confidence in the city from the business sector that is consistently choosing Manchester as a place to locate, invest and grow.
Testament to the city region’s trajectory, Greater Manchester’s economy has now surpassed £100bn for the first time.
Manchester is home to some of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration projects. Credit: Marketing Manchester
Manchester is home to some of the UK’s most ambitious programmes of regeneration. Around 30,000 new homes are on the verge of being unlocked through Victoria North, Holt Town and Strangeways alone – and with them, thousands of new jobs, millions of square feet of commercial space and myriad world-class green spaces.
While challenges remain in the construction sector, which are slowing programmes and impacting development pipelines nationally, demand for high-quality workspaces continues to grow in Manchester – and with it a drive to deliver state-of-the-art offices in the city that meet the needs of the city and region’s emerging sectors.
Supported by the Good Growth Fund – a pioneering way of unlocking investment opportunities – key commercial sites are also being brought forward this year unlocking over 1m sq ft of added commercial space up by 2029 in the city’s key growth areas in research, digital and fintech.
Major projects include FEC’s Victoria North. Credit: FEC / Our Studio
Key schemes in the city, Kendal Milne, Sister, Upper Brook Street, Mayfield and MIX Manchester each present a unique opportunity and mix of tenures that create space for organisations to tap into Manchester’s ecosystems. From grassroots and emerging enterprises to global operations that have chosen the city as a great place to do business, Manchester has created a talent pool that fuels innovation, collaboration and trailblazing growth.
Housing investment, linked to the city’s ambitious housing strategy, is continuing to accelerate to meet targets up to 2032 – deliver 36,000 new homes, of which at least 10,000 will be social rent, council and genuinely affordable homes – along with 3,000 in the city centre.
Manchester’s vision of sustainable growth is underpinned by a fundamental value that everyone in the city deserves access to a safe, secure and affordable home – the cornerstone of our residents’ wellbeing and a platform from which to thrive.
2025 represented the strongest year for affordable home completions since the mid-1990s. And while the city sees enviable growth, supported by key investment, the city’s success is created by its population – and it’s vital that communities across the city are able to share in the city region’s success.
Bruntwood’s Sister knowledge quarter is eagerly anticipated. Credit: Bruntwood
Future growth in the region will need belief in central Government that a strong North is a driver for growth nationally. Investment in infrastructure that can repair decades of underinvestment and stagnation in some of the UK’s northern towns and cities will help unlock huge potential for millions of people in the coming years.
The Government’s commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail is a major moment for Manchester and the city region – a total £45bn investment that is the biggest transformation in travel in the North in a generation that will fuel growth and turbo-charge economies in Manchester and partners cities between Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.
This isn’t simply a new trainline. It’s a once-in-a-generation vote of confidence in Manchester and the North that the region has an important role to play in the future growth of the UK – supported by a devolved responsibility that meets local expertise to tackle the challenges our communities face head on.
And although we can celebrate some globally significant programmes of regeneration and development in Manchester, just as important to the success of the city is how we are investing in our communities. The £500m investment in Wythenshawe Town Centre is a good example of this – or the £90m programme in Moston, or the £60m programme in Gorton.
This is how funding packages such as Pride in Place and the Good Growth Fund help our region’s towns and cities create positive investment that meets the needs of our residents.
By closing viability gaps, diversifying supply, and steering investment toward both established and emerging sectors, Manchester can continue to compete on a national and global stage. While also creating brilliant communities that local people can be proud of, pathways to great jobs to share in the city’s success – this is inclusive growth putting Manchester on the global map.
- Becca Heron is strategic director of growth and development at Manchester City Council
- For further reading on investment opportunities in Manchester click here
Good on Manchester. They have a pro-active council who are pragmatic, progressive, and most critically – YIMBY. They’ve understood for decades the value of generating wealth through development and regeneration and are now reaping the rewards. People from other cities may growl but Manchester doesn’t sit around talking about masterplans and sitting on planning applications for endless decades – it gets on with it and gets things done.
By Anonymous
“Around 30,000 new homes are on the verge of being unlocked” what a load of corporate twaddle.
By Mike Lynch
Great news, though GM as a whole needs to do more to address its litter problem. We’re rightfully attracting more and more interest from the rest of the world, however this interest brings this problem (which I’d say is if anything getting worse) to the world’s attention. I recently drove two German work colleagues from the Airport into the City Centre. They both commented on how poor an impression the litter strewn motorway made and couldn’t understand why keeping this and other routes looking clean and well kept wasn’t a priority. I tried to explain that the Motorway is unfortunately under the care of National Highways who do a litter pick maybe once a year and spend more time moaning about people chucking litter rather than actually doing anything about it. They pointed out (shock horror!) that people litter in Germany too but they have public bodies which regularly pick it up and enforce fines. Too many people here have obviously had such poor parenting that are totally devoid of any civic pride. You can have all the shiny towers you want but if the roads and public spaces are covered in litter then you might as well not bother, though I know great work is being done by voluntary litter pickers.
By Anonymous
MCC’s support for inward investment in Greater Manchester is second to none, strategic, pioneering, sustainable and deliverable, keep up the outstanding work Becca & Co.
By Tony Connor
A great piece, definitely something worth shouting from the rooftops. It’s all future-focused, of course, but it does make me reflect on the points I’ve raised in response to similar articles.
Time will tell whether the foundations laid by previous council leaderships, their pump-priming and long-term planning, are being built on, or whether progress is starting to falter. Right now, it sometimes feels as though an untested group of ideologues is struggling to deliver and leaning a bit too heavily on external factors when assigning blame.
Still, I agree wholeheartedly that both London and Birmingham can continue to compete for the title of the UK’s second city. A bit of healthy rivalry can only be a good thing.
By Steve5839
Well said.
By Anonymous
Manchester is now up there with places like Barcelona and Munich. All other northern cities should take inspiration rather than go on about Thatcher and the 1980s.
By Kevin
Well done manchester on the continued success and growth now someone develop our mancunian statement tower that will really put us on the global map
By Anonymous
Great article – Very challenging times in the market but the pragmatism and can do attitude of Manchesters development team has maintained the DNA of the previous era
By Don cheglioni
Was that written by AI? It might as well have been. Real humans don’t talk like that. Who exactly is this ´article’ supposed to be for?
By Denby
A little bit biased in my opinion, yes things are happening in Manchester but the rest of the North are and should not be beholding to it.
It would be nice to hear the opinions from the other Northern Cities to hear their perspective dont you agree?
By Just saying?
The investment is good. But let’s not allow it to turn into a curse and render the region unaffordable too. Govt. / local authority provisioned social housing needs to play a significant role…. not just private sector development which has no incentive other than to maximise profits.
By Tom
Not a criticism of PNW but do you ever ask anyone from Liverpool for an interview? A lot of comments on here are obsessed with Liverpool but its not always positive and I understand why it would be interesting to hear from someone from the council or combined authority. The local media like the Echo are a waste of space.
By Tim
We do, but have not had a sit-down for awhile. Thanks for the prod and we’ll see what we can do. Worth noting that this article is a comment piece, meaning it is separate from our news coverage and not written by us.
By Julia Hatmaker
The big issue is sorting out Manchester’s highly congested rail hub. That new bridge over the Orwell at Castle fields can only take one train per hour because there is no capacity elsewhere. Yes a new £45 billion high speed line might be lovely. But sort out the basics first.
By Ian Wray
Excellent article. The Telegraph recently ran an article on why many young professionals were quitting London and the cities they were choosing to live and work in. Manchester was at the top of that list. It’s easy to see why. Its becomes a virtuous circle, attract high tech high growth jobs, build offices and housing at pace, improve transport infrastructure attract more jobs rinse and repeat. There’s lot to do yet and we can all make lists of what needs improving and we do need to concentrate on those things but it’s been real progress for a long time now.
By Anonymous
Manchester is willing to do a lot of the other things that other cities aren’t, for better or worse. But then, if Manchester didn’t do half the stuff it does, would other cities simply and suddenly build more, or would it just go to London, possibly Birmingham?
I believe it to be the latter, and if that’s the case, maybe some should be more grateful for Manchester having the balls to do what it does.
By Truth Hurts
Good to see Manchester has so much vision – but what is going on in Liverpool? The proposed transport plan sums it up no rail expansion, no trams, more cycle lanes and bendy busses ie no vision
By Anon
I’m pretty sure Sister is currently touted as an ‘innovation district’ and it would sit within the Oxford Road Corridor ‘knowledge quarter’.
By MainRoadMary