IN FOCUS | Airport City’s MIX MANCHESTER makeover
After two years of tight-lipped silence, Manchester Airports Group Property Director Gareth Jackson is ready to unveil the reworked and rebranded 60-acre airport site – leaving the world of offices behind in favour of advanced manufacturing, science, and innovation spaces.
Where Airport City had promised 5m sq ft of commercial space, MIX MANCHESTER (which stands for Manufacturing Innovation Exchange) has the capacity for 2m sq ft of labs, manufacturing facilities, and the offices required for those companies, alongside three hotels, public realm, and leisure facilities.
MIX MANCHESTER is to be delivered through a joint venture between Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate, Manchester Airports Group, BCEGI, and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
Changing focus
For Jackson, the pivot from Airport City to MIX MANCHESTER reflects a wider shift in the world of property.
“The launch of MIX MANCHESTER allows us to reposition our development within the market,” he told Place.
The commercial office market has evolved with companies pivoting to more flexible ways of working post-COVID. The science and advanced manufacturing sector, however, is definitely on the rise. The government is pumping £4.5bn into the sector, including £520m for life sciences manufacturing, £2bn for automotive, and £960m for green industry innovation.
MIX MANCHESTER also plays into Greater Manchester’s strengths. The city region has declared its ambition to become a science and advanced manufacturing hub, with the growth of the advanced materials and life sciences-focussed Oxford Road Corridor and the plans for the future advanced manufacturing-focussed Atom Valley in the works.
MIX MANCHESTER fits in nicely with those ambitions, with Jackson describing it as “complementary” to the city region’s economic strengths.
MIX MANCHESTER will also live up to its name, according to Jackson. He does not want to lean too heavily on sciences or manufacturing, instead, he wants a “unique ecosystem” (a “mix” if you will), at the site where you have those different companies working side-by-side, collaborating.

Place sat down with Gareth Jackson to hear his point of view about the transition from Airport City to MIX MANCHESTER. Credit: via Inform Communications
Lessons learned
You cannot talk about MIX MANCHESTER without first delving into Airport City, a 2012 masterplan that never fully delivered on its ambitions to create a hive of office blocks.
That does not mean Airport City was a failure. On the contrary, it did see the creation of the 821,000 sq ft Global Logistics project, which boasts occupiers such as Amazon and DHL, on the southern end of the site. Infrastructure was put in place, including a £6m pedestrian bridge linking Airport City to Manchester Airport and a £15m Enterprise Way link road.
It is just that the northern portion never quite reached its potential, despite multiple announcements – including THG’s 1m sq ft campus – that sounded promising but never came to fruition.
“When it was created, Airport City was actually quite innovative,” Jackson said. “But it probably was too economically sensitive in terms of being able to generate the opportunities and get them through the door.”
Learning from the past, rather than trying to create a whole new entity in Greater Manchester, MIX MANCHESTER is building on what already exists.
“We’re looking at something that is really at the centre of Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester’s economy,” Jackson said. “What we’re trying to do here is complement and further enhance the region’s science, innovation, and manufacturing sector so we feel it is more of a deliverable product.”
Ready to go
What is more, unlike when Airport City was announced, MIX MANCHESTER is coming to market shovel-ready.
The site is relatively clear with £30m of infrastructure work complete – including the previously mentioned pedestrian bridge and link road.
In an era where power is more and more in demand, high-voltage electricity has already been installed and utility connections are complete.
MIX MANCHESTER’s location adjacent to Manchester Airport means that occupiers and their staff will benefit from a level of security infrastructure unavailable elsewhere in the region.
For companies wary of committing fully to a presence at MIX MANCHESTER, the estate will include 80,000 sq ft of “soft landing” space. Companies could occupy these spaces for six to 24 months to get a taste of what MIX MANCHESTER offers before moving onto the campus full-time.
Talent pools
Jackson is already in talks with a series of global companies and there is clear interest – not just in the space, but Greater Manchester as a whole.
“I can’t name names, but we are talking to investors in the United States and they are very excited by the talent pool in Manchester and peripherally around the site as well,” Jackson said.
“They see it as a massive opportunity and a real plus point for the site. We’re encouraged that occupiers that do come will be able to find the talent they need in the talent pool locally.”
That spells good news for Wythenshawe and the surrounding areas. Jackson emphasised that MIX MANCHESTER plans are meant to go hand-in-hand with the city council’s plans to regenerate Wythenshawe by providing opportunities for good jobs close by.
Transport connections
While the local talent pool is part of MIX MANCHESTER’s appeal, so is its location. MIX will benefit from great road, rail, and tram links – not to mention the airport itself.
“That’s been a big draw in terms of global people, global companies, and global partners who are doing work in America that see this as a stepping stone into Europe and also over towards the Far East,” Jackson said.
The transport links put MIX MANCHESTER above the rest, he said.
Acknowledging what he was about to say was “pretty bold”, he continued: “MIX MANCHESTER is one of the best – if not the best – site in the UK at the moment for opportunity and investment.
“We’re really confident that this is going to be a great opportunity going forward for everybody in Manchester, in Greater Manchester, and nationally.”

A public consultation on the revised masterplan for the site is set to begin this summer. Credit: Virtual Planit
Next steps
MIX MANCHESTER’s first phase will consist of a series of mid-tech industrial units ranging from 2,000 sq ft to 50,000 sq ft. These will be enabled by the delivery of a multi-storey car park, which has had planning permission since 2017.
Sheppard Robson has been drawing up a strategic regeneration framework for MIX MANCHESTER, which is set to go before Manchester City Council this summer. This would enable work on MIX to get underway next year, with Jackson teasing that it would be “something fairly substantial” to start with.
Now, Jackson is eager to get the good MIX MANCHESTER word out. The upcoming UKREiiF conference in Leeds will play a part of that, with the MIX MANCHESTER team sponsoring the Greater Manchester’s reception at the Canary Bar on Tuesday, 21 May.
Don’t want to wait until UKREiiF to learn about MIX MANCHESTER? You can find more information at mix-manchester.com.
I am not convinced by this new plan. I think it will have the same issues as their office plan – people will prefer in-town to out-of-town offerings. Should stick to hotels, logistics etc for this area. Be interesting to see the state of play in 5 years time.
By Chris
I guess to answer Chris’s question, if NPR and some connection to HS2 comes back to life it’ll be a very compelling location in its own right. Without that, not so much.
By Rich X
Let us just settle for NPR and its impact on the isochronal map of the north west and wider north. (Isochrones are contour lines based upon time, They are what makes the case for Crossrail Rail One and will do so for Crossrail Two,) I hesitate to suggest that those who persist with using bogus discounred benefit ranking systems should be burned at the electoral stake but I am sorely tempted.
By Bob Robinson
I think this needs apartments above cafes and etc to make it a nice place to work, it would get Hale prices too
By Dom Jones
I agree with the point about the impact of new rail connectivity at the Airport – if it is at the Airport not 2km to the east of it in the middle of nowhere. Hesitate to say another underground station on the Airport footprint is needed.
By Anonymous
Good for them – I hope its successful. Nothing wrong with opportunities to deliver good quality jobs in the North.
By Grubby Northener