Manchester outlines £700m public build programme
Manchester City Council says a £700m civic building programme will safeguard nearly 8,000 jobs over the next two years.
A workforce of 1,200 professionals and 6,500 trades people will be employed, the council claims, on its capital works. The programme includes:
- £288m on the Building Schools for the Future and Academies programme
- £175m housing improvements, including Housing Market Renewal and Private Finance Initiative
- £56m rebuilding and refurbishing primary schools
- £57m maintenance works and miscellaneous small works
- £40m transport and highways, public realm works for Metrolink
- £23m regeneration projects in north, south and New East Manchester areas
- £20m corporate asset repairs and maintenance
- £8m Sure Start children's centres
- £40m to begin the £165m refurbishment of the Town Hall complex.
There are 458 apprentices and trainees being supported, 390 through the various contractors involved and 60 through the council's own training programme. A further eight trainees are expected to start in the next year.
Cllr Sue Murphy, executive member for employment and skills, said: "These works add up to a huge programme of investment in facilities that will benefit Manchester residents for years to come and of which they can be proud.
"Crucially, our commitment to these improvements to the built environment is also sustaining vital jobs during a period of recession. It is the most direct way, but very far from the only one, in which we are doing everything in our power to help create new jobs and support our residents. These are being brought together in our Helping Hands initiative."