Manchester city council will today announce a partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency to pool development sites to create 55,000 new homes.
Manchester Place, as the parternership will be known, will create a pipeline of development-ready sites, and aim to achieve the target by 2027.
The venture will work through a new project board with investors such as Abu Dhabi Group, and will provide public resources “where justified“.
Estates Gazette revealed in March that the backers of Manchester City Football Club were teaming up with the council to deliver 6,000 homes in east Manchester in a £1bn deal.
That partnership – Manchester Life – will constitute the flagship venture in the Manchester Place programme.
Manchester Place will include working with landowners to ready sites for development, assembling land, and using receipts from land sales to move housing projects forward.
An annual investment plan will identify priority areas for public and private sector investment which can unlock residential growth. These will be designated as Investment Action Areas, with Ancoats and New Islington one of the first.
Housing and regeneration executive Jeff Smith said: “Manchester Place will secure an integrated approach by Manchester and the HCA to stimulate faster and wider interest in the city’s housing market. We welcome conversations with other investors, both international and UK-based, about the many opportunities in the city and will engage with landowners and developers to create a development pipeline for all investors and developers willing to support our residential growth strategy.”
HCA North West executive director Deborah McLaughlin said: “Manchester Place captures the strong working relationship that has developed between the city council and the Homes and Community Agency, and is a great demonstration of how we can jointly use pioneering investment models to stimulate growth.”
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
