Manchester City Council and the Government Property Agency have launched a joint consultation around emerging plans for the former 163,000 sq ft Central Retail Park on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester.
The GPA bought five acres of the 10-acre site earlier this year as part of plans to create a major new digital campus for as many as 7,000 civil servants.
The council agreed an updated strategic regeneration framework for the land in March 2023 that set out the high-level development principles for the site: to create low-carbon commercial office space and high-quality, accessible green space to support continued economic growth in this part of Manchester’s city centre.
The GPA wants to develop a state-of-the-art government digital campus on the land to bring together a number of civil service departments with a focus around digital skills.
The site will also deliver new park space, which is being designed in collaboration with landscape architect Planit-IE and will help meet the need for quality, attractive green space in the city centre.
Leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig said: “We are beginning to see the potential of this site unlocked and the plans being developed by the council and the GPA meet the ambitions we have for this important site – including a new city centre park and digital campus that will be home to 7,000 civil servant jobs.
“The new park will help meet demand for high-quality green space in the city centre and will complement other green investment – including Ancoats Green – in this neighbourhood.
“As ever, consultation is the opportunity for our residents to give us feedback on the emerging proposals and help guide this investment that will benefit Mancunians for years to come.”
Mark Bourgeois, interim chief executive at the GPA, added: “This proposed development builds on the work the council and the GPA undertook last year in putting in place an updated strategic regeneration framework, and the shared ambition to regenerate the Ancoats former retail site, creating employment and wider business opportunities, supported by the digital campus.”
Development across the rest of the site will be brought forward as a later development phase.
Consultation on the plans closes on 23 September. The council and GPA hope to submit planning applications before the end of the year.
Image from the GPA
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