Manchester City Council has split a £4m grant for a tech incubator between Allied London’s St John’s and Bruntwood and Manchester Science Partnerships’ Circle Square.
The funding was originally announced by former chancellor George Osborne in the March 2015 Budget to go to the Co-operative Group and Hermes’ Federation building at NOMA.
However, the council subsequently decided to launch a competition for the funding. The grant from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport was designated to secure and refurbish a city centre property with facilities to host and “incubate” entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized enterprises working with developing digital technologies. The council said that following a procurement exercise, it was decided that splitting the grant between two tech hubs would provide the best value for money and maximise the benefits for the city – together providing 140,000 sq ft of floorspace.
The Allied London tech hub will be located in Enterprise City as part of 600,000 sq ft of new digital and creative tech space.
The Bruntwood/MSP tech hub will be located in Oxford House, Circle Square, as part of a major new tech and science business development.
Tech North and the Manchester Growth Company will be involved in the continuous support of the development of both hubs, and assist in the management and monitoring of performance.
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