From May, the BBC will start to move into 330,000 sq ft of space at The Peel Group’s MediaCityUK scheme at Salford Quays. Much of its relocation from London should be completed by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the facility being built for rival broadcaster ITV Granada at the £600m canalside campus is due to be completed in June, with the migration of employees and the production of Coronation Street beginning at the site towards the end of 2012.
Greater Manchester’s media scene – which has a pedigree in broadcasting stretching back half a century – is big news. Recent years have seen a boom in the wider creative and media sectors, and such occupiers are expected to flourish.
But how are developers responding, and with the BBC and ITV upping sticks from Manchester to Salford, will the former miss out?
Greater Manchester’s media boom presents a major opportunity for those developers willing to embrace the sector. Manchester council has already staked a claim on creative and digital occupiers by turning the former Sharp distribution warehouse on Oldham Road in east Manchester into an emerging media hub, The Sharp Project. But how willing are others to dip a toe in the water?
Tony Bray, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s Manchester office and adviser to Peel on MediaCity, says: “Certain developers are in tune with it, but the wider development community is perhaps not as educated about the sector as it might be.”
Bray believes the idea that all media occupiers want low-cost, no-frills space is a common misconception. “A lot of occupiers in the media sector want grade A space. As always, in all markets, there needs to be a difference in price points driven by quality and location,” he says.
John Whittaker’s Peel Group perhaps stands to gain most from Greater Manchester’s media boom. Stephen Wild, managing director of real estate at Peel Media, says MediaCity is geared up to appeal to occupiers from across the sector’s spectrum. “We have a complete range of space, from a desk for a day to 200,000 sq ft for 30 years. It’s about creating a hub, a cluster for people to locate where they want,” he says.
In addition to the office and studio blocks being occupied by the major broadcasters, MediaCity is home to 26 smaller occupiers in the Pie Factory, an adjoining building that was formerly a manufacturing unit.
It is also bringing forward a scheme known as the Greenhouse, an ingenious conversion of MediaCity’s former construction site office, offering 32,000 sq ft of flexible space for smaller creative firms. The development was due for completion as EG went to press.
Across town, in east Manchester, The Sharp Project is also plugging into demand from start-ups and smaller occupiers. Sue Woodward, a former Granada TV executive and now director of the project, says the media and creative sectors are an economic development priority for the city.
“We are now the second-biggest producer of content in the UK, enhanced by the universities. If that’s where the jobs are coming from, we need a space for them,” she says.
The 200,000 sq ft Sharp Project provides that space in a range of configurations, including some much-publicised, glass-fronted shipping containers. Work is under way on the creation of office units of up to 1,000 sq ft.
Given the overlap between MediaCity’s start up-led Greenhouse and the offer at The Sharp Project, the question of competition between the two schemes – and of competition between Salford and Manchester in a niche sector – seems reasonable.
MediaCity’s studio provision also faces competition from The Sharp Project’s production stages, which recently secured a deal with independent producers Lime Pictures and Objective Productions for the shooting of a new Channel 4 comedy drama, Fresh Meat. Mount Pleasant, a new Tiger Aspect series for Sky, will also be shot at Sharp.
For Woodward, The Sharp Project is “so not like MediaCity” and the question of competition is brushed off with a smile. “I know what the market is, what to do and how to fill the space. Competition drives up an economy,” she says.
Wild suggests that “occupiers will make their own decisions” about MediaCity’s offer versus that of other developments.
It is true that there are significant differences between the two schemes. While MediaCity offers shiny glass-fronted buildings, its own tram stop and an on-site Holiday Inn, occupiers at The Sharp Project make do without air-conditioning and must supply their own window blinds. Sharp has no agents and has drummed up demand through word of mouth and Twitter. MediaCity has a 46-page glossy brochure and the services of one of the world’s largest property consultants to market it across the world.
Manchester council is clearly a little bored of the chatter about competition between The Sharp Project and MediaCity.
Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester council, says a strong, diverse media sector is central to the growth of the city region. “We believe we can strengthen our existing media cluster, increase the volume of production and develop a pipeline of creative young people with the skills the industry needs,” he says.
“The excellent facilities across the city region complement each other and create the unique opportunity for Manchester to regain its crown as the UK’s creative powerhouse.”
Woodward agrees. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Salford or Manchester,” she says, “as long as it’s all up north.”
Viewpoint: Cat Lewis, Nine Lives Media
Nine Lives is one of Manchester’s best-known independent TV production companies, and recently won plaudits for its one-off BBC Three documentary Small Teen Big World.
Managing director Cat Lewis believes the BBC move will be positive for the region. “When you’re running an indie, you need a strong base of freelance programme-makers. If no programmes are being made in the region, people move to London, so the BBC being here will help keep them in the region and creates work for supply-chain companies,” she says.
Lewis describes herself as a “vocal supporter” of MediaCity, and is enthusiastic about Salford Quays as a location, but says she is put off moving there by a lack of available freehold property.
The company employs 18 staff and is based at Invicta House, close to Spinningfields, alongside a small cluster of other media companies including Endemol.
“If we moved, we would want to move with the post-production facilities house we use, which is based in this building,” says Lewis. “We have had talks with MediaCity, but I haven’t looked at the office space we might move into. It would be good to have space that we could expand into, but price is the key issue. We try to keep our overheads as low as possible.”
While The Sharp Project is not a location that Nine Lives would consider, Lewis says the scheme is a positive addition to the media landscape because it offers cheaper space to start-ups. “It’s important for the city to offer a range of facilities,” she says.
Viewpoint: Darren Hutchinson, Dreamscope Productions
Dreamscope Productions is based in Rochdale, but director Darren Hutchinson is keen to move to MediaCityUK. The business, which has made programmes for ITV and the History Channel, is keen to secure around 1,000 sq ft at the site, encompassing four desks and space for edit facilities.
“MediaCity opens up a channel of communication with the BBC, but we also want to promote the services we can provide to other businesses there,” says Hutchinson. “The ideal thing is to cluster somewhere where there are similar companies.”
Other locations are on Dreamscope’s radar, but it is clear that Hutchinson believes MediaCity is the best option for expanding the business.
“We’re thinking as big as possible and want to aim high. I don’t mean that The Sharp Project and Manchester’s Northern Quarter are operating on a lower level, but they haven’t got massive broadcasters right next to them,” he says.
“We feel like we need to go to MediaCity to be next to those big companies.”
