For many Manchester is a city of two football teams and little else. Having visited recently as a part of a Study Tour, I thought it would be interesting to share some of my own observations and learning from Britain’s largest regional city. My grandmother emigrated from Salford in Manchester, which provided a personal interest in the city as well. This blog briefly outlines some city central initiatives linked to sporting investment, public housing projects in Manchester as well as highlighting the need to stick to long term strategy.
In 1951 the population of Manchester’s metropolitan district was over 700,000, by 2001 this had dropped to around 420,000, due to the oversupply of Victorian terraces, decentralisation policy and economic decline of its traditional manufacturing industries. The urban redevelopment initiatives of the early 1970’s also left a lot to be desired, creating significant issues around social exclusion, cycles of poverty and general decay of certain areas. By 2011 this was on the increase again, reaching 498,000.
Very much built on the boom of the manufacturing and industrial revolution, Manchester has gone through significant transformations in the past twenty years in its central and eastern areas. Jim Chapman, who spoke to the study tour group, is the Emeritus Professor at the Manchester School of Architecture and he outlined that, ironically, the IRA bomb in 1996 in the town centre was the beginning of a 20-25 year regeneration strategy for the city. In many ways it was the catalyst - there were no deaths, only superficial damage except to a rather bleak 1970’s enclosed concreted mall that was obliterated. (Were there planners involved?)
Since that time Manchester has experienced rapid and then steady growth as a thriving regional city. In 1993, the UK government funded the return of trams to the CBD, a major public transport initiative. In addition, the city prepared 5 Strategic Generation Frameworks that over the last decade that has lead to an influx of higher education institutions, an up-skilling of the workforce and an international airport. Extensive city modelling has been undertaken that graphically illustrates every property in the CBD in 3D form, a very impressive project being run and monitored by ARUP on behalf of the city and developers, who all use the same base data when proposing new applications.
One element that I found quite interesting was the impact of sports on the city. Regeneration initiatives and investment boomed for the delivery of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and between the two major football teams City and United a significant amount of investment flows across Manchester.
Piccadilly Gardens is an interesting case study to highlight the impact of Commonwealth Games funding. Located in the heart of the city, from 1755-1910 it was the site of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, then demolished and left as open space. This became run down and over time increasingly unsafe as it housed a poorly designed bus station and works depot. As part of the ongoing regeneration of the city centre and Commonwealth Games funding, the Council ran an international design competition to revitalise the area.
Significant funding in the order of £ 10 million was provided and the design by EDAW included new open space and one of the largest walk-through fountains in the world. New pavilions and real time technology were installed to make the bus interchange efficient and safe and it was completed in time for the Games. The flow on from recreating the space was significant. On-going investment in the immediate area including numerous commercial developments have been built over the past decade.
The recurring theme in the Manchester visit from various speakers and authorities was that the key to city renewal is long term partnerships, both public and private. Governments sticking to committed strategies have led to vital and important game changing developments for the city.
Manchester East
The other major sporting related rejuvenation has been in Manchester East, that has seen the bulk of its transformation in the last 10 years led by the moving of Manchester City Football Club into the stadium built for the Commonwealth Games (now known as Emirates Stadium). Coinciding with this was the club being purchased by the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, and along with it a significant amount of developable land in excess of 50 hectares. New tram-lines and metro stations have also been built. Given significant cuts to public housing budgets, the football club and its land holdings offer the potential partnership opportunities with Council and Development Agencies for future provision and possible funding. The challenge will be to stem the wishes of the football club (such as building a Casino in return for land exchange) in check. .
The rise of the football club and its fortunes has also led to a rise in the East generally. The New East Manchester Ltd regeneration project company has three part owners – the Council, the Homes and Communities Agency and the North West Regional Development Agency. (www.east-manchester.com) This innovative Public Private Partnership has built over 5000 homes, 3 schools and significant amount of office space. Its agenda is based on transforming the most blighted pre-1919 housing stock and replacing with sustainable housing that is also affordable.
The suburb of Moss Side was the previous location of Manchester City's stadium at Maine Road which has since been demolished and a mixed development of 2,3 and 4 bedroom houses, flats, a health centre and a primary school has been built on the site. It is made up of an ethnically diverse population, and the affordability model used here through a £ 17m Council-led regeneration project. This includes 64 Victorian Terrace Houses that have been renovated and converted with strong eco and sustainability measures. Manchester City’s relocation opened up this land for redevelopment and regeneration, importantly the team stayed in the same area.
The model for ownership as 70% contributed by the owner (and their bank!) with 30% of the equity retained by the Council which can be bought without interest at a later date, or held by the Council on any resale. It was sold out at the time of inspection last April.
Manchester is a tough city. Resilient, and not necessarily welcoming on first inspection, but dig beneath the surface and it’s a regional city standing up to be counted in its provision of public realm, housing and making it a better place to live. It has a strong history in the birth of heavy manufacturing, the worlds first railway station, the arts, popular music (Factory Records, Stone Roses, Oasis and The Chemical Brothers) and more recently it has risen to prominence on the back of Manchester United in the global sporting market. This has then led to the purchase and rise of Manchester City.
Now significant funding and money is going into the historic Town Hall buildings in the centre of the city. The heart. Transforming two iconic listed buildings into twenty-first century civic and cultural spaces is a project unlike any other currently underway in the UK, and another sign that Manchester is still moving in the right direction. These were also based on long term strategy, and phased implementation that has been adhered to. A rarity compared to some Councils in our system that revamp “long term” strategy every electoral cycle. Manchester is a city worth a visit, try and do so during the football season for a truly remarkable experience of how much a city rides the wave of expectation!
"By no stretch of the imagination is Manchester a picturesque city. It is however, emphatically if unconventionally beautiful. In common with all things beautiful...It is fundamentally flawed. It has a compulsion to preen and show off. It is narcissistic, contrary and wayward, and yet you cannot help but love it. It is both admirable and maddening."
From "Change and Contradiction" by Chris Lethbridge, Diverse City 1994.
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