Open meeting: What you need to know about ID Manchester

Back in 2019, our University set out its plans to support a new, world-class innovation district in the heart of Manchester. The £1.5 billion new world-class innovation district will set a new standard for urban regeneration and build a bold new neighbourhood that will support the next generation of innovators, helping them to bring their ideas to reality. Read on to find out more about the project, our progress, and what will be happening next. 

• Book on to our open meeting on 31 October to find out more

Why do we need ID Manchester? 

ID Manchester will mark a huge step in our development of a world-class innovation eco-system around the University. The plans will not only put Manchester on the map as the innovation capital of Europe but also provide huge economic benefits to the city and contribute to the University’s Our future strategy.  

Diana Hampson, Director of Estates, said: “ID Manchester will build upon the proud history of bold ideas, discovery, and invention established by the University. It will attract the most forward-thinking, like-minded individuals and businesses with the chance to establish their UK HQ, start-up or scale up their company, take on and benefit from disruptive technologies and ideas or simply come and enjoy this inspirational space.” 

As a result of ID Manchester, we anticipate enhanced placement and career opportunities for our students and graduates, alongside the potential creation of over 10,000 new jobs, 1,000 new homes, and 2.6m square feet of commercial workspace over the next 10-15 years, all within the city’s vibrant centre.  

Businesses located at ID Manchester will be able to leverage the skills, research capability, and support networks already established in the local neighbourhood as well as gaining access to the international talent pool generated by our University’s teaching and research specialisms across multiple sectors. 

How are we planning to achieve this? 

In order to achieve the level of ambition set out in our plans, earlier this year we announced a joint venture partnership with BruntwoodSciTech to enhance, develop and realise our vision to establish ID Manchester as a new innovation district in the next 10-15 years.   

Bruntwood SciTech is a partnership between property company Bruntwood and Legal & General, and is the UK’s leading developer of innovation districts, creating the perfect environments for science and technology to form, scale and grow.  

What’s happening now? 

ID Manchester is a long-term vision and regeneration on this scale takes years in the making. Whilst we continue to move through some important milestones, with the signing of our joint venture and our move from North Campus into Engineering Buildings A and B which form the home of Engineering and Materials (formerly known as MECD), which will become the largest home for engineering in any UK university, colleagues should be mindful about the pace of change they can expect - a project of this magnitude could take upwards of 10 years to complete.  

Over the next few months, alongside our partners at Bruntwood SciTech, we will be developing the masterplan for the site and look forward to sharing it in due course. In the meantime, we will continue to vacate large parts of our north campus which will be redeveloped as part of the ID Manchester plans. This means that our Sackville Street conference venues have now closed their doors as we make way for new conferencing facilities within Oddfellows Hall and our new Engineering Buildings. 

For more information