This morning saw the latest stage in the development of Factory, Manchester’s bid to be the cultural capital of the world and About Manchester was there to here all.
Those that have heard Council leader Sir Richard Leese talk at events over the last few months will have heard him talk about the importance of culture to Manchester. He wasn’t there this morning, he told the audience at the Old Granda studios, to continue that message.
Instead it was growth and jobs, the fact that devolved cities deliver better growth and the need to rebalance the investment in infrastructure that has continually been at its greatest in London and the South East.
But this was about Factory, a world class arts space, scheduled to open in time for the 2019 Manchester International Festival, a place where according to Sir Richard, you could be at the National Opera in the morning and at the Warehouse Project in the afternoon.
It will be a unique large scale, ultra-flexible arts venue capable of transforming from a seated theatre space to a standing environment suitable for a wide range of art forms.
Research, say the council, has shown that there is a demonstrable need for such a venue, which will serve a catchment area of 9.7m people within a 90-minute drive time and Manchester has established itself as a city with an acclaimed range of attractions and events which plays a leading role in the nation’s cultural life. There are around 4.5 million visits per year to its museums, galleries, theatres and music venues.
The tourist and visitor economy is estimated by independent experts to be worth £6.6bn a year to the Greater Manchester economy – £3.4bn of that to Manchester. For Greater Manchester as a whole the number of visitors has increased by more than a quarter in less than a decade, from 86.9m per year in 2005 to 109.4m in 2013.
John McGrath, the newly appointed head of Manchester International Festival, believes that artists will come from all over the world to do things they can’t do anywhere else as well as being a beacon for Manchester people to try things that they have never tried before.
It is calculated that within a decade it will help create, directly or indirectly, the equivalent of almost 2,500 jobs and adding £138 million a year to our economy.
Perhaps more importantly it is at the heart of Allied London’s new creative village, St John’s.
A report going to the council executive next week says that it will “create vibrancy similar to Covent Garden in London” .
The scheme will cover six hectares and also involve complementary residential and office development with 15,000 sq m of creative performance space, 13,000 sq m of retail and hotel accommodation, 60,000 sq m of office space and 3,000 homes. It will also feature extensive public open space, including a new riverside park and its towers will transform the landscape of Manchester and Salford.
Two as yet unnamed hotels have already signed up to the scheme which will begin construction next year if planning permission is accepted.Greg Attwood, development director at Allied London tells us that the plans are being submitted for stage one at the beginning of August.
As for the Factory site, the council have begun a tendering process for a design team and if all goes to plan, work will begin in 2017 with the opening scheduled for early 2019.
