Member Article

Manchester Council to set up digital holding company

Manchester City Council has unveiled plans to create a new holding company to support and develop digital sites across the city.

The Council hopes the holding company will underpin a “family” of projects and create a portfolio of existing city-owned digital assets, while creating new employment and business opportunities.

Existing assets such as The Sharp Project in East Manchester will come under the Council’s “mother brand” holding company, while new projects such as One Central Park and the former Fujitsu building in West Gorton will also be brought into the operation.

These three sites comprise a 450,000 sq ft footprint in Manchester, and will be used to support creative digital businesses to could create up to 1,300 jobs over the next three years.

Cllr Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council’s executive member for environment, said: “We want to bring these three important Council owned assets under one umbrella body so the group can further improve our position in this rapidly expanding and competitive global market.

“The City’s creative and digital sector is vital for Manchester’s economy. It stimulates growth and attracts new entrepreneurs, start-ups, capital and talent to the city.

“It is clear that over time we will need to expand this asset base as demand outstrips supply. The holding company will allow us to create a flexible platform so we can respond quickly to opportunities as they present themselves.”

The City Council holding company will own all three sites while each enterprise will exist under its own branding and will operate individually.

Sue Woodward OBE, director of The Sharp Project and Manchester’s creative media champion said: “We have created something very special at The Sharp Project and it would be prudent to capitalise on this opportunity.

“Creating a new company to bring these three important assets together is a major milestone for us and for Manchester as a whole. The Council’s foresight in grasping this opportunity with both hands and believing in our ambition is truly commendable and quite remarkable.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .