Manchester University Economic Growth Event

Manchester University has launched an international search for a partner to develop its North Campus. Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, told delegates at the Greater Manchester Economic Growth that feedback from agents suggested development has the potential to be the most valuable in the country.

The University of Manchester is proposing the new campus for an 11.8 hectare (29 acre) site by Sackville Street, which is adjacent to Manchester Piccadilly rail and Metrolink stations.

The university wants to use the site to create a research and business campus, which will attract the world’s major technological companies, Georghiou said: “We don’t want it to be straightforward commercial development or a purely academic development.”

The university is currently developing the government-backed Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (GEIC) to exploit the research into the cutting edge, lightweight material which was pioneered by Manchester.  

The development of the campus would help achieve the university’s goal of becoming the North of England’s ‘Innovation Powerhouse’ Georghiou said.

And the city’s highly-skilled digital savvy graduates are already attracting inward investment, he added, pointing to the decisions by GCHQ and JLR to locate in Manchester: “They want the right kind of people, young and IT savvy, who are not found in huge quantities in Cheltenham.”

The city is also seeking to harness the university’s strengths in the biomedical sciences, including genomics, and its leading position as a centre of clinical trials.

The devolution of responsibility over health and social care to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority threw up a fresh set of opportunities in the medical sciences field, Georghiou said: “This gives opportunities where a single trust is too small and the health service is too large.”

And the university is seeking to capitalise on Manchester’s strengths in advanced digital and cyber security, which has been further bolstered by GCHQ’s decision to locate in the city.

He said the university, which was founded in 1824, has largest university estate in the UK higher education sector with 240 buildings spread over 270 hectares.

And it is involved in 40 Prosperity Partnerships set up under the umbrella of the government’s Industrial Strategy, more than any other university.