Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has unveiled plans for a landmark 260,000 sq ft distribution hub within the city’s enterprise zone. The Airport City scheme is expected to create hundreds of jobs.
Submitted jointly with logistics developer Stoford — which is working on behalf of an un-named “international investor” — the high-tech complex would be located on an 11-acre plot at Airport City South. The site is adjacent to Manchester Airport’s existing cargo centre with access to Junction 6 of the M56 motorway.
It is hoped outline planning permission for the £100m project will be granted by Manchester City Council early in the New Year. Covering almost one-and-a-half million square feet of distribution floor space, the scheme would include a large warehouse and an adjoining three-storey office building. There would be parking for 45 lorries and 180 cars.
“In response to growing market demand for logistics and industrial property we are progressing this development with Stoford by submitting an outline planning permission for the site at Airport City South,” explained Lynda Shillaw, MAG’s divisional property chief executive.
The group’s planned World Logistics Hub — located at the heart of Greater Manchester’s Enterprise Zone to allow incoming firms to benefit from business rate reductions and other perks — could ultimately attract around 2,000 jobs to the area.
Granted outline consent in 2012, global carrier DHL has already agreed to establish a 37,308 sq ft base at the World Logistics Hub, where it will locate 150 staff.
Describing itself as one of the most significant regeneration schemes in the UK since the 2012 Olympics redevelopment in East London, the scheme’s web site says: “Designed to offer availability from an early stage, with development opportunities for offices, hotels, advanced manufacturing, logistics and warehousing … The first Airport City in the UK will be an influential business environment where organisations work, meet and collaborate with others.”
Founded in 2001, the Manchester Airports Group is a holding company owned jointly by the ten metropolitan borough councils within Greater Manchester and Australian investment fund IFM Investors. It is now the largest UK-owned airport operator, controlling four British airports: Bournemouth, East Midlands, Manchester and London Stansted Airport.
It’s Airport City development partner, Stoford, specialises in occupier-led, pre-let commercial property developments and has completed more than 10m square feet of industrial, office, retail and hotels projects across the UK.
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