Guide to Manchester - Trafford Park and Salford Quays
January 10th, 2008 | by Simon Rattray
The of the most prominent office and industrial areas in Manchester are Trafford Park and Salford Quays (check out our Manchester office space page), which stand next to each other about two miles from the City Centre. They are well placed for companies as they have very good public transport links, firstly from the metrolink tram service and also secondly to the M60 motorway.
Trafford Park
Trafford park has some big name companies located there such as utility giant United Utilities, Cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s, and detergent manufacturer Procter and Gamble and also Centrica formerly known as British Gas.
Trafford Park is a thriving and very successful business park, in fact, one of the biggest in Europe. There is a mixture of industrial space and also office space here. To give you an idea of just how big the park is, there is over 1,400 businesses located here who employ over 44,000 staff.
One of the most prominent office buildings is the The Venus development, near the Trafford Centre. It is a high class office development that has a over 91,000 square feet of office space. Companies have been attracted to this location as, firstly, it is cheaper than the city centre and also there are excellent transport links as the buidling is close to the M60. It is also very easy to get to the city centre and Manchester Airport.
Salford Quays
Salford Quays has developed into of the UK most prominent business locations as it offers high quality office space at competitive prices, with over 160,000 square metres of office space. It has provided regeneration and jobs to the local area which is one of Manchester most deprived. From the office space that has been let there, other amenities have sprung up such as restaurants, bars and a shopping centre. The Quays has also attracted some big names such as Marks & Spencer, The British Red Cross, BUPA, Avis Europe and JT International.
One of the newest developments in the Lighthouse building, which has nearly 6,000 square metres of office space in a prime location. In addition to this is the Digital World Centre across from the Lowry. But the most significant new tenants will be the BBC who decided to relocate many departments to the area and plan to build their own mediacity:uk. This will be fully complete by 2010.
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7 Responses to “Guide to Manchester - Trafford Park and Salford Quays”
By Mark Whitfield on Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
I thought readers might be interested to know the current status of the actual build for MediaCity:UK in Salford Quays as of February 4th, 2008.
The site now consists of 9 cranes with a 10th and 11th on the way (crane bases in place). Most of the concrete cores of the new BBC building look to be in place or started, rising to 9-10 storeys (maybe more) for the highest cores.
The land for the taller buildings off to the side of the main BBC building (right from the Lowry Centre side) is still being dug and prepared but more temporary cabins are in place off Broadway (the road that runs through the back of the Quays) presumably to house more MediaCity:UK project staff and a contingent of the BBC (cameramen) looking at the latest articles across the internet.
The current phase of the build occupies 35-40 acres (next to the City Lofts flats) with other phases planned across the water on the Imperial War Museum side.
The overall site is something of the order of 200 acres but no visible signs of development has started outside the main phase 1 area currently. No doubt this will depend on discussions with other media companies being persuaded to join the MediaCity:UK estate.
For a photographic timeline for December / January and beyond (and pictures back to June of last year), go to Google and search on ‘BBC Salford Quays Approved - Media City : UK whitfield’ in Google or goto ‘www.mawhitfield.com/mcuk.htm’.
Judging be the pace of the development, there is a big push on to meet the 2010/11 date for the first phase completion.
Those currently thinking about a career in the media by way of a chosen degree (media studies, photography etc.) might be one of the 15,500 new jobs to be created between now and 2011 in the first phase of this build. Also, the price of properties (and especially flats) in the area will almost certainly rise as a result of the considerable development occuring in this location with new flats being built currently.
I have worked as an IT Manager in Salford Quays for 12 years and live in North Bolton. When I first came here, the skyline of the Quays area was relatively flat but now houses such buildings as The Designer Outlet (80 outlet stores), The iconic Lowry and Imperial War Museum Buildings and new flat developments which continue to be built in anticipation of the BBC move and general growth in this area.
Hope this update helps.
By James Jones on Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your fantastic update Mark. I would be grateful if you could give us further updates in the future - an excellent read indeed.
By Mark Whitfield on Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your comments James. I will make sure to keep this link for further updates as and when they occur at the MediaCity:UK Salford Quays development. As a local to Salford Quays, the photographic timeline ‘http://www.mawhitfield.com/mcuk.htm’ will be kept up-to-date with the latest photographs of the build all the way to completion in 2010/11 and beyond for further phases.
By Mark Whitfield on Apr 8, 2008 | Reply
The site now consists of 12 cranes with a reported 9 more on the way (13th crane base in place 08/04/2008). Most of the concrete cores of the new BBC building look to be in place or started, rising to 9-10 storeys (maybe more) for the highest cores. The cores are currently being surrounded by concrete pillars up to 6-7 storeys currently. There are upto 400 workers on site currently with a proposed 1000+ to be posted eventually with 20 cranes in all (according to unconfirmed reports from workers on-site).
By Mark Whitfield on May 13, 2008 | Reply
Both the 13th and 14th cranes have been erected in the last 7 days (15th crane base in place) and some external render is beginning to be applied to the main BBC building opposite the Imperial War Museum. The main BBC building appears to be near completion in terms of the concrete pillars that surround the main concrete cores.
By James Jones on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Excellent updates Mark. Has anything changed since May?
By philip grace on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
Media City is developing at a rapid pace. UBC overlook to whole site, they operate 32,000sq’ of business centre, incorporating 6,500 sq’ of conferencing and a 100 seat auditorium from Digital World Centre, right opposite the site. If anybody would like to have a look, contact Jane Erasmus, UBC’s centre manager, you’ll be able to look down on the site from level seven. Jane can be contacted on jane.erasmus@ubcuk.com I’ve asked jane to post some pictures on choregus.