About Ask Developments
INNOVATIVE. IMAGINATIVE. AWARD-WINNING. CREATIVE AND FLEXIBLE. ADVENTUROUS. A TRUSTED AND RELIABLE PARTNER.
Just some of the words with which people choose to describe Ask Developments, an independent company with an impressive reputation for delivering high-quality schemes in urban centres.
Since formation in 2000, Manchester-based Ask has built a formidable name for its lead role in multi-partner developments involving highly creative and bold concepts. The portfolio now comprises 20 separate projects with the capacity to deliver 11m sq ft of floorspace generating an end value of £2.76 billion.
Ask’s mission is to create places where people want to be – witness award-winning developments as diverse as Deansgate Locks in Manchester, Leopold Square in Sheffield and Central Park business park in East Manchester, the UK’s first edge of city centre business park founded on innovation and knowledge transfer.
Projects under construction in the Ask portfolio include the Knowsley Place mixed use quarter in Bury town centre and the redevelopment of Urmston shopping centre. Recently completed is Number One First Street, the first phase of First Street Manchester, which will deliver the most stunning place setting for any Grade A office building in the city centre.
Transformational mixed-use schemes in the pipeline include the redevelopment of Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford ground, the former Boddington's brewery in Manchester and strategic development sites at Greengate Salford and Church Wharf in the centre of Bolton.
The partnership approach to mixed-use development is key to the Ask way of doing things. Adding value through partnership maximises potential benefits for all parties from stakeholders through to occupiers. It is the key to unlocking the maximum economic and social impact while simultaneously delivering best real estate performance.
Ask’s pioneering approach to urban regeneration is based on a deep understanding of local authority partners’ obligations and desired outcomes, and the company shares with its public sector stakeholders a sincere commitment to create sustainable communities underpinned by good design, innovation and high quality public spaces.
Ask is working in partnership with a number of local authorities, including seven in Greater Manchester, and in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. To fully support its forward business plan, and to sustain, develop and grow its impressive portfolio of development sites and schemes in the North of England, Ask has announced new long term funding arrangements with its banking partner, The Co-operative Bank.
In addition to the commercial portfolio, in April 2006 the Board took a strategic step forward in launching its stand alone residential company – Ask Life. Ask Life is bringing forward a number of new homes throughout the Greater Manchester region and for further details check out www.asklife.co.uk or call 0870 242 4499. Ask is a young, forward-thinking and dynamic business which has worked hard to develop trust-based relationships with clients, suppliers and backers alike and is seeing rewards of that effort.