Central Park
Location: East Manchester
Size: 450 acres
End Value: £175m
Partner: Manchester City Council, New East Manchester, Goodman
Development Manager: David Burkinshaw
Project Manager: Andrew Parker
Commercial
Central Park, which is being developed in a joint venture by Ask:Goodman, is the UK’s first urban mixed-use business park, just 1.5 miles from the centre of Manchester with the capacity to offer more than 1.4 million sq ft of commercial floorspace.
The park’s flourishing success is evident in the 275,000 sq ft of completed and occupied development and the quality of world-class businesses already located here including IT giant Fujitsu Services and MANCAT and MSEC’s unique technology institute at One Central Park.
Two recent announcements have been made by Greater Manchester Police Authority who has approved the relocation of GMP’s Force Command to Central Park. The new iconic 6 storey headquarters totalling 240,000 sq ft is now on site and is scheduled for completion in March 2011. This was quickly followed by the news that GMPA has also given the go ahead for a new Divisional Headquarters for Greater Manchester Police. Construction of the 125,273 sq ft building is now underway which is scheduled for completion in autum 2011. The £35m building is sited next to the Force HQ.
Innovative and dynamic, the park also caters for small to medium sized companies following the completion of Madison Place, a ‘village’ of five units ranging from 5,244 sq ft to 13,377 sq ft. Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has recently signed up for the 7,267 sq ft unit on a 10 year lease, and will take occupation in June 2009.
The park’s distinctive landmark is the £36.5m Gateway - a dedicated transport interchange that will provide direct access into Manchester City Centre when the Metrolink extension opens in 2011 – something that no other business park can offer.
Central Park has the capacity to accommodate 10,000 jobs in a pleasant sustainable environment and is part of the driving force behind the regeneration of east Manchester.
The Central Park website can be found at www.downtownmanchester.com and a PDF of the brochure can be downloaded here.