Andy Burnham has promised a decade of good growth in the region. It’s a bold promise from the Mayor of Greater Manchester. But, as the UK’s fastest-growing city region, you wouldn’t bet against it. What’s more, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) now has the funds to back up its ambitious plans, solving what Andy Haldane, the President of the British Chamber of Commerce, describes as a ‘deep-rooted’ problem – far too little money flowing outside of the South East.
Last month, Burnham unveiled the next wave of investment from the GM Good Growth fund. The UK-first £1bn fund will almost double in size, including a landmark £500m partnership with the National Wealth Fund. This will take the total capacity to almost £2bn, following the addition of more than £300m worth of transport funding and £175m announced by the Government.
Through this partnership, the GMCA has already identified a pipeline of investable transport, regeneration, and clean energy projects across Greater Manchester – new ‘financial plumbing’ that will help drive sustainable growth in the region, while unlocking potential in both businesses and communities.
From a real estate perspective, this is great news. At the start of the year, GMCA and its partners published a report aptly named Economic Growth in Greater Manchester. The report explored the reasons behind the city region’s recent economic success and the key factors driving this growth, setting out plans to help the region keep growing over the next 10 years.
Within that report, real estate was seen as critical to achieving future success, framing land, housing, and commercial space as enablers of productivity and growth in a pro-development stance. While it’s seen as an opportunity, the GMCA is under no illusion that it’s an easy task in hand. On the one hand real estate has the potential to unlock future growth through more housing, regeneration and infrastructure-led development, as well as greater commercial and innovation space; on the other, it serves as a major bottleneck. Currently, there is a mismatch between economic growth and available property.
Over the next 10 years, the Good Growth Fund will need to play its part in directing investment into key real estate areas, while the GMCA ensures ambitions are not hamstrung by planning policies and political red tape.
There is a strong emphasis on increasing housing supply, especially in urban areas, creating more high-density development close to key employment hubs and transport corridors, unlocking stalled or unused land.
Commercial property will also play its part to support high-value sectors. This includes the well-publicised ‘growth clusters’ – five growth-driving areas across the city region that will bring high-value jobs, focusing on high-impact infrastructure, digital/AI, low-carbon projects, and life sciences.
Seventeen priority schemes have also been earmarked to lock in good growth, with areas such as Aston-under-Lyne, Oldham, Wigan, Stockport, Prestwich and Salford Crescent on the list. Regeneration and brownfield development is regarded as a central delivery mechanism for the GMCA. This will be underpinned by transport and infrastructure investment, an area where Burnham and the combined authority have strong credentials.
Since becoming Mayor in 2017, Burnham has transformed Greater Manchester’s transport network, including the planning, launch and implementation of the Bee Network – a long-term project to create a London-style, integrated public transport system. This rich thread will continue as part of the Good Growth Fund plans, with property development and public transport closely aligning.
There’s no doubt that Greater Manchester is using its unique devolved powers and a bold new approach to public investment to unlock major infrastructure sites and an integrated pipeline of projects that will create thousands of jobs and accelerate the regeneration of the city region over the next decade. Real estate sits at the heart of those plans – plans that have the potential to create a ripple effect across the UK. As Haldane puts it: “to make good on the holy grail that is national growth.”
