Local Development & Regeneration |  



Growing business sectors 
The Agency is working to build on ManchesterÕs growing reputation as a premier business location and the most rapidly growing employment area in the Northwest. 
The creative and cultural industries sector will be significantly enhanced by the development of MediaCityUK based at ManchesterÕs waterfront on Salford Quays. The project will see the creation of a Ômedia cityÕ for leading creative and digital businesses and will generate £1bn for the regional economy and create jobs for over 15,000 people once complete. 
MediaCityUK will house the BBC as one of its anchor tenants, over 1,620 London-based posts will relocate to Salford Quays in 2011 and the 800 staff currently based at the BBC in Manchester will also move to the new site. 
Developing MediaCityUK will bring benefits to the entire Northwest region, fundamental to cultivating economic growth within the region, and the NWDA has committed an investment of £30m towards the project. 
Manchester has the largest and fastest growing financial services sector outside London, employing around 172,000 people and valued at more than £9bn. The city is also home to one of the four regional centres for the National Skills Academy for Financial Services. 
In 2006, the Bank of New York, one of the largest banking groups in the world, selected Manchester as the location for a new operations centre. The Bank decided to base its new securities servicing growth centre in central Manchester to support business expansion in the UK and Europe, but also to take advantage of ManchesterÕs strong transport links and abundance of skilled workers. Other major financial services companies located in Manchester include the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclaycard, AIG, JP Morgan and Deloitte. 

Higher education 
The NWDA is working to encourage universities and colleges to play a larger role in the regional economy and in Greater Manchester.  The Agency supported the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST in 2004 to create The University of Manchester through a £30m investment which helped to create an institution that can compete with the international elite of universities. The University of Manchester (see page 104) aims to be among the top 25 universities in the world by 2015. 

Developing new business sites

The ability to offer a high quality portfolio of business sites to potential investors and firms wishing to expand within or relocate to the region is vital in maintaining its position as a dynamic business location. 
In Rochdale, the Agency is working in partnership with the Rochdale Development Agency and Wilson Bowden to deliver the £350m Kingsway Business Park, one of the largest business park developments in the UK covering 170 hectares, equivalent to half the size of Manchester city centre. When complete the scheme will create over 7,000 new jobs and will offer businesses first class facilities in a unique environmental setting. 
For more information, see page 78