Extract from the Financial Times
By Andrew Bounds, North of England Correspondent
Published: September 3 2008 02:32 | Last updated: September 3 2008
Salford’s docks are being transformed into one of Europe’s biggest media production centres in a striking symbol of the city’s renaissance. The docks were a surprise choice by private property developer Peel Holdings for its vast 200-acre Media:City project, scheduled to open in 2011.
The BBC is taking a quarter of the site, moving five departments there in a £450m investment. Other companies looking to do business with the BBC are likely to follow.
Salford hired top consultants including Michael Joroff of MIT, who has advised cities worldwide, to snatch Media:City from Manchester.
“The economic fundamentals in Salford are very strong. Winning the Media:City competition put us on the map,” says Chris Farrow, chief executive of Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, a public-private partnership. Set up in 2005 to attract £500m of private investment by 2015, it has already pulled in £1bn and has upped the target to £4bn.
Even better, says John Merry, Salford City council leader, the population is growing again as people see a future in the region.
The city of 220,000 was one of the first to industrialise in the 19th century – and de-industrialise in the 1970s. It is now developing quicker than Manchester itself, although its place as the fastest-growing British city outside London has helped lift the entire region.
“The competitiveness of Greater Manchester has improved and we have benefited from that,” says Mr Merry. But Salford has done much for itself, he says, with investment in education and allowing private developers to improve housing along its canals and rivers.
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