Manchester – a city on the rise

By Wayne Nash, head of office at Shoosmiths Manchester

Manchester is on the rise – both figuratively and literally speaking.

Today, the region is home to more than 2.8 million people, with an economy bigger than that of Wales or Northern Ireland. Manchester’s unique business strengths have catapulted the city into forefront position as a competitive place to do business.

As the city’s advanced engineering, life sciences, energy, financial and professional services, creative, digital and technology industries continue to flourish at an unprecedented rate, more companies are choosing to set up business in the north and, in turn, growing numbers of workers are migrating to the city centre.

The extraordinary pace of property development taking place across the city is now second only to London, with a constant pipeline of new projects being granted planning permission to fuel this construction boom.

This year, Shoosmiths is celebrating 10 years of legal expertise in Manchester. Much has changed since we first set up office at 3 Hardman Street back in 2009, when the city was on the cusp of this major regeneration kick-start – and our arrival in the city couldn’t have been better timed.

During our first decade, office income has risen from c£1 million in 2009/10 to c£20 million in our last financial year. Starting with a team of 27 employees, Shoosmiths Manchester now employs 212 people, including 32 partners – 14 of whom are women (44%).

And this impressive growth is a phenomenon being enjoyed by companies throughout the city.

Manchester is a unique place – a diverse, vibrant and inclusive city with a special sense of civic pride. The city’s distinctive character and warm culture are traits that we have sought to echo in our own business at every level.

I believe that Shoosmiths’ success over the last 10 years can largely be attributed to our people-centred culture. Our business is about working with people and building strong relationships that place people first and this has been instilled in the foundations of our Manchester team since the very beginning.

When we moved into The XYZ Building in Spinningfields in 2017, we really broke the mould in terms of law firms. It gave us the opportunity to do something that hadn’t been seen before in the legal sector, where the building itself positively contributes to our business and way of working. The agile environment we’ve created brings out the best in people to ensure that they feel engaged, motivated and energised.

As one of the city’s leading law firms, we’re honoured to have played a central role in securing some of the landmark real estate deals that have acted as a catalyst for the city’s regeneration over the last decade.

These deals include the £200 million sale of Allied London’s No 1 Spinningfields development in 2017 – at the time this was the largest single-asset trade ever recorded in the city – the £300 million funding partnership between Allied London and Aviva Investors on the site of the Old Granada Studios to create Enterprise City, and several high profile acquisitions for Select Property Group including Circle Square at the former BBC site on Oxford Road and Vita Student on First Street.

We have also advised Renaker on key developments including the sale of Exchange Court, Greengate and the next phase of Great Jackson Street, the huge development set to change the skyline of Manchester.

Our active corporate team has also been able to capitalise on the region’s expanding economy. The team has worked on major deals such as advising Altrincham based Matillion, a fast-growing provider of disruptive cloud-based integration software, on its latest Series C fundraise of $35 million from Silicon Valley, the £60m sale of North West-based specialist motorbike insurer Carole Nash to The Ardonagh Group and AIM-listed financial services provider ThinkSmart’s sale of 90% of ClearPay Finance in Old Trafford to Australian giant Afterpay Touch Group.

Other commercial highlights include advising four of the big mobile phone telecoms providers on the roll out of revolutionary new handset propositions, a deal which firmly positioned Shoosmiths as a market leader in the space.

And this development is only expected to accelerate in the next few years. We can already see how industries such as the higher education sector are paving the way for the city’s future growth and expansion into the fintech and life science sectors. Our world-leading universities hold the key to unlocking this potential for new opportunities for investment in our economy, bringing international credibility, a growing student population, and firmly placing Manchester on the global stage.

If Manchester is to continue to fulfil this astonishing appetite for growth, a key part of the city’s success will be achieved by our ability to ‘think big’. Building well-connected areas that are sustainable, diverse and inclusive will ensure that we are attracting the best talent to live and work in the communities at the heart of our city. This will feed the city centre with an increased population to boost business and employment opportunities – all enriching the quality of life and wealth in our great city.

Looking ahead to the next decade, we hope Shoosmiths Manchester will continue to play a pivotal role in securing some of the flagship developments set to redefine the cityscape. It’s been an incredibly exciting journey so far and we’re relishing the opportunities that the next decade will bring.