Launch puts Sharp Project at the cutting edge

THE Sharp Project, a 200,000 sq ft media facility in east Manchester, was officially launched last night.

The first tenants moved into the old Sharp Electronics warehouse in Newton Heath last year but the site was only finished recently.

It is home to around 30 companies specialising in digital content production, digital media and production for TV and film.

Many of these are start-ups, benefiting from rents as low as £50 a week, but space has also been created for larger businesses, and major production companies use the project’s four production stages which range in size from 4,000 sq ft to 28,000 sq ft.

Lime Pictures is making Fresh Meat, a comedy drama written by Peep Show’s Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, at the Sharp Project, and Tiger Aspect has used the site to make a new show called Mount Pleasant. Both will be screened later in the year.

The centre also has a 2,650 sq ft recording studio designed and managed by George Atkins and John Wood who have moved their 80 Hertz Recording Studios from Salford.

The £16.5m refurbishment was funded by Manchester City Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund.

Last night Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “My first experience of this building was a walk around it when it was an empty, derelict warehouse. I have to say it was a pretty miserable-looking place.

“This was originally meant to be a joint venture but then something called the credit crunch occurred and the only viable way of continuing was if the city council took it on its own. We did and I have to say we have absolutely no regrets. The question now is how we maximise value out of the media and creative businesses we have in here, and how do we turn this into Sharp Project two, three and four.”

Sue Woodward, a director of the project who has overseen its development, said the city council’s purchase of the building had been a way of protecting its investment in the wider One Central Park area. Said the vision was to “create a place that wasn’t anti-corporate, but counter-corporate in its attitude… Something where people can do business in a different way.”

“We intend to be a disrupting market force,” added Ms Woodward.