New company for Manchester’s digital ambitions

MANCHESTER City Council is launching a holding company for the Sharp Project and two other related schemes.

It said the venture will act as a “mother brand” for Sharp, One Central Park and the former Fujitsu base in Gorton with the aim of creating new employment and businesses opportunities.

The Sharp Project launches in Newton Heath two years ago and has space for creative businesses as well as drama production stages.

One Central Park is a nearby office building bought by the council to accomodate 3D specialist Eon Reality, and the former Fujitsu base is in line for an £8m makeover to turn it into a drama production base. At present they are informally known as Sharp 2 and Sharp 3 respectively.

The council said the three sites will have more than 450,000 sq ft of floor space dedicated to creative digital businesses that could create up to 1,300 jobs over the next three years.

The new, as yet unnamed, holding company will provide strategic direction to the digital sector, harness the activities of a range of agencies involved in this sector, identify gaps in provision and bring forward new strategies to fill them. It will also be responsible for managing the three sites. A business plan for the company will be submitted for approval by the council’s executive later this year.

Cllr Nigel Murphy, executive member for environment, who has responsibility for Digital Manchester, said: “We want to bring these three important Council owned assets under one umbrella body so the group can further improve our position in this rapidly expanding and competitive global market. The city’s creative and digital sector is vital for Manchester’s economy. It stimulates growth and attracts new entrepreneurs, start-ups, capital and talent to the city.”

A report for the council’s economy scrutiny committee this month said the Sharp Project has created 375 full-time equivalent jobs in its first full year of 2012-13, up from an original figure of 287.

Of these 205 are tenants and 170 are involved in production at the various stages which have been used for the likes of Channel 4’s Fresh Meat. Together these jobs have contributed £21.4m to the city’s economy, according to the council. Occupancy stands at 79.5%.

The Sharp Project was formally launched in 2011 following a £16.5m investment by the city council, the North West Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).