North West move for VTR North
A YORKSHIRE visual effects company is to invest £500,000 in a new Manchester office.
VTR North, which makes visual effects for adverts for clients such as DFS, Jet2.com, ToysRUs and Gala Bingo, said that it is hoping to capitalise on the media boom in the region caused by the move of 3,000 BBC staff to MediaCityUK and the growth of its TV commercials sector.
The Leeds-based company has taken 3,000 sq ft of space in a grade two-listed Victorian building on John Dalton Street in Manchester city centre, which VTR’s owners Chris Birks and Carl Walters will now have converted into a facility that will provide visual effects, editing, graphic design and sound mixing services for TV and commercials producers.
The office is set to open in April.
Mr Walters said: “We’ve always had one eye on Manchester. Leeds has been good to us and will continue to be our home but Manchester is a bigger market that offers more opportunities.
“With the arrival of BBC North and the city’s booming commercials sector there is major demand for the type of high-end finishing work that we do.
“We don’t want to take over the world but if we want to grow the business, then opening an office in Manchester seems like a natural progression.”
He added that being in central Manchester – as opposed to MediaCity meant that it could work for BBC North but also be “within walking distance of Manchester’s biggest advertising agencies”.
