SIX MONTHS ago even the most outspoken Mancunians finally shut up about the city’s property boom. Thanks to interest-rate rises and the jittery housing market across the country, many of the thousands of city centre apartments looked anything but welcoming to buyers and investors. In desirable “suburban villages”, too, such as Didsbury and Chorlton, agents reported price stagnation and a shortage of first-time buyers.
Then, in December, the BBC announced its controversial plan to relocate several key departments, including sport, children’s television, Radio 5 Live, and 1,700 London-based staff, to Manchester. Estimates suggest that up to 2,000 additional jobs in media and “related” industries will also be created.
The proposed move, subject to approval by the governors after they settle the charter renewal and the licence fee, is bad news for BBC employees who do not want to uproot and move 200 miles north. But it is great news for Manchester’s estate agents and property developers, whether they are city-based or in gentrifying areas such as Old Trafford and Whalley Range. The shiver of anticipation is even being felt in upmarket Chester, 20 miles to the south, according to Country Life’s premium property report for 2005.
Peter Salmon, the BBC’s director of sport and the executive heading the relocation, told Ariel, the corporation’s staff magazine, that moving to Manchester “is about correcting generations of imbalance”. The BBC knows that it must focus on the North, because outside London viewers and listeners tend to favour their commercial rivals. “Granada has Coronation Street, we developed EastEnders,” Salmon added. “That’s fine but it underscores where the BBC sees its centre of gravity and we’re now trying to shift a bit of that.”
Although full decampment is not to take place until 2010, it is fairly certain that the BBC will expand its Manchester presence. And the future, according to the latest report from Knight Frank Residential Research, is where property will prosper, especially in the city centre.
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Knight Frank points to Greenquarter, the creation of a brand new “city quarter” between Victoria station and Cheetham Hill Road, as the way forward in city living. Its 1,500 apartments, underground parking, landscaped open space and retail areas, built by Crosby, are praised for “contributing to the development of a more sustainable city environment”. Next to the River Irk, Greenquarter is aimed at a mixture of singles, couples, and families, lured by its trees and water cascades.
According to the report, entitled Living in the City, Residential Investment in Manchester, city-centre prices are “fully valued and the rate of price growth, whilst positive, is slowing”. John Broadbent, head of Knight Frank Residential in Manchester, believes that the decision of the BBC to move is good news. “The BBC, given its size and stature, is probably going to act as a bit of a catalyst to other companies”, he says. “Those who were thinking about relocating to Manchester, who may be just toying with the idea, will get on and do it themselves.”
Organisations to choose Manchester recently include Bank of New York, Coutts & Co, the General Medical Council, the National Union of Students and the independent television production company Hat Trick.
Exiled metropolitans who want quick and easy access back to the capital might look at one of Broadbent’s latest developments. Royal Mills is a mixture of 319 converted and new-build apartments (interiors designed by Oliver Heath of Changing Rooms), carved out of a cotton mill complex on the banks of the Rochdale Canal. Prices start at £140,000 for a one-bed apartment.
Not everyone wants new build, however. Ceiri Aston, 33, an assistant producer for BBC News and Current Affairs, is already based in Manchester. She is looking for a two-bed, two-reception terraced house in Sale for about £150,000. “I wanted to find somewhere with its own little vibe,” she says. “I hit on Sale because I was looking at the A-Z, and on the opposite page to Chorlton, which is a bit of a media village already, there it was. I noticed a canal and all these little streets of houses. It’s also close to the Metrolink.”
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Closer to the BBC’s current Oxford Road HQ is Macintosh Village, with its landmark Green Building. This drum-shaped block boasts all manner of ecological innovations, including a roof-top wind turbine. But more indicative of growing residential diversification are eight three and four-bedroom townhouses, with roof terraces and two parking spaces each, priced from £355,000 to £384,000. Directly opposite the row, at the base of the Green Building, is a brand new children’s day nursery, with low-slung sofas and pale wood furniture as stylish as any in the 32 apartments upstairs.
For the perfect pad for a top BBC executive, however, try the £681,500 penthouse at the 11-storey Hacienda building on the site of the famous “Madchester” club. With a 820 sq ft roof terrace perfect for networking drinks and big enough to take a hot tub, it is just the place to plan a new cultural revolution.