Planners have given the green light for a new logistics facility at Manchester Airport aimed at small to medium-sized occupiers. Construction work is expected to start within weeks.
The £15m hub — located within Airport City Manchester — will be known as ALPHA. When completed early next year the 130,000 sq ft distribution building could create as many as 125 new jobs.
Designed to meet the growing demand for small to medium logistics units, the facility will be next to Manchester Airport’s existing cargo centre and Junction 6 of the M56 motorway. It will offer units from 17,500 to 35,000 sq ft arranged in a single terrace. Each unit will feature bespoke office space and have its own fenced and gated yard with dedicated heavy goods vehicle delivery access.
“We are seeing healthy demand for logistics property at Airport City and the ALPHA development is an exciting addition to the range of products available to occupiers,” explained Lynda Shillaw, Manchester Airport Group’s (MAG) divisional property chief executive officer,
“ALPHA has an unrivalled location at Manchester Airport, with direct links to over 210 global destinations and with great access to the UK’s motorway network, enabling rapid movement of goods to market across the country,” she added.
The latest approval by Manchester City Council follows a joint application in December by MAG Property and logistics property specialist Stoford for the development of a 260,000 sq ft logistics unit at Airport City Manchester.
Last summer international logistics company DHL moved in to its new 37,308 sq ft base on the site. Constructed in less than nine months, the DHL Service Point, was the first business to locate to the flagship Enterprise Zone development.
Airport City was conceived to provide a range of air-to-road transfer, assembly and processing facilities for freight and logistics businesses. Outline planning permission for the 1.4m square feet development, covering almost 37-acres, was granted by the local authority in November, 2012..
Part of the Enterprise Zone for Greater Manchester, the £100m global logistics complex forms part of a wider £800m, 10-year Airport City development by MAG that will transform Manchester Airport from a regional transport hub into an international destination in its own right.
The first of its kind in the UK, it will allow Manchester — Britain’s third busiest airport — to compete with successful airport cities across Europe including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Barcelona.
Manchester Airport Group is working with the Beijing Construction Engineering Group as well as the UK’s Carillion and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to develop the Airport City project.
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