Circle Square is an exciting multi-million pound, mixed-use neighbourhood, created on the site of the former BBC building on Oxford Road.
2030 vision
The Oxford Road Corridor partnership is launching its new 2030 Vision to coincide with this year’s Convention of the North.
Oxford Road Corridor is Manchester’s knowledge quarter, a one square mile area stretching out south from St Peter’s Square in the city centre. For more than 15 years, public and private sector partners in the area have worked together to build on the Oxford Road Corridor’s R&D strengths, with a shared vision to create an innovation ecosystem that can match and exceed leading knowledge quarters across the world.
The area has undergone significant change, and the plan highlights a series of flagship projects, which have helped to transform the area and create over 45,000 jobs and an additional £2.5Bn annual GVA. Each year over 27,500 graduates are supplied into the labour market fuelling growth in key sectors. The area now accounts for 86,000 jobs, over 7,000 businesses, including 50% of Manchester’s life sciences businesses, and 26% of the city’s employment in cultural and creative industries.
This new strategy will build on the partnership’s excellent track record of delivery, underpinned by world-leading research and education.
Professor Malcolm Press
The Oxford Road Corridor now hosts one of the largest clinical academic campuses in Europe, harnessing the research power of the universities and NHS foundation trust, which feeds a cluster of life science businesses located in Citylabs and the adjacent Manchester Science Park. Investment has been made across a range of cultural assets, including Central Library, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Whitworth, HOME, Contact, and more recently, Manchester Museum, which is due to reopen in February.
The universities have invested heavily in world-leading education and research facilities, as well as opening up their estates with new high-quality public realm, complementing the improved cycling, walking, and bus infrastructure on Oxford Road to shape the conditions for future innovation.
The area represents a unique opportunity to counter balance innovation-led growth in the South East, and delivering this new vision will help drive sustainable and inclusive growth across the North.
Cllr Bev Craig
The partnership’s vision puts research, innovation, skills and education at its heart. It seeks to build on previous successes and create a place where knowledge, business and culture thrive. It sets out the opportunity to create a further 20,000 jobs and an additional annual £1.5Bn GVA by 2030. It cites key development projects including, ID Manchester, Citylabs and Manchester Science Park expansion. Alongside improved public realm and wayfinding, a renewed focus on place marketing, rolling out zero carbon best practice, and a commitment to link opportunities to underrepresented groups.
Professor Malcolm Press, Vice Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University and Chair, Oxford Road Corridor Board, said, “This new strategy will build on the partnership’s excellent track record of delivery, underpinned by world-leading research and education. It will create new opportunities for people across the city and wider region, and support business growth in key sectors.”
Cllr Bev Craig, Leader, Manchester City Council said “The Oxford Road Corridor is a great example of what can be achieved when partners from different sectors come together behind a shared vision for an area. Its success and longevity are testament to the strength of the partnership, the area represents a unique opportunity to counter balance innovation-led growth in the South East, and delivering this new vision will help drive sustainable and inclusive growth across the North.”
Oxford Road Corridor Vision 2030
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