£14m innovation hub in Manchester is launched

Posted on 25 Sep 2017 by Jonny Williamson

The launch of the £14m Bright Building – the first new-build on Manchester Science Park for more than 15 years– has taken place with an opening ceremony on 21 September.

The Bright Building is MSP’s newest, state-of-the-art workspace designed to function as the heart of the Park – image courtesy of MSP

The new “heart of the Park”, it will be a central innovation hub for the growing collective of scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs who make up the Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) community with more than 170 businesses across the Manchester Science Park and Citylabs campuses.

The businesses will be providing the physical infrastructure to support the intellectual connectivity and networks that are essential for business growth.

Rowena Burns, chief executive of MSP, said: “The opening of the Bright Building marks the fulfillment of a promise we made four years ago: to create a place which celebrates the brilliant work of the science and technology businesses which have made their homes with us at MSP.

“The Bright Building sits at the heart of MSP’s original Science Park,  part of the city’s Oxford Road innovation district and its richly diverse residential community.

“We want the Bright Building to become known as a place which is open to everyone who is curious about the power of science and technology to change lives.

“Initiatives like Mi-IDEA and CityVerve have at their heart the principle of open innovation. In Bright we hope that we have created a building which will play its own part in supporting Manchester’s next generation of innovators and brilliant businesses.”

Developed for MSP by majority shareholder Bruntwood, it is the first of two landmark developments in the city for the digital sector – the second being the Manchester Technology Centre in the £750m Circle Square neighbourhood, which is set to transform Oxford Road.

MSP said the Bright Building will be the new nerve centre for the region’s digital technology sector, which contributes GVA £3.1bn to Manchester’s economy and is home to Mi-IDEA which also launched yesterday.

Burns said the Bright Building creation also marked an important strategic milestone in the development plan to grow MSP’s city centre estate to one million sq ft, with the facility providing a focal point around which the wider Oxford Road Corridor innovation district can flourish.