The Manchester neighbourhood that could become the new 10 Downing Street of the North
Ancoats and New Islington are used to change.
It was great to read in the press that Andy Burnham is going to locate an Office of No. 10 Downing Street here in Manchester at New Islington. It’s Manchester’s prime example of a phoenix. What was once the old Cardroom Estate and backdrop to Channel 4’s Shameless - has risen from the ashes of post-industrial decline and may soon play host to a new No.10.
It has been transformed by Urban Splash and others, from neglected boarded up and abandoned houses and old cotton mills into swanky wine bars, Michelin-recommended restaurants, the coolest apartments and Town Houses, New Islington Free school and house boats moored in the marina adjacent to Cotton Field Park.
Now the neighbourhood could be hurtling towards another massive revamp following presumed Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham’s announcement of a ‘Number 10 North’ - moving some functions of government 200 miles away to Manchester.
Shunning the city’s prime locations (Oxford Street McDonald’s or Sacha’s perhaps), Mr Burnham’s team have already set their sights on a different long-term spot: the new Manchester digital campus currently being built opposite New Islington marina.
The new government building was only confirmed in March this year, with work beginning in June.
The former retail park opposite Ancoats’ Aldi is intended to house almost 9,000 civil servants from different government departments once it’s completed in a few years time.
“Manchester is the fastest growing city, it’s time we had more political weight.”
The area already seems unlike any other part of the city. It’s hard to predict what will happen when Whitehall descends on it. But this could be the final stage in the transformation of New Islington!
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