Jobs boost as Airport City Manchester reveals plans for £180m hotel district

Two deals announced today (April 24) will bring a Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget to Airport City in Manchester, kick starting plans for the creation of a £180m hotel district at the development.

The 280-bed Holiday Inn and 262-bed Ibis Budget will be located next to Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport, where builders are working on the £1bn Transformation Programme.

Airport City Manchester’s joint venture partners will develop the £80m twin-hotel project, which could create up to 250 jobs, on behalf of hospitality consortium P1 Hotels.

A planning application has been submitted. If approved, construction will start in early 2019, for completion in Q1 2021.

Earlier this year, Airport City Manchester secured planning permission for the creation of two other hotels next to the airport’s transport interchange.

One will be a 375-bed four-star venue and the other 254 beds and three stars.

The four hotels combined will provide 1,171 rooms and create around 500 jobs. They will support the ongoing passenger growth at Manchester Airport, which is forecast to see footfall rise from 26m a year in 2017 to 35 million by 2027.

Lynda Shillaw, CEO of JV partner MAG Property, part of Manchester Airports Group, said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with the consortium that will mark the start of the development of our new £180m hotel district at Airport City Manchester.

“Increasing the number of hotels at the airport is underpinned by the significant growth that we have seen in both passenger numbers and airlines over the last five years.

“The development is being brought forward alongside the £1bn investment in Terminal 2 and the airport being made by MAG at the start of a period of significant development at Airport City.”

The professional team behind the scheme comprises: ICA (architect), Faithful & Gould (project manager and employers agent), Meinhardt (structural, services and sustainability engineer), NBM (cost consultant), Rusupo (project manager and client’s representative), Manchester Airports Group (planner) and Aecom (highways engineer).

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, based in London, represented the purchaser in the latest deal. The firm’s Manchester office acted for MAG. Eversheds Sutherland acted for Airport City.

Airport City’s lettings and sales agents are JLL and CBRE.