The £650m Manchester Airport City development – to be built by Carillion in joint venture with a Chinese contractor – has aspirations to attract Chinese companies looking to set up European headquarters as they move into Western markets.
The mixed-use scheme, which includes offices, warehouses, hotels and leisure facilities, will be partly built by the Beijing Construction and Engineering Group.
It has formed a consortium with Carillion and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, with the three partners acting in joint venture with client Manchester Airport Group (MAG).
Equity investment in the project is split as follows: MAG 50%, Carillion 20%, BCEG 20% and GMPF 10%. Last week, the Financial Times reported that a Chinese bank would also provide loan finance for the scheme, but an MAG spokesman told CM that it could not yet disclose which banks would be involved.
However, client MAG is hopeful that securing Chinese involvement in the project will help the airport create a direct China-Manchester flight route, which would in turn help fill the offices with Chinese companies moving to the UK.
Top: One of the proposed office buildings on the north International Business Hub site. The scheme will create some 5m sq ft of commercial space. Above: A CGI of Airport city which showcases the feel of the new “downtown” district
MAG chief executive Charlie Cornish told the Manchester Evening News: “There will without doubt be lots of Chinese companies looking to set up European headquarters in the years to come and we want them to be looking at Manchester, rather than London or Frankfurt or other cities.
“The more Chinese businesses there are that have bases in the region, the more trade flows between Manchester and China and the more people need to travel to places like Beijing and Shanghai.
“There is already high interest from Chinese airlines about establishing a direct route between Manchester and China and it is just a case of getting those negotiations across the line.
“It has always been our intention for that to happen during 2014 and that is still our goal.”
Carillion’s team is to be led by Adam Green, managing director of Carillion Construction, who was not available for comment about the scheme or its new joint venture partner.
However, according to www.globalconreview.com, BCEG is run by the Beijing municipality and was set up in 1953. Its international division, BCEG International (BCEGI), was set up in January 2002 just days after China joined the World Trade Organisation.
It came 133rd in Engineering News Record’s 2013 Top 250 International Contractors list, which ranks companies by revenue generated outside their home countries. But it was placed 49th in its Top 250 Global Contractors list, which ranks companies by total revenue.
