Airport City Manchester, one of the UK’s largest commercial development projects, has announced the creation of an in-house Development Management Team to oversee the next phases of the development project and has begun the search for a Managing Director and a Sales and Marketing Director.

As one of the UK’s largest joint venture commercial development projects, Airport City Manchester sits adjacent to Manchester Airport and will generate huge economic benefits to Greater Manchester and the wider northern region, through the creation of five million square feet of premium office space, hotels, advanced manufacturing, logistics facilities and ancillary retail.

The enhanced team will oversee the circa £1billion development and report directly into the joint venture board, comprising representatives of the international, national and regional partners.

Part of the Manchester Enterprise Zone, Airport City Manchester is a joint venture between Manchester Airports Group (MAG), Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG), Carillion PLC, and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF).

The project is already proving to be an important component of the Northern Powerhouse initiative, providing the potential to attract millions of pounds worth of investment. With new transport investment recently announced for Northern Rail and TransPennine routes, including direct links to Manchester Airport from Newcastle and Bradford, the scheme is also expected to play a key role in the future success of the Northern Powerhouse.

Simon Eastwood, managing director at Carillion Developments, said: “We have now reached an important phase of the project, we are on-site delivering infrastructure and during 2016 we will begin to bring forward the first new buildings on Airport City North.”

BCEG director, Lau Yew Cheong, said: “This year is shaping up to be a very significant one for Airport City. The enterprise zone is already creating jobs and attracting high profile firms, including Amazon, which is moving to Global Logistics. We are seeing increased levels of interest and are building our joint-venture team to deal with the requirements of the next phase of the development.”

Lynda Shillaw, MAG Property CEO, said: “Building upon the very positive momentum achieved to date, we are stepping up our focus on deals. The many attributes of the location and scheme are certainly resonating with prospective occupiers and investors. We are excited to be attracting serious interest and gearing up accordingly to advance scheme delivery.”