Situated in the heart of Manchester and alongside the university, ID Manchester will serve as an innovation district. Credit: The University of Manchester.

The UK’s University of Manchester has started its tender process for a development and investment partner for the £1.5bn ($1.65bn) ID Manchester project.

ID Manchester will serve as a ‘trailblazing neighbourhood’ and can potentially create more than 6,000 new jobs.

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ID Manchester is next to Piccadilly Railway Station and a 20-minute train journey away from the city’s international airport.

University of Manchester president, vice-chancellor and professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: “ID Manchester will create a new, world-class innovation district situated in the heart of Manchester and alongside the university, where we will nurture the next generation of game-changing businesses and bring huge economic benefits to our city region and beyond.”

Along with an investment partner, the university plans to leverage the international reach of its commercial partnerships and research institutions.

The university has contributed £746m to the economy since 2004 through developing businesses emerging from its research and development facilities.

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As part of its pre-market engagement, the university presented the ID Manchester plan at MIPIM early this year. Since this presentation, the university has increased the available development space for ID Manchester to four million square feet. It has also updated its indicative development plan, which consists of 2.6 million square feet of workspace and three acres of public realm.

University of Manchester estates director Diana Hampson said: “Our vision for ID Manchester was warmly received at MIPIM and since then, we’ve hosted several open days, attended by around 120 people representing developers and investors. We have taken time to refine our proposition to enable interested partners to really understand the extent and scale of our ambition.

“ID Manchester will be a unique new neighbourhood. Our vision draws on Manchester’s ecosystem of ideas, discovery, research and development, and ID Manchester will provide the canvas on which all those strands can come together to take urban regeneration to a whole new level. ID Manchester will be where our most valuable discoveries today, are tried, tested and developed into the technology, buildings and commerce of tomorrow.”

Prospective joint venture partners have been invited from all over the world to take part in a two-stage competitive dialogue process.

This process is expected to take around 12 months. The name of the joint venture will be announced in late-2020.

Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “Manchester City Council look forward to this exciting next step for ID Manchester. Not only will it lead to the regeneration of this distinctive part of the city but will further the city’s reputation as a place for pioneering innovation while creating thousands of jobs.”