MediaCityUK to house Media Enterprise Centre
The MediaCityUK development at Salford Quays is to house a 53,500 sq ft 'enterprise centre' to support and nurture new and existing media talent.
The Media Enterprise Centre (MEC) will provide individuals and businesses with flexible office space, specialist training facilities, advice from agencies such as Business Link and Northwest Vision and Media and access to the NorthernNet digital media network.
It will also be home to a games industry centre of excellence, an international hub for research into digital media markets and technologies, an industry-led ‘hothouse’ for the development of new digital content and prototypes and a place where community groups can learn new skills and create media content.
The centre's lease and initial operations are being financed by £4.2m from the European Regional Development Fund, £3.8m from the NWDA and additional funding from Salford City Council.
It expected to be open from the summer of 2011 when the first phase of the MediaCityUK development is completed.
Councillor John Merry, leader of Salford City Council, said the MEC will be "a vital component" of the media city.
"It firmly establishes MediaCityUK and Salford as a centre for world class innovation, but, vitally, it will also nurture grassroots businesses and the development of creative relationships at every level from community media to international names," Merry said.
Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, which is investing more than £30m in MediaCityUK, added: "This additional investment in the MEC will help to create the supportive environment for business innovation and growth that is an equally critical part of the MediaCityUK infrastructure.
"We know that MediaCityUK will be a site of global importance in the digital and creative sector and the initiatives based within the MEC will make it a bustling centre of the latest digital and creative thinking.
“The MEC proves that Salford and the region is committed to supporting and offering opportunities to local creative talent, in the context of a global collaborative community at MediaCityUK.”
Salford City Council will begin work to procure an operator for the MEC early next year, when more information and funding for the projects is expected to follow.
Bryan Gray, chairman of Peel Media, said: “The MEC will join a wider community at MediaCityUK which will include the BBC, Salford University, and Northwest Vision and Media – not to mention more than 15 media companies already operating from The Pie Factory, next door to the current construction site.
“We’ll be working closely with our partners to ensure that everyone involved in MediaCityUK is able to benefit from the Media Enterprise Centre – we’re looking forward to it generating some really exciting partnerships.”