The Sharp Project

The Sharp Project is home to digital entrepreneurs and production companies. It is where space, power, connectivity and people converge. Occupants at The Sharp Project make, manipulate or move around the world, digital content.^[1]

Facilities

Facilities at the Sharp Project include:

• Affordable, flexible office space for rent to companies that make, manipulate and move around the world digital content.
• 200,000 sq ft building
• 36 converted shipping container glazed offices housed internally in the Red Street
• 40 serviced offices (Gold and Blue)
• 4 production stages with 3 phase power ranging from 3, 700 sq ft, to 28,000 sq ft
• 4 green screen studios ranging from 453 sq ft, to 1,275 sq ft

The Sharp Project is helping grow the creative and digital sector in the region to create job and career opportunities. These objectives are in-line with the City of Manchester’s economic growth strategy. The £16.5 million profit-for-purpose development is owned by Manchester City Council. Completed in June 2011, it was funded by Manchester City Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the European Regional Development Fund. Manchester has the second-largest cluster of creative and media industries in Europe.^[2]

The Sharp Project is home to over 60 businesses from across the creative and digital sector ^[3]

Creative digital agency and social enterprise SharpFutures is located at The Sharp Project ^[4]

History

Manchester City Council purchased the former warehouse owned by the Sharp Corporation in 2006 for £6.1 million and decided to keep the Sharp name for the new development.^[5] The development of the facility was headed by Sue Woodward, former Managing Director at the successful Granada Television franchise.^[6]

In October 2010, Sizzle Media's Rochdale and Hull based new-media design and development teams have combined and relocated to The Sharp Project in Manchester.^[7]

In February 2011, Tiger Aspect Productions selected The Sharp Project to film a new comedy series, Mount Pleasant, for Sky One.^[8]

In 2011, Lime Pictures and Objective Productions filmed Fresh Meat, a new comedy for Channel 4 based on a group of students and their experiences at their first year at university.^[9] In 2015 Objective Productions filmed the fourth and final series of Fresh Meat at The Sharp Project ^[10]

An Ekosgen report in 2013 highlighted the GVA impact of The Sharp Project ^[11]

in 2014 The Sharp Project was recognised as one of the best workplaces in the country at the British Council for Offices’ ^[12]

In August 2014 JD Sports PLC built their ‘JD Studio’ in Stage Two at The Sharp Project, a production space to create cross-platform content for the JD Sports brand family.[8]

In 2015 the FT featured The Sharp Project in a wider feature about Manchester's resurgence as the best model for closing the north-south economic divide^[13]

References