A great place to do business

[Katie Hodson, Partner, SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors]

Katie: Hi, I'm Katie, I work for a local business and I'm here to show you how Stockport got its mojo back.
So, I grew up here. I've lived the majority of my life in Stockport, living and working here.

When I was younger, the town definitely had a really strong sense of community and that kind of, we saw that fade over time as businesses closed down, investment faded and left.

And now that we're seeing new businesses come back, we're showing that Stockport is a viable alternative, a place where you can build that career.

And what we're seeing now is a resurgence and to see the investment and the interest that's been put back into Stockport, yeah, it's just really exciting for us.

It was the Mayoral Development Corporation that really turbo-charged things here.

It brought extra powers to drive regeneration including building thousands of new homes like these apartments in the town centre.

I'm off to visit Alex, a GP who's recently moved to the area, to find out why.

So Alex, what made you choose Stockport to move to?

[Alex Vergara, Stockport resident]

Alex: So my son and I needed a place to go to live and when I saw the buildings that are behind us, I felt it was the perfect place, not only because the surrounding areas are beautiful and it's so well connected, but not only that, also the community is so warming.

I felt like-minded people living here with me. It made me feel that this was home.

Katie: Fabulous. Well, you've certainly picked a lovely location to live.

Alex: It is. It is indeed. Thank you.

Katie: Next stop is Amy, a CEO who's recently moved her business to Stockport.

[Amy Whitell, CEO, Collctiv]

Amy: As Collctiv is a fintech and digital business, we're now about five years old, so we're really starting to scale up.

Stockport just had a lot of opportunities for us to be able to continue to expand our team, bring people from further across the North with the great transport links and the generation that's happening here is really exciting, a great thing to be part of.

Katie: Fabulous. Well, welcome to the Stockport business community.

I hope you've enjoyed learning about this new exciting chapter of Stockport.

But the best thing is, there's definitely more to come.

[Michelle McHuge, Head of Innovation and Investment, Rochdale Development Agency]

Michelle: Hi, I'm Michelle. This site might not look like much but it'll soon be home to world-class innovation.

So, Atom Valley is a great growth opportunity for Greater Manchester. It will provide 17 million square feet of industrial space, which could include manufacturing sites, laboratories, offices, and it will be for a multitude of businesses ranging from the advanced materials sector, manufacturing, textiles, and sustainable materials.

So, we're currently at Kingsway Business Park, which is one of the three major development sites within Atom Valley.

The three sites are within Bury, Oldham and Rochdale. It's a great location because you can connect into the city centre within half an hour.

And we've also got some amazing businesses where you can link in with the supply chain.

We'd like to see the large international businesses finding a home here, but we also want to provide space for SMEs.

There are many businesses with great ideas that are on the Oxford Road Corridor currently in lab space working together with research organisations like the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

And we see Atom Valley as the next stepping stone for them to help these businesses move from lab to factory.

Aled: I am Aled Roberts. I'm founder and CEO of Dekiln and we've developed a bio-based alternative to ceramic tiles.

So, it's a material that looks, feels, and acts like a ceramic, but hasn't been fired. Producing tiles our way, reduces the carbon footprint by 94%.

We're currently at the lab scale, and we're scaling up. Manchester has been really supportive in terms of starting a business.

Community is so important. It definitely takes a village to raise a start-up. I've been blown away by the amount people are willing to set aside to help you out and the expertise as well was just invaluable.

Atom Valley sounds like a fantastic initiative. I think the community of like-minded start-ups and the support networks that will be in place are going to be really valuable.

Michelle: So, Atom Valley to me is more than just the regeneration scheme, it's also about the skills and the people.

We will work in cooperation with our partners and research assets along the Oxford Road Corridor to ensure that we can grow our businesses here at Atom Valley.