Simply Abu Dhabi XXXVI

educated people choosing to work, live and study in Manchester, it creates more wealth and more opportunities for all, making Manchester one of the most attractive places to live in the UK. Q Why should investors be looking at Manchester and not London? Despite Manchester not being previously considered the initial choice for investors in the buy-to-let market, with many preferring London due to its high growth potential and high yields, things have recently changed. London now doesn’t seem to offer as many great investment opportunities as it used to. London has always experienced more demand than supply with regards to property, making any investor keen to build property and make profit. However, the demand is gradually diminishing with more and more people opting to live out of the city and commute, in search of a better quality of life. This has left the capital open to poor growth, reducing yields, and therefore not the best place for people to invest their money wisely. Manchester has quickly become a place for workers to stay or move to, with a great quality of life on offer. Manchester has a thriving job market and offers workers the possibility to commute and travel all over the world. Manchester Airport is one of the biggest airports in the United Kingdom, flying passengers to more international destinations a day than any other UK airport outside of London. With high yields, plenty of rental demand, serious opportunities for huge capital appreciation, and more and more world-leading businesses joining the party, the city is becoming even more attractive to investors, making it in many ways a superior opportunity to London. QWhat’s your experience in Manchester and property development? I am Manchester born and bred, I love it here and I can’t think of a better place to live and do business. Manchester is the heart of the north. I’ve always been passionate about business, when I was 7, I used to sell Vimto lollies on the playground to try and make a bit of extra pocket money. 30 years later, when I was showing my friend from Saudi Arabia the Vimto statue in Manchester, he informed me he drinks Vimto to break his fast – so it’s nice to see that, not only does Manchester have an internationally recognised reputation, Vimto does too! At 13 I started running my own carwash. Then things got slightly more sophisticated when I got to 24, when I bought my first investment property, completely renovated it and then rented it out to 4 students. By 2013, I’d created my own property business with over 100 properties in the portfolio. Since 2013, my passion has been creating large, luxury apartment blocks in up-and-coming areas of Manchester. Creating developments in these areas opens up opportunities for global investment, so not only does the Manchester economy benefit from the infrastructure, but this capital appreciation is shared with my co-investors and partners. My aim has always been to create affordable, but also premium, apartments for the increasing demand of educated young people living in the city. QWhat projects have you worked on? We have been working on a wide range of projects, from off- plans to freeholds, catering for different types of tenants. The first project we successfully delivered inManchester city centre was located on 90 Princess Street. This product, due to its excellent quality of build, is still operating well and looks as new today as it did back then. We then invited a handful of investors to co-invest with us, and the popularity of 90 Princess Street with tenants turned these investors into partners, who came back to invest with us time and time again. This quickly opened the door to the renovation and delivery of high-end projects, such as Basil House, situated on the renowned Portland Street, which is one of our most luxurious offerings to date. The project entailed the conversion of a tired Grade II-listed building into premium apartments. After competition, Aims Holdings, one of the biggest investment funds in Saudi Arabia, purchased the building in a £39 million pound deal. Our partnership with Aims Holdings, who now manage Basil House, enables us to continue delivering Manchester the high-end luxury residential space it needs. Another project we are proud of is the completion of 317 apartments at our Westpoint development, one of our biggest regeneration projects to date. All 317 apartments were rented off-plan before completion, highlighting Manchester’s demand for high-spec residential space and a testament to the trust people have in both Beech Holdings and our lettings agency Manchester Apartments (mapartments.co.uk) . We did not anticipate how popular these apartments would become, despite building these fully with our tenants in mind! Q: What areas of Manchester do you see as the best for investments? The property industry has become very competitive in Manchester, due to the hundreds of millions of pounds it generates. This means that the game has moved on, to either fighting for a saturated spot in the city or thinking smart and being ahead of the curve. We quickly realised a couple of years ago that two main areas in Manchester started to stand out with regards to property. These areas were Trafford and Ancoats. We were certainly right, as Trafford is where we built all 317 units at Westpoint, which are now fully let, thanks to the continuous growth and expansion of the area. The regeneration of Trafford attracted amazing projects such as the University Academy 92, founded by Manchester United superstars Gary Neville, and Ryan Giggs, who are now partnering with us to deliver quality accommodation to their students. In addition to ourselves, Microsoft, KPMG and Lancashire County Cricket Club are also partnered with UA92. Ancoats is another area which is still expanding, and we managed to identify and utilise ahead of competition. This area of Manchester, which was slightly gritty 5 years ago, has turned into a huge tech hub, attracting media and tech professionals, working for big world-leading companies such as Amazon, Spotify and Booking.com This attraction to Ancoats does make sense. Recently named one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world, attracting hipsters and artists alike, Ancoats is quickly becoming an extension of the city centre. With more apartments being built in the area through our Ancoats Gardens development, we are also hoping to use what we have learned to continue the regeneration of other neighbourhoods in Manchester. Our ethos is to cater to a wide variety of tenants and our constant eagerness to grow, create and develop a premium service level means we can adapt to all kinds of different tenants. We are also big on catering to different cultures and, when once upon a time Chinese students made up the majority of our international tenants, we are now seeing a big influx of tenants from the Gulf – a 76% increase year on year. Our international tenants contribute towards a strong multicultural work force in Manchester and we are proud to welcome more and more investments from the Middle East investors who want to co-invest with us and join us on our very exciting journey. Q:What projects do youhave planned for the future that you are able to share with us? One of the most exciting projects we’re working on at the moment is Ancoats Gardens. Mana, a restaurant in Ancoats, recently won Manchester its first Michelin star in 40 years. Mana’s owner Simon Martin previously worked at Noma in Copenhagen, voted the world’s number-one restaurant four years running, so it’s certainly put Ancoats on the international food enthusiasts map. Our Ancoats Gardens development houses 155 5-star premium apartments, three roof gardens, a gym and shared social spaces. Our shared social spaces are inclusive of a resident’s lounge, alongside co-working and co-dining areas. Ancoats Gardens is perfectly geared up for social events throughout the year, creating a community element that we feel is really important in adding value to our tenants’ living experience. We’re building a community with Ancoats Gardens, creating a place where likeminded, high-end, individuals will live, work and play. We are working with investors from all over the world on Ancoats Garden and the development is also open to new investment, with prices starting from£229,000 and going up to £500,000 for the penthouse suites. Historically Ancoats was the thriving centre of the county’s cotton industry, with the architecture cementing the area’s industrious past. Today, Ancoats is the city centre neighbourhood that every 20-something wants to live in and we’re very excited to launch our development there. Another project we’re working on is in the heart of the Trafford Regeneration scheme. Manchester city centre is constantly growing and parts of the city that were once on the fringes are now joining up to create one big centre. This project is phase two of Westpoint and it will be our biggest development to date, with 600 units of co-living space that we think will help shape the future of living in Manchester. Manchester’s prosperity, global workforce and growth in infrastructure has created insatiable demand from highly educated young people who want to work, live and socialise in the city centre. Our door is open for investors who want to contribute towards Manchester’s incredible growth.