Online beauty retailer to build studio at Manchester Airport

 

Plans have been approved for a new logistics and global content creation studio at a Manchester Airport site.

Work can now begin on ICON, an 11.6-acre logistics and global content creation studio at Manchester Airport on behalf of online beauty and wellbeing retailer, The Hut Group (THG), which could house up to 2,000 people.

The development is set for completion by Apil 2020, with work starting as early as this month.

The ICON site will dramatically expand The Hut Group’s logistics and content production capabilities. It is part of the broader development of THG’s presence at Manchester Airport, which includes a new 280,000 sq ft office building at Airport City North – ‘THQ’. The combined developments are slated to generate up to 10,000 jobs.

Icon Industrial is  a strategic joint venture by leading commercial property developer, Stoford Developments and private global investment firm, TPG Real Estate.

Dan Gallagher, joint managing director of Stoford Developments, said: “We are delighted that THG has chosen ICON as the site for its new logistics and global content creation studio – it is fantastic news for Icon Manchester Airport and for the wider North West region. This site is in a key strategic location at the very heart of the Northern Powerhouse and its unrivalled airport connectivity will enable THG to reach a worldwide market.”

Matthew Moulding, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Hut Group, said: “This is an exciting time for THG. Following THG’s acquisition and integration in 2017 of Hangar 7, the UK’s leading content studio, ICON is our next step in expanding the Group’s content production and logistics capabilities dramatically.”

Icon Industrial acquired the site from Airport City Manchester in July 2017. The build has a gross development value of around £100m.