It would be wrong to say Mike Ingall is back because he never really went away but Allied London鈥檚 CEO has certainly got a spring in his step.
The man who gave Spinningfields to Manchester has done it again with the St John鈥檚 development.
After joining him on a behind-the-scenes tour of Manchester鈥檚 newest neighbourhood, I sat down with the 65-year-old for a typically punchy interview.
Before then a quick recap. Ingall is the qualified chartered surveyor who joined the board of Allied London in 1995 and never left.
He took the Allied London private in 2000 and has been responsible for a complete overhaul of the business.
Over three decades he has earned a reputation for tackling complex, difficult and pioneering developments, as well as the restoration of a string of iconic landmarks.
I canvassed the views of Manchester鈥檚 property sector about Ingall and the new St John鈥檚 development in particular after my visit.
鈥淢ike Ingall is a mercurial genius,鈥� one person told me. 鈥淗e may have been perceived as keeping a low profile but in the background he鈥檚 been peddling away.
鈥淗e鈥檚 reinvented himself from a developer to someone who not just builds buildings but also operates them.
鈥淗e鈥檚 got big corporate brands at St John鈥檚 that are embracing the wider ecosystem and inventory, such as Versa Studios.鈥�
St John鈥檚 is a redevelopment of the former Granada Studios in the heart of Manchester鈥檚 city centre.
It鈥檚 been billed as a mix of living, enterprise and culture, sitting alongside, office and residential space, hotels, a theatre, green spaces, numerous restaurants and shops.
Visitors will be familiar with attractions such as Bonded Warehouse, The Crystal Maze, Chaos Karts and Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International.
St John’s Development
I joined Ingall and a handful of other journalists for a private tour of St John鈥檚, through Aviva Studios, the newly-created Versa Studios, the ABC Building and the upcoming Campfield project, which is being turned into a聽digital hub for media and creative businesses.
I won鈥檛 lie, it blew my mind and I sought out the views of Andy Spinoza, a doyen of all things Manchester and author of the brilliant book 鈥�Manchester Unspin: How a City Got High on Music鈥�.
He told me: 鈥淭he new St John鈥檚 effectively creates a new destination. Not just a visitor destination because it鈥檚 also a huge employment site with Aviva Studios and the new Versa production facilities. It really is a new mixed use neighbourhood which links Salford and Manchester.
鈥淎s such there are numerous challenges in making people understand what is there, both to visit and to live. No-one wants to impose an overall character on an area. It has to be allowed to grow organically but it does have benefits and an incredibly rich history.
鈥淚n my book I describe Salford and Manchester as the conjoined twin cities of the UK (and) the only place in the nation where two city centres have a land boundary. If that鈥檚 the boundary, St John’s is the umbilical cord linking the two cities.鈥�
Spinoza said it鈥檚 fitting that St John鈥檚 has paid homage to the site鈥檚 long association with Granada Studios.
鈥淕ranada Studios was the independent television company that gave Manchester its identify for decades producing creative and pioneering TV,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fitting that the area is now the home of so many creative media businesses in the 21st century. Versa Studios is a major investment in Manchester鈥檚 cultural industries.鈥�
All of which brings me on to my interview with the man who made it all happen 鈥� Mike Ingall.
The last time we met was at November鈥檚 memorial service for 鈥楳r Manchester鈥� Sir Howard Bernstein and it didn鈥檛 take long for Ingall to name check his close friend and former council chief executive.
Andy Spinoza
It was back in 2014 that Ingall and Sir Howard sat down and completed a joint venture to acquire the entire Granada Studios site.
鈥淎llied London came up with the idea for St John鈥檚,鈥� he said. 聽鈥淲e delivered a neighbourhood of enterprise, culture and living but probably not with the clean lines that people would have expected from us, particularly bearing in mind our history of Spinningfields.
鈥淪pinningfields is very easy to understand. It鈥檚 a new corporate area of glass and steel and fine restaurants.
鈥淚t mainly consists of two main uses 鈥� commercial offices; restaurants and leisure; and a bit of retail but it has been a massive catalyst.
鈥淭he one thing Spinningfields did is change the face of commercial buildings in Manchester, so much so that First Street, NOMA, Circle Square all saw you can build big buildings in this city and the city had come of age to need and want that sort of infrastructure.鈥�
In terms of St John鈥檚, Ingall recalled: 鈥淲e acquired a 27-acre site in the middle of Manchester which for 70 years had been used for the country鈥檚 largest media production business (in) ITV and Granada.
鈥淵ou already have a DNA. Clearly to generate a new neighbourhood of diversity and interest, you can鈥檛 ignore that DNA and we haven鈥檛 done.
鈥淲e have retained and now operate a whole series of former studios that were never not fit for purpose, they just weren鈥檛 fit for investment by those corporates.鈥�
Our interview fittingly took place at the exclusive Caravan restaurant at the heart of St. John鈥檚.
Today the development is home to 10,000 workers and major employers include Booking.com, Cloud Imperium Games and the BBC.
Ingall said: 鈥淚 think Spinningfields would be my biggest ever development (but) my most interesting and most diverse and most creative is definitely St John鈥檚.
鈥淲hen you鈥檝e got no food in the house, you have a look in the larder and the fridge and suddenly you go ‘I’ve made an amazing meal’.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had no public money on this development. The public money has really gone into Aviva Studios.
鈥淚t makes you lean and focus on what value (you can develop) and what鈥檚 really important.
鈥淵ou take out a lot of the guff and I think it would fair to say in St John鈥檚 over the years, particularly in 2016-17-18, we probably went down a few rabbit holes.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all part of learning. Those rabbit holes have been closed up. You walk around here and you wouldn鈥檛 say it鈥檚 a billion pound development, you would say a lot of this has been here for a very long time but it鈥檚 been remodelled, reemphasised and recreated.
鈥淚t鈥檚 far from complete. It may not be complete for five years and I make no apology for that because that was always my principle here. We鈥檒l do this organically. This is not going to be Spinningfields.鈥�
Campfield, St John’s Development
One of the most impressive parts of the tour for me was Campfield, which was previously the Science and Industry Museum’s Air and Space Hall. It鈥檚 being transformed into a tech and creative campus and is stunning.
The tour also included stops to the ABC Building, which is home to the BBC’s Morning Live show, and Versa Studios, which is already being used for hit productions like聽Dragons鈥� Den.
Ingall is personally heavily invested in Versa Studios, which has hosted productions for聽Sky, Amazon, ITV, Paramount, BBC, Netflix聽and more.
It鈥檚 clear Ingall likes proving people wrong.聽 He said: 鈥淚 read a bit of social media and I get 鈥楬as Allied London lost its way?鈥� (or) 鈥楬as Allied London run out of money?鈥� Probably both of those at a certain point but I don鈥檛 mind that because what we鈥檙e going to end up with is something that is so powerful.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing with this activity in any neighbourhood possibly outside of London (and) I don鈥檛 think this is even in London.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very fortunate that within a space of less than two years we can count our broadcast clients as Netflix, Amazon, Sky, BBC, ITV. We鈥檝e worked with some of the biggest mobile production companies.
鈥淭he BBC are back in the city. We鈥檙e quite happy to do drama and immersive entertainment. We have a lot of expertise.
鈥淢anchester has been a centre of media production for 75 years. BBC and ITV have been strong here for all that time. (Now) we can bring Netflix up here as well. When people come here to Manchester they will come back.鈥�