Work
FEC and Manchester City Council: Resetting the story of Victoria North
Victoria North is a £4bn joint venture between FEC and Manchester City Council, delivering 15,000 homes across seven new neighbourhoods in north Manchester over 15 years, including social and affordable housing at Collyhurst and Red Bank Riverside with L&Q. It is also one of the Government’s dedicated New Towns.
When we were appointed in 2020, we needed to build relationships with local residents, support FEC and the council’s credibility and drive positive sentiment with media.
We moved the story away from corporate messaging and towards the residents moving into new social and affordable homes, and creating more public realm and facilities for the whole city to benefit from. We briefed senior editors and journalists at the Financial Times, The Guardian and the Manchester Evening News, positioning Victoria North as a nationally significant response to the housing crisis.
We sequenced engagement across community groups, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Homes England, L&Q and political stakeholders locally and nationally, building community credibility first so the ground was solid when political and investor activity stepped up. More recently, we launched Found, FEC’s operational brand for its homes and public realm, through local consumer media.
Coverage has shifted from adversarial to constructive, and we have helped coordinate site visits from Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham.
Victoria North is now a reference point for what collaborative, community-based regeneration can deliver in practice.
