We Built This City: Greater Manchester

What does it take to run one of the UK's most ambitious city regions?
Caroline Simpson, Group Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, joins Lisa Morton to share how the region is turning devolution into real, tangible change for people's lives.
Caroline has helped shape some of the most significant developments in Greater Manchester in recent years, including the Bee Network; the region's locally run public transport system. She also played a central role in developing the Greater Manchester Strategy, a plan that brings the public, private, and voluntary sectors together around a single, shared vision.
You'll hear how the Greater Manchester Combined Authority identified the need for the Good Growth Fund, and how they're positioning the region as a compelling destination for outside investment. Caroline also explores what it means in practice to ensure that growth reaches all ten Greater Manchester Boroughs, so that no community is left behind.
With the world watching the city’s growth, development and leadership, Lisa and Caroline also reflect on what Caroline believes will define Greater Manchester's next decade.

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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business and its team members have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.
To celebrate the 30 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.
Connect with Caroline and GMCA
Via Caroline’s LinkedIn
Via GMCA LinkedIn
Via GMCA Instagram

Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X

Thanks to our partners on this episode of We Built This City, Car Finance 247. You can visit CarFinance247.co.uk or follow Car Finance 247 on LinkedIn to find out more about them.

What does it mean to spend over 40 years building a career that shapes so much of who you are?
Joe Gallagher is a professional world champion boxing coach and the owner of Gallagher's Gym in Moss Side. A born and bred Mancunian, Joe spends his time fighting people’s corner, encouraging them to find strength and ultimately win.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Joe’s entry into boxing at just 10 years old has formed his values, relationships and work ethic and what drives him to show up at the gym every day, even with his diagnosis of stage four bowel cancer.
Joe got his start at Wythenshawe Forum ABC with legendary boxing trainer Jimmy Egan. You’ll hear how formative those years were for Joe and what it means for him to return to the venue after 40 years, coaching the sons of his former rivals in a huge night of boxing on June 6th.
Find out what learning to fight teaches you about people and how you can build strength that goes beyond the physical.

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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business and its team members have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.
To celebrate the 30 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.
Connect with Joe
On Instagram
Via LinkedIn

Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X

Thanks to our partners on this episode of We Built This City, Car Finance 247. You can visit CarFinance247.co.uk or follow Car Finance 247 on LinkedIn to find out more about them.

How do you create a community that helps women across Greater Manchester feel seen, heard and valued?

Emma Neville is a menopause coach and trained counsellor, whose work is centred around listening to and supporting women.
Hear about the lessons she’s learnt from spending years giving her time to supporting people across Manchester from inside some of the city's most important charities, and from raising two girls in a family that's always on the move.
After struggling with early menopause, Emma is on a mission to get this generation of Manc women to be the ones to make menopause matter. You’ll learn why Emma is calling this chapter of her life 'untamed' and why saying ‘no’ can be a full sentence.
From creating her community and holding This Is Me parties, Emma has come to understand the power of bringing a room full of Manchester women together. She tells Lisa why bottling that energy could be Manchester’s next biggest export.

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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business and its team members have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.
To celebrate the 30 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.
Connect with Emma, and This Is Me
On Instagram
On LinkedIn
Via her newsletter & Community

Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X

‘It takes a village, it takes a city’
How do you create your big Manchester Family?
Fresh from the Big Manc Chippy tea event, which celebrated reaching 100 Mancs on the podcast, Lisa Morton is turning the tables in this episode. For the first time, she’s the one answering questions on values, relationships, purpose, legacy and of course, the all-important chippy order.
Lisa is joined by her daughter, Nina, and together they reflect on the belief systems and values that have been crucial in Lisa’s life, both personally and professionally, and how those same values have helped Nina build her own relationships across Greater Manchester.
You’ll hear about what inspired Lisa to set up Roland Dransfield 30 years ago, the moments that have made her proud to be a manc, and those that have knocked her down. This episode is about the people who helped her back up, and the community she now calls her ‘Manchester family’.
After sitting down with 100 born, bred or adopted Mancunians, find out how Lisa’s view of the city region and its people has changed and what she believes it takes to build something special here.

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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business and its team members have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.
To celebrate the 30 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.

Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X FKA Twitter

“The city has been my ally; I've never been frightened to make any career changes”
Han Thompson is the Production Executive for BBC’s Morning Live. Her rural roots in the Cotswolds haven't stopped her from finding her place here in Manchester, something she attributes to “typical Manc chattiness and openness”, which she experienced right from the start of her time in the city region.
Morning Live is a voice for the north for 90 minutes every day.
Han and the team are working to make routes into the TV industry open to more people across the region. You’ll hear how you make culture in the workplace more than a box tick, build a strong team and continue to nurture them.
You’ll hear about the mentality that has helped Han to keep moving forward when facing tough times, and the strong Manc relationships that have supported and brought her so much comfort, especially when she was in a place of grief. Those connections have made Han confident that Manchester is the place for her.
As well as the people she’s met in the 14 years Han’s been in Manchester, she also talks about the relationships she’s had with the city. For her, Manchester has been her ally, and the city has always had Han’s back.
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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business and its team members have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.
To celebrate the 29 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.
Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X FKA Twitter

Connect with Han
Via LinkedIn