We Built This City: Greater Manchester

“It’s exciting to be part of the city; we've got so much further to go”
On this episode of Drawn Here Not Born Here from We Built This City, Lisa talks to Joe Manning, Managing Director of MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency.
Joe explains how MIDAS is building relationships between Greater Manchester and leading global cities, creating opportunities for international businesses to invest, collaborate and grow here.
You’ll hear how the city region’s collaborative nature attracted Joe to Manchester, via Yorkshire, London, and Cheshire, and how, as a proud Yorkshire man, he’s getting leaders from all over the world excited about Manchester and the way Mancs get things done.
They discuss the next decade of growth and what Manchester is really known for around the world, and why cities like Osaka Japan, are calling themselves “the Manchester of the East.”
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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 almost 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
Connect with Joe and MIDAS
Via LinkedIn
Via the MIDAS Website

On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University. Wherever your business wants to be, Manchester Met is there to help you go further.
Visit mmu.ac.uk/business or follow Business at Manchester Met on LinkedIn, to find out more.

“Manchester has a DNA, which is very powerful, founded on things that matter in life”
Meet Manc 100.
Michael Ingall is the Chairman and CEO of the property and investment group Allied London.
Michael and his team have always had an incredible understanding of the energy and confidence of the city, and a vision for what it could become in the future.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Allied London developments like Spinningfields, St. John's, Versa Studios and Bonded Warehouse came to be.
Join Lisa Morton as Michael shares his story of placemaking in Manchester over the past 20-plus years; from a chance meeting at Manchester's town hall on his first trip up from London, to building a barn in the middle of Manchester's newest district.
When Lisa and Michael caught up in the summer of 2025, they were fresh from the launch of Allied London’s newest development, Campfield. You’ll hear how the historic Victorian market hall has been transformed into a space for thriving communities nearly 150 years after it first opened. You’ll also hear about Michael’s commitment to sharing spaces across the city region, to help people access new opportunities.
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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 Michael
On LinkedIn

Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield:
Via our website
On Instagram
On X FKA Twitter
On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University. Wherever your business wants to be, Manchester Met is there to help you go further.
Visit mmu.ac.uk/business or follow Business at Manchester Met on LinkedIn, to find out more.

What makes you fall in love with Manchester and stay for three decades?
Andrew Charnley is the Managing Director of Sancus, a property finance and lending company, and a long-time champion of Manchester. When he joined the business in 2024, he knew they would benefit from being part of the city’s buzz and momentum, and since then, Andrew has led Sancus’ expansion in the city region, backing Manchester’s continued growth.
It’s the people who put the heart into modern Manchester. Some are born, bred or adopted, and some people feel the pull to Greater Manchester from elsewhere, but still make big contributions to the region, and We Built This City is celebrating some of those people with ‘Drawn Here Not Born Here’
In this episode, Andrew reflects on more than thirty years of watching the city change. He shares the places, people and moments that have shaped and strengthened his relationship with it, and how he came to have his portrait on the walls of the famous Manchester haunt, Sam’s Chop House.
You'll hear about leadership and values, as Andrew opens up as to why authenticity and relationships matter, what he has learned about getting things done across the city region, and how current challenges like transport could help create a more cohesive and connected Greater Manchester.
Andrew shares a powerful moment at The Christie that’s stayed with him, before he and Lisa look ahead to what’s next, and why protecting the city’s identity and welcoming spirit matters just as much as growth.
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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
On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University. Wherever your business wants to be, Manchester Met is there to help you go further.
Visit mmu.ac.uk/business or follow Business at Manchester Met on LinkedIn, to find out more.

What does it take to care for people at the most vulnerable moments of their lives?
Jon Bell is a consultant Interventional Radiologist at The Christie in Manchester, the largest cancer care centre in Europe, providing world-leading cancer care, from Greater Manchester. Jon and his team are helping to treat and care for one in two of us who will get cancer.
He also happens to be the son of Manchester City legend Colin Bell.
In this conversation, you’ll hear about The Christie Charity’s beautiful Garden of Hope. Roland Dransfield are proud to sponsor this new installation of one thousand illuminated roses, currently lighting up St John’s Gardens. The Garden of Hope is raising funds for a new state-of-the-art PET scanner.
Jon shares why this investment matters so deeply to clinicians and patients alike, and how it will change the future of cancer care in Greater Manchester.
Lisa and Jon discuss what it’s really like to work in a role where you’re supporting people through some of the toughest days of their lives. You’ll hear Jon talk about the compassion, resilience and teamwork that underpin the care delivered at The Christie, and Jon reflects on the values his dad passed down to him.
Jon also explains how his team are bringing hope to families during the Christmas period, and the small but powerful acts that make a difficult time feel a little brighter.
You can find out more information on the Garden of Hope, and buy a rose to dedicate to a loved one affected by cancer through the Christie Charity website using this link.
The Garden of Hope is free to visit 3pm to 8pm daily, at St John's Gardens, Lower Byrom Street, from Sunday 7 to Sunday 21 December 2025.

How do you make people feel at home in a city that still feels new?
There are so many people making big contributions to Greater Manchester who don’t quite fit the ‘born, bred or adopted Manc’ label. We Built This City is celebrating some of those people with ‘Drawn Here Not Born Here’.
Matt Townley is Group Operations Director at Dakota Hotels and Chair of the Manchester Hoteliers Association. He came to Manchester from Liverpool and is now at the heart of the city’s amazing hospitality scene. In this conversation with Lisa, Matt shares the work that drew him here; why he wanted to settle and how his friends and family still react to him being a Scouser in Manchester.
Matt talks about how he’s shaping Dakota’s newest hotel at Manchester Airport, and the legacy he’s building through his work with the Manchester Hoteliers Association. You’ll also hear about his passion for spotting emerging talent, and why investing in others is such a big part of his leadership.

Matt’s work is all about making people feel welcome and creating real moments of luxury. Hear how he’s doing that across Greater Manchester, building a base for people to explore the city from, and why he’s still not quite ready yet to call himself an adopted Manc.
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 28 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
On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University. Wherever your business wants to be, Manchester Met is there to help you go further.
Visit mmu.ac.uk/business or follow Business at Manchester Met on LinkedIn, to find out more.