Providing transportation strategy support for Manchester’s new School of Digital Arts

Manchester Metropolitan University’s Transportation Strategy

The School of Digital Arts (SODA) on Higher Chatham Street in Manchester will form part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s (MMU) All Saints Campus. The SODA is a new digital arts building which provides innovation laboratories, media exhibition space, seminar rooms, studios, production suites, and office accommodation—and we’ve been providing transportation support for them since 2017.

Project work initially commenced with consultation on the closing of High Chatham Street between Rosamond Street West and Boundary Street West. We then produced a transportation statement to assess the potential transportation and highways issues associated with the SODA and to support a full planning application for the development. In December 2018, Manchester City Council’s planning committee approved the scheme. The development proposals from Manchester Metropolitan University are managed by a large multidisciplinary team which our transportation team coordinated and provided support to.

To encourage sustainable travel, we liaised with the MMU travel plan coordinator to set out measures—such as offering student bus passes and cycle to work schemes—within the transportation statement. Planned to open in 2021, SODA is a £35 million investment into workspaces, networks, teaching, and research that will support the urgent and growing demand for skilled workers in the region’s creative and digital industries.