The owner and founder of the biggest developer within Manchester’s city centre ring road has set his sights on becoming the best and most sizeable in the Northern Powerhouse.

The owner and founder of the biggest developer within Manchester’s city centre ring road has set his sights on becoming the best and most sizeable in the Northern Powerhouse.

Stephen Beech, of Beech Holdings, said ‘Manchester has come out winning after Brexit’ and has urged his staff of 90 people to push themselves to buy, build, let then manage more significant city-centre buildings containing carbon-neutral high-end apartments.

Speaking at the screening and launch of Beech Holdings’ new corporate video at the HOME cinema and theatre venue, the 38-year-old said: “Our vision is to become the biggest and best developer, not just in Manchester, but the Northern Powerhouse too.

“Our product speaks for itself and we own £65m worth of residential housing stock in Greater Manchester, including 17 significant city centre buildings and another 120 properties in the region.

“We already know there are a lot of disappointed people out there who want our product. For every one or two-bedroom apartment we currently let, we turn 69 people away.

“To me, that signals demand, so we need to do get our message to people across the world as Manchester is becoming a super mid-sized European city that continues to progress and shine.“

It comes after Beech Holdings – the parent company of Beech Properties and Beech Construction – recently landed a £30m revolving credit finance facility, after being advised by Clearwater International.

Carbon-neutral property developer Beech Holdings, which has a gross development pipeline of over £150m, also launched its headquarters on Oxford Street earlier this summer.

Stephen said: “We are liaising with large family offices and pension companies and are excited to additionally be in talks with Greater Manchester Housing Fund for some refurbishment.

“Many years ago, when we were known as Beech Properties, we were excited to be talking to local bank managers in Rusholme. Now that we have grown, we also regularly communicate with people at much higher levels – despite having kept in touch with our smaller partners.

“We’ve had the ex-Prime Minster David Cameron talking about us and were honoured when Sir Howard Bernstein, the Manchester council chief executive, came down to open our headquarters over the summer, and we want to spread the message which is why the corporate video has been made.“

He added: “Two or three months ago a lot of people – along with the staff at Beech – thought the world was ending because of the way the Brexit vote went. There were tears in the office and I was personally devastated.

“But instead, the city of Manchester has come out winning, as Brexit gave us the opportunity to shine brighter than London.

“Important people are now coming to see me and my senior team in Manchester – rather than us having to go to London in our bid to continue to attract investment.

“I’ve always known Manchester as a fantastic place, but more and more people are now realising what an exciting city it is, not just in the UK and Europe, but across the world.

“Both Beech Holdings and Manchester are moving at a fast pace. We invested in this corporate video to show this to the rest of the world.

“We are now officially Manchester’s biggest developer within the city centre ring road. Our growth will ultimately create jobs and more housing locally in the future.

“We want to get this message and more across to financial institutions in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and all over the world, and show investors, bankers and everyone else, how good we are.

“What we will be doing going forward is asking for £10m or £50m – even £120m, to buy and develop buildings as we are in a position to do that.“

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