Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) has announced an investment of £42million to facilitate the development of the North of England’s largest Premier Inn within the MIX MANCHESTER hotel district at Manchester Airport.
The announcement comes weeks after GMPF confirmed it had raised its stake in the joint venture partnership of MIX MANCHESTER, increasing its shareholding up to 30%, along with Manchester City Council, which has taken on a shareholding of 30%.
The funding agreement paves the way for construction to start by main contractor, Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) – which also forms part of the MIX MANCHESTER joint venture. With work already underway, completion has been earmarked for Q2 2028.
In February 2025, MIX MANCHESTER and Whitbread PLC, the parent company to Premier Inn, secured planning approval from Manchester City Council for the new 276-bedroom hotel. Designed by 5plus Architects, the Premier Inn will showcase the hotelier’s latest style bedrooms, including its popular Premier Plus rooms, and the brand’s stylish ‘The Social’ space on the ground floor.
The new Premier Inn is the fourth hotel to be built within MIX MANCHESTER’s hotel district, which is a two-minute walk from the airport’s Ground Transport Interchange and close to Terminals 1 and 2. Beyond the hotel district, on the northern edge of the MIX MANCHESTER campus, construction of Dakota’s second hotel in Manchester is well underway and is set to open in 2026.
A public consultation for phase one of MIX MANCHESTER launched on 8th December 2025. The vision is to create one of the largest science, innovation and manufacturing campuses in the UK. This investment announcement and start on site comes as MAG reaches the final stage of its £1.3bn Terminal 2 Transformation Programme in December 2025.
Speaking on behalf of GMPF, Colin Thomasson from CBRE, Manager for the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund, commented: “GMPF’s funding of this landmark development at MIX MANCHESTER underlines the Fund’s continued commitment to the project. This latest arrangement follows the recent increase in GMPF’s shareholding in the joint venture and reflects how the Fund’s local investment strategy is creating tangible benefits across Greater Manchester.”
Jill Anderson, Acquisition Manager for Whitbread, said: “This new Premier Inn hotel at Manchester Airport is an exceptional one given its size, location, and the collaborative way we worked with MIX MANCHESTER to secure the site and reach this milestone. I’m grateful to everyone who has worked tirelessly to get us to this point, and I look forward to seeing the delivery of what will become the largest Premier Inn hotel in the North of England – in a truly exciting location.”
Emily Fleet, Development Manager for MIX MANCHESTER, said: “Bringing Premier Inn’s largest hotel in the North of England to MIX MANCHESTER – thanks to the funding provided by GMPF – is a major win for Whitbread, our joint venture partners and Manchester Airport. The new hotel joins a strong line-up of brands that deliver market-leading places to stay and will serve our thriving innovation campus long into the future.
“With our public consultation underway to inform the first phase of our development, our plans are gathering pace to deliver MIX MANCHESTER, one of the largest science, innovation and manufacturing campuses in the UK.”