Ancoats Mobility Hub: Enabling car-lite developments

This summer saw the opening of the Ancoats Mobility Hub, a new facility on the outskirts of Manchester city centre. 

In the last decade, Ancoats has seen rapid regeneration with the famous but unused cotton mills of the industrial past turned into mixed-use development of homes, office space and retail and hospitality businesses. 

Now, a new area of vacant lots will soon be the site of 1,500 new homes in ‘phase three’ of the regeneration project, with the Ancoats Mobility Hub set to play a key part in efforts by Manchester City Council to create a new kind of neighbourhood with low car dependency. 

What are mobility hubs?

Mobility hubs bring together different sustainable transport modes and services in a recognised location to encourage a multimodal lifestyle and reduce reliance on the private car. By enabling convenient access to a range of transport modes, including public transport, shared bikes, car clubs, and supporting facilities such as parcel lockers, EV charging, bike parking, and public realm improvements, they act as a localised focus for travel to, from, and within developments. Mobility hubs are a flexible concept, meaning that they can be designed to suit a wide variety of mobility needs and challenges. In new developments, mobility hubs can provide first and last-mile connectivity to public transport through shared mobility options. 

The Ancoats Mobility Hub boasts a 150-strong secure bike parking facility, electric vehicle charging points, a car club including electric vehicles, a parcel delivery hub, spaces for a cycle repair shop and cafe and 1,300 sqm of public realm, solar power, green space and walking routes.  

Distinctively, this project represents the UK's first purpose-built Mobility Hub, which combines a multi-storey car park with mobility services and additional facilities to serve the local community. 

What did Steer do?

Steer played a pivotal role in this innovative project by conducting comprehensive operational and revenue analysis through commercial modelling. Our work involved evaluating operating costs against projected revenues, factoring in assumptions such as the allocation of car parking spaces between residential and visitor use. The team developed a commercial model which helped to inform the procurement of an operator. 

Steer’s analysis included identifying potential users, such as city visitors and future residents, given the site’s location on the periphery of Manchester city centre and the ongoing residential development in the area. Initially, parking spaces will be available to the general public, but as residential developments are completed, most spaces will be allocated to residents. 

This project supports Manchester City Council’s plans to expand the city centre boundary, providing parking spaces on the approach to the city core alongside sustainable transport modes to reduce traffic congestion and parking pressures in the city centre. 

National context

In its reforms of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the UK Government has committed to transit-oriented development (TOD) and promoted a brownfield-first approach. 

In this context, sites like the Ancoats regeneration are the perfect example of medium-density and mixed-use development that can create sustainable housing that is not car-reliant. 

Major cities, including London, Bristol and Glasgow, have embraced the TOD approach, sometimes termed car-lite developments, seeing homes constructed near public transport hubs with more limited private parking provision. Meanwhile, there has been a growth in funding for active transport networks, often integrating these networks with existing public transport, and policies targeting air quality encourage active travel and the installation of EV infrastructure. 

Mobility hubs can play a key role in this evolving landscape by enabling greater active travel provision, access to shared micromobility (which can in turn improve access to public transport), car clubs, which reduce the need to own a vehicle and EV charging, enabling the use of zero tailpipe emission vehicles. 

Mobility hubs like the one in Ancoats, which incorporate traditional parking into their design, have the potential to support local authority goals of reducing parking and car ownership by promoting shared transport in new developments.

How can Steer help you? 

Steer’s New Mobility team are the UK market leader in supporting the planning and development of mobility hubs and has extensive experience in helping clients to plan for, develop, procure and implement Mobility Hubs of different sizes and locations both across the UK and globally. We have supported the planning of 400+ Mobility Hubs globally, from setting objectives, feasibility designs, business case development, through to procurement.

Written by Susmita Das