Eddie Smith

Strategic Director, Growth and Development

I’m Eddie Smith and I’m in charge of the Growth and Development directorate.

You’ll find plenty of exciting, challenging and rewarding roles working in our team. The team helps to drive investment into the city to boost jobs, connect residents to those jobs, and build new homes. It also helps to provide the necessary critical infrastructure for new local services, such as digital fibre and power. We help to maintain Manchester’s impressive economic and population growth.

A typical day will see our Development team meet with investors and developers who want to invest in the city.

We’re currently working on several high-profile development projects including:

• St John’s – home to The Factory, Manchester's landmark new cultural venue.
• the area around Manchester Airport.
• the ongoing transformation of the Etihad Campus.

We also have a wide range of smaller-scale but equally important projects in neighbourhoods across the city. These include plans to build new homes, as well as creating new employment for our residents.

Our Housing and Residential Growth team works with the Planning, Building Control and Licensing team to ensure that the city has enough good-quality apartments and family homes to house the city’s growing population. This includes those affected by homelessness. They also make sure there’s ample affordable housing for those on very low to average incomes.

Manchester’s growth creates new employment opportunities. The city displays distinctive strengths in science, advanced manufacturing, culture, creative and digital business

Our Work and Skills team and Manchester Adult Education Services offer a variety of training and mentoring programmes. These equip Manchester residents of all ages with the qualifications and industry experience needed to take advantage of the city’s many emerging new jobs.

Finally, one of our most vital teams in the directorate is the Facilities Management team. The team looks after our buildings to make sure that staff across the Council have safe, warm and clean places to work.

So that’s a snapshot of what we do in Growth and Development. We’re proud of our city and its residents and believe in their potential.

I’ve been with the Council for 20 years, and I’m constantly inspired by the passion and dedication displayed by our staff. We recognise and value the strengths of our colleagues. It’s in our culture to listen, welcome and encourage staff to share their ideas about how to change things for the better.

Now is an exciting time to join us and help shape the future of this great city. The team plays a pivotal role in the development of Manchester as one of Europe's fastest-growing cities. If you're inspired to join us then we'd love to hear from you.

Take a look at our current job vacancies.