A major government office complex has been given planning consent to be built in Manchester.

Manchester Digital Campus will be constructed on the former Central Retail Park in Ancoats after the city’s planning committee approved the Government Property Agency’s (GPA) scheme.

The campus will bring together a number of Civil Service departments with a focus around digital skills and create significant employment opportunities and economic benefits in the region.

The development has been designed by AtkinsRéalis.

Mark Bourgeois, CEO at the GPA, said: “We are delighted with the decision and are grateful for the support of the many stakeholders in Manchester.

“The GPA team is proud to be working on this exciting project in support of the government’s growth mission.”

The GPA exchanged contracts to acquire five-and-a-half acres of the former Central Retail Park in Ancoats from the city council in May last year with a view to constructing a digital campus.

Both the agency and Manchester City Council have been working together on the plans for Ancoats, culminating in a parallel proposal for the digital campus and an adjacent public park.

The council and the GPA held a joint consultation around emerging plans for the former retail site in August and September last year, inviting local residents, businesses and other stakeholders to help guide proposals to create the new government digital campus – delivered by the GPA – and a new city centre park space, delivered by the council.

Alongside the new campus, the new park will improve access to quality green space in Manchester city centre, creating a connection to the existing Cotton Field Park behind and through to Ancoats and New Islington.

The park space has been designed in collaboration with landscape architects Planit-IE following public consultation.

A central lawn and plaza will create a green buffer to Great Ancoats Street, with various tiered gardens navigating the different level changes across the site, alongside play areas, paths and tranquil areas to escape the noise of the city. The park has been designed to make sure that it is fully accessible.

The site will accommodate new walking and cycling routes, helping to link to other city centre active travel investment in Ancoats, Northern Quarter and out towards the Etihad Campus.

Development across the rest of the site will be brought forward as a later development phase. More information will be made available in due course.

Leader of the council, Bev Craig, added: “Gaining planning approval for both the GPA’s digital campus and the latest city centre park is the launchpad for the transformation of this site.

“Our ambition has long been to bring the former retail park back into active use and working in partnership with the GPA we are delivering a quality, low carbon development that will bring 7,000 civil service jobs to Manchester in the coming years.”

Mike McNicholas, managing director for infrastructure UK and Ireland at AtkinsRéalis, said: “We are proud to have provided the multi-disciplinary design and engineering services to help get this important development approval from the planning committee with our client the GPA.

“It is a design that delivers on our client’s inspiring vision for a modern, sustainable workspace which reflects the requirements of today’s workforce, while at the same time creating new green spaces for the benefit of the wider community.

“The new digital campus will transform this part of Manchester and will demonstrate the value of a place-led approach to development, creating jobs and opportunities for people in the region to support long-term economic growth.”