Andy Burnham’s new northern prime minister’s office will be based in Manchester’s Heron House, and civil servants in London have been offered relocation packages to encourage them to move to the North, according to reports.
GPA’s planned office complex in Ancoats, Manchester, due to open in 2032
The new ‘No 10 North’ is already up and running, Downing Street said, with a handful of officials already working from Heron House, opposite Manchester Town Hall. The office building is currently partly occupied by GCHQ, with Burnham set to arrive there later this week. He is expected to work from Heron House at least one day a week.
Responsibility for devolution strategy will also be transferred to the Manchester operation from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and local economic growth from the Treasury, the government confirmed.
Heron House will likely just be the initial location of N0 10 North, with one option for a longer-term base being the government’s digital campus in Manchester’s Ancoats area, currently under construction and due to complete in 2032.
Heron House is a 123,000 sq ft, six-storey, mixed-use building on Albert Square in central Manchester.
Burnham announced the creation of a new northern office of No 10 after returning as an MP last month.
The Manchester base is intended to be “the engine room of devolution and good growth in every postcode, across government and the wider economy”, the government said on Tuesday.
The northern branch of Downing Street will be overseen by Louise Haigh, first secretary of state, who will lead the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC). This will include No 10, No 10 North and teams within the Cabinet Office.
Manchester Digital Campus is a major new civil service office campus that will span 890,000 sq ft of commercial space at the former Central Retail Park in Ancoats. The Government Property Agency (GPA) received planning permission in February 2025, but the scheme is not due to be ready until 2032.
Please visit:
Our Sponsor