User:Pigduck/manchester economy

Economy
Manchester was at the forefront of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, and was a leading centre for manufacturing. The city's economy is now largely service-based and, as of 2007, is the fastest growing in the UK, with inward investment second only to the capital. Manchester’s State of the City Report identifies financial and professional services, life science industries, creative, cultural and media, manufacturing and communications as major activities. The city was ranked in 2010 as the second-best place to do business in the UK and the twelfth best in Europe. As of 2008, Manchester had the third-largest urban economy in the UK after Birmingham and was the 74th-largest in the world, with an estimated city GDP of $85bn (equivalent to £53bn in July 2011). The city is ranked, alongside Birmingham, as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Manchester has the largest UK office market outside London. Greater Manchester represents over £42 billion of the UK GVA, the third largest of any English county and more than Wales or North East England.

Manchester is a focus for businesses which serve local, regional and international markets. It is the fifth-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom outside London with more than 96,300 people employed in banking, finance and insurance. The Co-operative Group, the world's largest consumer-owned business, is based in Manchester and is one of the city's biggest employers. Legal, accounting, management consultancy and other professional and technical services exist in Manchester.

Manchester's commercial centre is in the centre of the city, adjacent to Piccadilly, focused on Mosley Street, Deansgate, King Street and Piccadilly. Spinningfields is a £1.5 billion mixed-use development that is expanding the district west of Deansgate. The area is designed to hold office space, retail and catering facilities, and courts. Several high-profile tenants have moved in, and a Civil Justice Centre opened in October 2007.

Manchester is the commercial, educational and cultural focus for North West England, and, in 2010, was ranked as the fourth biggest central retail area in the UK by sales. The city centre retail area contains shops from chain stores up to high-end boutiques such as Vivienne Westwood, Emporio Armani, DKNY, Harvey Nichols, Chanel and Hermès.