AIRSHIP Interactive has announced its plans to move its headquarters to South Manchester - bringing with it over 100 new jobs by mid-2023, and over 200 within the next three years.
The Lytham-based co-development studio, which provides art services for some of the world’s largest gaming companies including Disney, EA, Microsoft, 2K, and Sony, is set to take up residence in Bruntwood SciTech’s Glasshouse at Alderley Park, after committing to a massive 15,000 sq. ft studio.
Airship Interactive CEO and founder, Joe Harford said: “Manchester is one of the best cities in the world, it is the home of great industry and innovation, so making the leap to Glasshouse at Alderley Park, just 30 minutes from the centre and situated within 400 acres of inspirational countryside, made complete sense to us.
“Airship is unlike many other game art studios; we are driven by a culture of excellence not just in our game art but in our people. This move is not just about the business's growth, but about providing our crew with the tools and environment they deserve to continue being the best at what they do. That’s why, year after year, the world’s biggest game creators want to collaborate with us. “
Tim Horton, Airship’s Chief Commercial Officer added: “This move has been many months in the making, we wanted to choose a location that would represent our values: quality, ethics, reliability, growth, passion, and innovation. That’s what Glasshouse is about. It’s a thriving tech community with first-class businesses and exceptional facilities for our crew.
Airship will join a community of forward-thinking businesses at Glasshouse, many of which are working in areas such as AI, software development, digital animation and fintech, as they come together in a collaborative ecosystem. The Park is home to an array of outstanding amenities including a gym and sports complex, thriving events programme, Grade II listed pub and restaurant, and woodland trails suitable for walking, running and cycling.
The move comes at a time of great strategic growth for the company after it received £450,000 of investment to expand its service delivery, supercharge recruitment and grow its global footprint.
Airship has also received multiple award nominations this year including, Best Small Business, Best Global Business, and Best Place to Work. Growth has been exponential over the past year. The studio has grown by over 70% and continues to make key strategic hires from within the sector, and the titles contributed to have been released to mass acclaim.
Josh Whiteley, Head of Commercial at Bruntwood SciTech said: “We’re really excited to be welcoming Airship Interactive to Glasshouse. Glasshouse has been specifically designed for hi-tech, innovative and creative companies, providing space to be inspired and collaborate - it’s the perfect place for Airship Interactive’s next chapter in the North West and I can’t wait to see what they get up to in their studio.”
For more information on Airship Interactive, please visit www.airshipinteractive.com.
-ENDS-
Image captions: TBD
Notes to editors
For more information contact: Jennifer Moseley, Marketing Manager j,moseley@airshipcrew.com / 07821892465
About Airship Interactive
Established in 2010 as a one-man crew out of founder and CEO, Joe Harford’s bedroom, Airship Interactive is one of the world's pre-eminent and most renowned art outsourcing studios.
With over 12 years of experience working within the global gaming industry, Airship Interactive has led on industry standards, even producing its own patented hair tool which has radically improved the speed and quality of hair creation in the gaming world.
As one of the sector’s most trusted and go-to co-developer studios, Airship Interactive has partnered with world-leading industry names such as Respawn, Guerrilla, Ubisoft, EA, and XBOX.
About Bruntwood SciTech
Bruntwood SciTech is the UK’s leading developer of innovation districts, creating the environments and ecosystems for science and technology businesses to form, scale and grow.
A 50:50 joint venture between leading property company Bruntwood and Legal & General, Bruntwood SciTech provides high quality office and laboratory space and tailored business support, offering unrivalled access to finance, talent and markets, an extensive clinical, academic and public partner network and a sector-specialist community of over 500 companies.
Bruntwood SciTech has unique experience in creating and developing strategic partnerships with UK regional cities, universities and NHS Trusts to drive economic growth through investment in science and technology infrastructure.
Bruntwood SciTech has a portfolio of over 1.8m sq ft including Alderley Park in Cheshire, Platform in Leeds, Innovation Birmingham, a cluster in the heart of Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor innovation district - Manchester Science Park, Citylabs 1.0 & 2.0 part of the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) campus and Circle Square - a joint venture with Vita Group and a development pipeline of 850,000 sq ft.
Website: https://bruntwood.co.uk/scitech
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BW_SciTech
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bruntwood-scitech
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bruntwoodscitech