1 Feb 2026 THE QUAYS
The Manchester Ship Canal and Trafford Park industrial estate were two huge projects that boosted Manchester’s economy at the turn of the 20th-century. One was a massive geo-engineering project that brought ocean-going ships nearly 40 miles inland to the heart of the city. The other was a giant workshop for Manchester’s diversifying economy, attracting the biggestc ompanies in the world. Both changed the size and shape of the city region.

But they also showed the fragility of private investment when it came to big projects, and gave the city a taste for public ownership that would have a long lasting effect deeper into the century.

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