Reflections On A Stellar Year At Sister – Liz Bamber, Director of Place

When we opened the Renold Innovation Hub in autumn 2024, we helped breathe new life into one of The University of Manchester’s most iconic buildings and long-standing centres of academic activity.

Our ambition has always been to make Sister the place where world-changing ideas are born, where innovators, researchers and entrepreneurs can develop ideas with real-world impact, while making sure the benefits are felt across Manchester’s communities.

A year on, it’s so encouraging to see that ambition taking shape.

Our Renold Innovation Hub has quickly become home to a diverse group of organisations, including Sustainable Ventures, the Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester, The Christabel Pankhurst Institute, the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst, and many more. Next to these organisations we've grown our startups community, with over 50 early-stage businesses now based at our campus. 

It’s been fantastic to see early-stage companies, academics and established partners working side by side in a space that has been brought back to life after years of planning. And we were also thrilled to see Sustainable Ventures launch their Manchester Climate Tech Hub at Sister this year, helping to drive the climate tech transition by supporting 15-20 of the most promising startups at our Renold Innovation Hub.

Just as important is our commitment to building an inclusive, purpose-driven community. 

Over the past year, we’ve hosted a wide range of events in partnership with some incredible organisations. These include Black Creatives Trailblazers’ Open Mic Nights, George House Trust’s community events, the first Black Futures Awards and B-Lab Skillshare day, as well as film screenings and art events hosted by Rooted Culture, another Renold customer. 

We’ve also continued our community drop-ins; launched our Social Value Strategy (led by our Social Impact Manager, Karen Jelenje); started new pilot programmes with Dean Trust Ardwick in partnership with Young Enterprise; and continued to support Young Manchester – who now have a base at Sister and who we look forward to working with to build opportunities for young people at the Renold Innovation Hub in 2026.

It’s also been a stellar year of firsts! 

From the launch of our first-ever thought leadership report this time last year, to hosting our inaugural Social Value Networking Breakfast in September to bring our Social Value Pillars to life – we’ve celebrated so many milestones.

This summer, we attended the first SXSW London to explore the latest trends in creativity and technology and connect with experts from around the world. In autumn, we celebrated the opening of the Venture Cafe Global Institute’s first Venture Café Manchester in Renold (in partnership with ARIA) to help grow Manchester’s innovation community and ecosystem. And a recent highlight has been securing planning consent for our first major new build phase of development known as Zone C. This phase will bring over half a million sq ft of high-quality workspace, unlock new retail and leisure opportunities and create enhanced public realm, including the reactivation of Altrincham Street’s iconic railway viaduct arches and the delivery of a new public square.

Sister is a 15-year project of phased development, but year one has already shown us what’s possible when the right people and the right partnerships come together.

A huge thank you to the Sister team and to everyone who has contributed to our success so far. I’m excited for the next phase and to continue the work of building an ecosystem that helps ideas grow and supports Manchester’s future.

Here’s to a stellar 2026 at Sister!