Downing Square Gardens
Promoting a new standard of living
- Public relations
- Stakeholder engagement
Brief
Square Gardens is Europe’s largest co-living development, a £400 million scheme by Downing Living, delivering 1,772 high-quality homes in Manchester’s First Street district.
In 2021, Influential was appointed to raise the profile of the development from planning through to completion, positioning it as a world-class co-living destination and cementing Downing’s reputation as a leading UK developer-operator.
Challenge
Square Gardens is a bold regeneration project transforming a long-neglected site into a vibrant new neighbourhood. The development features 1,772 high-quality homes spread across two towers: Acer, with 1,187 premium flex-living units, and The Fernley, offering 585 multi-family homes for students and professionals.
Our challenge was to promote co-living not just as a housing model, but as a lifestyle, appealing to a wide range of modern renters while showcasing Downing Living’s bold vision, quality, and commitment to community.
We delivered a strategic, multi-channel campaign that positioned Square Gardens as a destination, not just a development. From the outset, our focus was on bringing the story of place to life, showcasing the quality, innovation, and lifestyle that set the scheme apart.
Through a sustained PR push, we secured high-impact features and interviews in national trade press including Property Week, EG, Construction News, and Green Street News, alongside regular coverage in key regional titles such as the MEN, The Manc, and Manchester Confidential.
Key milestone moments were maximised to build momentum, including the Acer Tower topping-out ceremony attended by Manchester City Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig, who highlighted the development’s role in helping meet the city’s target of 36,000 new homes by 2032. We also shared striking time-lapse footage to showcase the project’s scale and progress from groundworks to skyline.
To highlight the vibrant lifestyle at Square Gardens, we launched a series of events including Elevate, a series giving residents access to industry leaders and motivational speakers. In a playful nod to Channel 4’s First Dates, we also created ‘First Street Dates’, a fun matchmaking event to help residents find their ideal co-living partner and strengthen the community spirit.
