From Gary Neville to Erinma Bell, the long-running podcast has become an audio archive of the people shaping Manchester...
For more than six years, We Built This City has been quietly building one of the most comprehensive audio archives of modern Manchester, capturing conversations with the people who have shaped the city region across business, politics, culture, sport, regeneration and community activism.
Hosted by Lisa Morton, founder and chief executive of Manchester PR agency Roland Dransfield, the podcast launched in early 2020, just before the UK entered its first Covid lockdown. What began as a series of interviews with influential Mancunians has grown into an award-winning podcast with more than 100 episodes and a guest list that reads like a who’s who of contemporary Greater Manchester.
The concept is simple but distinctive. Rather than focusing on achievements alone, each episode explores the values, relationships and motivations that have driven guests to make an impact on the city. The series examines not only what people have built, but why they chose Manchester as the place to do it.
That approach has attracted an eclectic range of guests over the years. Early episodes featured figures including former Manchester United captain Gary Neville, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord, alongside business leaders, musicians, artists and campaigners.
Among the most notable conversations is the podcast’s interview with Professor Erinma Bell, the community activist and peace campaigner whose work tackling gun crime and supporting young people in Moss Side earned her national recognition. The series has also featured boxer and broadcaster Stacey Copeland and the late Sir Howard Bernstein, whose episode explored his central role in Manchester’s regeneration following the 1996 IRA bomb.
The podcast’s focus mirrors Morton’s own connection to Manchester. She founded Roland Dransfield in 1996. It was to prove a pivotal year for the city, in the wake of the IRA bomb which tore through and has spent three decades working alongside organisations involved in Manchester’s transformation across regeneration, hospitality, culture, sport and the voluntary sector.
Earlier this year, We Built This City reached a significant milestone with its 100th episode. The landmark guest was property developer Michael Ingall, founder and chief executive of Allied London, whose projects including Spinningfields and St John’s have helped reshape Manchester’s city centre over the last quarter-century.
To mark the occasion, the podcast brought together many of its previous guests for a celebration at Manchester Hall. Attendees included figures from across the city’s business, cultural and political landscape, reflecting the breadth of voices that have appeared on the show since its launch.
In an era dominated by fast-moving content and short-form clips, We Built This City has carved out a different niche. Its long-form conversations provide an insight into the personalities, relationships and decisions behind Manchester’s continued growth, creating a record of the people whose influence extends far beyond their job titles.
More than 100 episodes in, the podcast has become not just a platform for storytelling, but an evolving oral history of modern Greater Manchester, told by the people who have helped build it.