Leeds visual effects company to open Manchester office

Feb. 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Leeds, 10 February 2012: VTR North, the Leeds-based TV and advertising visual effects company, is hoping to capitalize on the media boom in the North West by opening an office in Manchester.

With the BBC moving TV and radio channels and more than 3,000 jobs to Media City in Salford and the commercials sector currently thriving, a lease has been taken on 3000 sq ft of space in a Grade II listed Victorian building on John Dalton Street in Manchester city centre.

The owners of VTR North will now spend £500,000 transforming the space into a purpose-designed facility that will provide visual effects, editing, graphic design and sound mixing services for TV and commercials producers.

Scheduled to launch in April 2012, ‘VTR Manchester’ will be managed by company founders Chris Birks and Carl Walters and will work in tandem with VTR North’s existing office in Leeds.

According to Birks and Walters, the decision to add a second facility was driven by a strong desire to grow the business.

“We’ve always had one eye on Manchester,” says Walters. “Leeds has been good to us and will continue to be our home but Manchester is a bigger market that offers more opportunities. With the arrival of BBC North and the city’s booming commercials sector there is major demand for the type of high-end finishing work that we do. We don’t want to take over the world but if we want to grow the business, then opening an office in Manchester seems like a natural progression.”

On the decision to open in Manchester city centre rather than MediaCityUK in Salford, where the BBC is based, Walters adds: “We don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves as just providing services for the BBC. Being in central Manchester allows us to work with BBC North and the rest of Media City but, importantly, also allows us to be within walking distance of Manchester’s biggest advertising agencies. It also gives us proximity to bars, restaurants and other amenities that might appeal to people who want to do their visual effects, graphics and audio work outside of Media City.”
 
VTR Manchester is due to launch on Monday 2 April 2012.

About VTR North

VTR North, established in 2005, provides visual effects, editing, graphics and audio services for a range of advertising and television clients. Recent credits include ‘Learn’ for DFS (Uber), Injury Lawyers 4U (Gate Films), ITV regional weather sponsorship idents for Jet2 and programme idents for the BBC’s Wild Weather series.

http://www.vtrnorth.co.uk

# # #

About the author
Will Strauss [http://www.willstrauss.co.uk] is a freelance journalist, writer, editor and designer based in Leeds. As well as writing for VTR North he is currently putting together articles about oven and cooker spares [http://www.leedsappliances.co.uk/catalogue/spare-parts/ov...] for the Leeds based appliances company ASD.