By Dianne Bourne

Copyright manchestereveningnews

The temperature will always be tropical, azure waves will gently lap at your feet, and the cocktails will be on ice at a swim-up bar. When you’re bored of splashing about in the warm waters, you might fancy a go on one of 25 slides into one of the many pools. Or how about sampling one of the 20 on-site saunas, then walking around colourful botanic gardens. Sound like paradise to you? Well, that’s exactly what the bosses of Therme Manchester have promised this week, as work finally, finally begins on the vast, £450million wellness resort that is about to take shape right here in Greater Manchester – next to the Trafford Centre . Stay connected with our City Life newsletter here It sounds just too good to be true doesn’t it? But the picture I’ve conjured above is exactly what was relayed to 200 guests invited along to the official ground-breaking ceremony making the first construction phase at TraffordCity on Friday morning. Guests, shivering in hi-vis vests on temporary seating on the vast building site as the Manchester rain spat down, were invited to close their eyes. And then just imagine, really imagine, what it’s going to be like when Therme opens here. With its vast, glass domes keeping us all cosy inside, palm trees will curl over a dozen or so pool “islands” for visitors to explore. When you start to feel a bit peckish you can take a seat at one of 20 restaurants and bars inside, wandering around beautiful botanical gardens (inside and out) while you make your choice. And it is all about to take shape in the exact blustery, gravelly, spot next to the Trafford Centre where we had all assembled. As Therme UK’s CEO Professor David Russell said to guests: “The place of paradise will be right where you’re sat now.” Naturally, the point of the big ceremony was to build excitement for this project now that work is finally underway, after a number of false starts up to this point. But it was clear from the emotional speeches delivered on the stage just how excited everyone now is to get this project underway. With major building firm Sir Robert McAlpine now appointed as construction managers, and their diggers on site on Friday, we will soon begin to see very visual progress on this prime spot right next to Trafford Palazzo and the Trafford Centre. Guests at the event were invited to “break an Eccles cake” and then take an orange plastic spade to wave in the air to mark the historic moment that work starts here. It felt like a very Manc moment – but make no doubt about it, what is planned here is going to place Manchester very much on a global stage. Therme Manchester will be double the size of the original Therme resort in Bucharest, which has become one of Romania’s biggest tourist attractions, welcoming over 1.7million visitors in the past year. The belief is that the Manchester resort will welcome over 3million visitors every year, and that it will become a “global landmark of well-being”. The scale, and ambition, of the place is quite mind-boggling. And for those thinking “ah it’s going to be too expensive for me”, well that’s the other thing that came across at the launch event on Friday – the team’s aim that this is a place for ALL – suggesting that it will be priced accessibly too. Indeed Stelian Iacob, CEO of the Therme Group, said on Friday that it would be accessible to “90 per cent of the population”. In a passionate speech he said: “Ian Brown said Manchester has everything but a beach, well what if we can bring the feeling of the beach into the heart of the city? “What if wellbeing could be woven into life, not as an escape but as a part of everyday living? “Without wellbeing nothing else works. We make wellbeing accessible to 90 per cent of the population. Wellbeing should be in reach of everyone,” he said. He prasied Manchester as a “city of revolutions” which makes it the ideal place for the “technological marvel” about to unfold with Therme Manchester. He added: “Wellbeing is for the many, not the few. “Therme Manchester will not be for the few that can afford it, but for the many who need it. It will create a new kind of wealth, the wealth of wellbeing. And Manchester will finally get its beach… wellbeing is not a luxury it’s a human right.” Naturally, no pricing structures have yet been revealed, but the commitment was given at the ceremony for Therme to open by the “end of 2028”. A firmer opening date will be announced at a later date. And, in what will be music to the ears of communities across the UK, the company cemented its ambition to expand the model across the nation after Manchester. They said across the next decade they aim to make SIX new Therme resorts, including in Cardiff, Glasgow, “The Midlands” and London at a cost of billions of pounds. As for what it means for Manchester, the development of this site is already having a knock on effect according to James Whittaker of Peel Waters, developer of TraffordCity. The Whittaker family developed and built the Trafford Centre in 1998, and James spoke of how his father John, president of The Peel Group, had long instilled his desire to make the wider TraffordCity estate the ultimate retail and leisure destination “not just in the UK but the world”. James said: “It’s going to be a complete game changer for Greater Manchester, the north and for the UK. We’re aiming to create the best retail and leisure destination in the world.” There are already talks to bring two “high end luxury hotels” to the area as a result of Therme’s arrival. The next phase of TraffordCity will be a new neighbourhood and 3,000 homes at Trafford Waters. “It’s about creating a place where you can live, work and play,” said Whittaker. It also brings with it a significant jobs boost to Trafford. Bosses have announced that the development has created 2,500 construction jobs with a peak onsite of 1,200. Once open, it will also employ 650 staff to operate the resort. Significant work will be undertaken along the Bridgewater Canal too – creating enhanced cycle paths and walkways that will “directly connect the site to the surrounding area”. And so now, with those diggers poised on site, we can finally start to imagine how it’s all going to take shape. I was lucky enough to visit the real life Therme in Bucharest back in 2022, and so I’ve had a taste of what Manchester can expect here. A slice of paradise is exactly how I’d sum it up – and finally, finally, it appears to be in Manchester’s grasp too. Join our Manc Life WhatsApp group HERE