Don't panic, it's just a technical glitch.

That was the message from the University of Manchester as news broke of the postponement of development bids for a 3.5M SF redevelopment on the south-eastern fringe of Manchester city centre.

The University of Manchester fired the starting pistol on the redevelopment the prize 26-acre central Manchester development site in February.

A notice was due to be published on the Official Journal of the European Union to begin pre-market engagement as part of its search to find an investor and development partner to deliver a new £1.5B innovation district, branded as ID Manchester.

Now the University said that the bid process will be delayed due to "internal processes".

“It is looking like it will be the end of summer before the OJEU process goes live on ID Manchester, this is just a few weeks later than we said when we launched at MIPIM," University Director of Estates Diana Hampson told Bisnow.

"ID Manchester is an incredibly important development for the University of Manchester and we have a number of internal processes we need to complete before pressing the button on OJEU. Since our launch at MIPIM, we have received very strong interest from potential partners and following the recent article in the FT more potential partners have been in touch.”