Just found this on The Lawyer, don't know if it's been posted yet. It's a tad more information regarding Freshfields' Manchester relocation.
Freshfields Manchester: consultation closes and relocations imminent
16 April 2015 | By Tabby Kinder
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s internal consultation into opening a low cost legal services hub in Manchester has ended, with relocations and a local recruitment drive set to begin by summer.
Managing partner David Aitman told The Lawyer launching an alternative office that could provide firmwide legal support was one of the “five key objectives” for his term, agreed when he took on the role from Ted Burke in 2013 (30 September 2013).
Now the official opening is on the horizon, Aitman said he is keen to get as many moves as possible completed before his time in office ends. Getting the office up and running “is one of the main priorities for the firm this year”, he said.
Aitman said the Manchester office will provide a “24/7 service” to Freshfields’ offices around the world, with a number of associates and paralegals working in document review and other legal services support functions.
Offices worldwide will send work to the team, particularly from practises without much English language capability.
Freshfields’ Riyadh office has been one group using the internal pilot operating from the Fleet Street offices set up earlier this year to trial the Manchester arrangement.
A small team of paralegals led by two associates has been providing legal support services to the firm from Fleet Street in the pilot, touted by Aitman as “a huge success”. The two unnamed associates are expected to be among the first to be relocated to Manchester.
Aitman said the number of lawyers, paralegals and back office support staff moving up from London or recruited locally will be decided based on demand, with “no fixed number” yet agreed upon.
Staff will be a mix of those relocated from London and new hires from northern universities and cities. Freshfields has been working to ensure the office location is in a prime catchment area to appeal to those travelling from the capital and joining from Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool universities, Aitman said. This means the firm is looking at properties in Manchester city centre only, and cheaper properties in the surrounding area are “not an option”.
Regarding which specific building will be Freshfields’ final home, Aitman said he would be making a decision “very soon”.
“We’ve looked at temporary space and space with the option to ramp up square footage as time goes on,” he said. “We’ve also been looking very closely at what is coming on to the market in the next two years.”
The firm is understood to be considering Ask Developments’ 101 Embankment, Muse Developments’ One New Bailey, Allied London’s Cotton Building and the Co-operative Group and Hermes’ Real Estate’s NOMA development.
Hermes Real Estate’s parent company Hermes Investment Management is understood to be a client of Freshfields, which has led some commentators to suggest buildings in its NOMA development could be in pole position for the firm’s long-term base.
Freshfields had previously been in talks with Savills to lease space in One St Peter’s Square in February, but opted to delay taking on a permanent space for cost purposes as it felt “backed into a corner” by its limited options, a source said.
Rents at One St Peter’s Square cost around £30 per sq ft. Proposed rents for a number of new builds due for completion in 2016 and 2017 range between £22 and £28 per sq ft.
In March The Lawyer reported Freshfields had agreed terms to sign a three-year lease for temporary office space in Manchester’s Arndale House (31 March 2015).
The firm is understood to still be in talks to sign the deal that could see it take on up to 40,000 sq ft of space as a holding position while it negotiates cheaper rents with the developers of a number of new builds due for completion in 2016.
The letting agreement is reported to contain a break clause at the one-and-a-half year mark, allowing the firm to move to a permanent home in the northern city in 2017. Some agents close to the Manchester commercial lettings market have branded the decision a smart one.
Aitman revealed the other four of his five aims as managing partner included ensuring a smooth transition to the next management team and establishing a multi-faceted regulatory group of partners working worldwide to provide advice on changing regulation to general counsel in multiple sectors but particularly including the energy and pharmaceutical industries.
Freshfields’ managing partners “try not to have more than five key priorities” to focus on in any given year, Aitman said.
Aitman will step down at the end of 2015 after two years following the election of a new senior partner to replace incumbent Will Lawes when his term ends. The new management team, which includes senior partner, global managing partner and global executive partner, will take effect from 1 January 2016.
Nominations for senior partner are expected to close this month with sources close to the firm already touting former UK corporate head Edward Braham, former worldwide corporate head Andreas Fabritius and employment head Caroline Stroud as the frontrunners (14 April 2015).
http://www.thelawyer.com/analysis/t...oses-and-relocations-imminent/3034084.article