Manchester Offices

[Caiman]

Barclaycard.

[Jongeman]

Originally Posted by jrb

Does anyone remember the name of the bank that pulled out of Spinningfields/No 3 Hardman this year? (can't remember) Sure they signed up for 100-200,000 sq ft of office space and couldn't get out of the contract. The CO-OP could take that space at a fraction of the cost of building a new office block.

Maybe the CIS should do what Barclaycard did, and suddenly relocate to India.

[Potato Man]

It's only ~80k sq ft Barclaycard are signed up for.

The cworp obviously have significant landholdings/under developed land around there current HQ. It seams perfectly feasible to me that they could move into new offices on this land funded almost entirely by development profits on these currently underused assets.

The catalyst effect of a 200k sq ft anchor tenant space on the value of this land should not be overlooked. I think what I'm trying to say is that by moving to say Rochdale Kingsway business park, a devaluation of existing assets should be factored into costings. Conversely, an acceleration in the value of existing assets should be factored in if the co-op move across the road.

All other things being equal, this surely must tip the balance toward Swan Street. I wonder if what we really see here is a message to the city council. 'Hey remember me, one of the city's biggest employers - we want some love and attention too. Just like what you give to all them new employers moving into town'

[highriser]

Stuff Barclaycard , let the fuckers pay for it for 15 years , they didnt give a shit when transfering loads of jobs abroad .

Those building on Balloon St the Co-op own are stunning i think they only use them as storage cos the windows are blacked out , they would be snapped up for conversion in no time for swanky apartments.
A new tower would be fantastic and im sure that is what will happen .

[Chogmook]

M.E.N. Website:

Vow to keep Co-op in city
Chris Barry
31/10/2007


MANCHESTER city council today pledged to 'move heaven and earth' to persuade the Co-operative Group to retain its headquarters in the city centre.

City centre spokesman for the council, Cllr Pat Karney, said he would be having an urgent meeting with the Co-op's director of property, Lynda Shillaw, to discuss the group's plan to relocate the head office from New Century House on Corporation Street, and offices on three other roads nearby to a new location within Greater Manchester.

Cllr Karney said: "It would be absolutely devastating to the city if the Co-op left the city centre. The Co-op is part of the economic fabric of the city, and we'll move heaven and earth to persuade them that they should base the new headquarters in the city centre."

The Co-op employs more than 3,000 people in its city centre headquarters. It recently merged with Rochdale-based United Co-operatives, to create the world's largest consumer co-operative.

Concern

The council is concerned that the group - one of the largest landowners in the city - will sell its valuable land assets in the city centre and relocate to a purpose-built facility in an out-of-town location, where land is much cheaper.

The Co-op, which has pledged to work with the council to develop a masterplan for the 20-acre site on the edge of the Northern Gateway, is not expected to move for at least two years.

A spokesman said today: "Our head office function here is not fit for purpose. The maintenance costs are rising and are not commercially viable.

"We've said we'll look at a new development on this site, elsewhere in the city centre or elsewhere in Greater Manchester.

"We are at an early stage in the process, but we'll be engaging with the city council."

It is estimated that upkeep of New Century House, and its sister buildings on Hanover Street, Redfern Street and Federation Street, will amount to around £100m over the next decade.

The Co-op expects to save £10m a year from relocating and also unlocking the value of the 20-acre site.

At present, its Co-op Financial Services business - including the landmark CIS Tower - is not on the move, although the group said the "future requirements of CFS continue to be reviewed against business needs."

[jrb]

There's always No1 Hardman Square. (please) If the CO-OP signed up for a third of the tower it would surly get built?

1 Hardman Square
The pinnacle building of Spinningfields, 1 Hardman Square is a tower in its own area of public realm designed primarily for financial and professional services occupiers. It will be completed in Summer 2008. Capable of providing multiple entrances and lobbies, it will contain some 650,000 sq ft of column-free floor plates of approximately 20,000 sq ft. Drama at ground floor level is provided by a double height entrance lobby.

[Irwell]

200,000sqft sounds like something of an underestimation to me. The usual rule of thumb is around 10sqm of floorspace per employee on average. This would be around 6.2sqm. As an example, Trinity Bridge House is about the 200,000sqft mark and they're struggling to fit 2,000 staff in. 325,000sqft would be a more reasonable estimate in my book, which incidentally would be 50% of 1HS.

[jrb]

Fortis signs first to new space at Ship Canal House

Catalyst Capital LLP has signed Fortis Bank as the first new office tenant to its refurbished Ship Canal House on King Street in central Manchester.

Fortis has taken a ten-year lease on 4,185 sq ft of the eighth floor of Ship Canal House at £28/sq ft. The international bank and insurance services provider will relocate from The Observatory on Chapel Walks.

Chris Cheap, partner at GVA Grimley, joint agents with Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "A letting to an occupier of the stature of Fortis Bank is testament to the quality of refurbishment Catalyst Capital LLP is undertaking at Ship Canal House. The building provides the best address in Manchester city centre and now has the quality of office space to match."

Ship Canal House was built in 1924 as the base of the Manchester Ship Canal Company and was purchased by Catalyst Capital LLP in 2005 for £19.3m. Comprising 70,000 sq ft of office space, over ten floors, the building is currently undergoing a refurbishment.

Richard Stokes, associate director with Jones Lang LaSalle, added: "Securing a blue chip multi-national company as the first tenant is a fantastic boost for Ship Canal House, and will provide confidence to future occupiers."

[jrb]

Law firm expands at Frogmore's Universal Square

Frogmore Northern has signed another deal at its Universal Square office scheme in Ardwick, Manchester, as Legal Costs Associates takes extra space at the refurbished building.

Legal Cost Associates currently occupies 4,000 sq ft on the third floor but due to the launch of a new arm, Harbour Consulting LLP, the firm has taken a further 1,000 sq ft to accommodate the growing team.

This latest deal closely follows Dorma Group's relocation from Swinton to Universal Square, where it took 23,000 sq ft across two floors. Since the completion of Phase I of the £12m refurbishment 12 months ago, 80,000 sq ft has been let. Frogmore acquired the 280,000 sq ft complex in June 2005.

Gary Thomas of Frogmore Northern commented: "The fact that a number of companies are taking additional space at the scheme is testament to the success of Universal Square and further underlines Ardwick as a growing business destination."

The third and final phase of Universal Square's refurbishment is well underway and will provide 16,500 sq ft floors to be launched in October 2007.

The quoting rent is £10/sq ft. The joint letting agents are Canning O'Neill and DTZ.

[jrb]

Allied gears up for new Spinningfields phase

Allied London is preparing to start on site in spring 2008 with the next speculative office building at Spinningfields in central Manchester.

Mike Ingall, chief executive of Allied London, said: "We are hopeful that 3 Hardman Street will be 60% to 70% let by next April or May and we will then be in a position to start the next phase."

Ingall said the building to follow would be either 1 Hardman Street, fronting Deansgate, or 3 to 4 Hardman Boulevard, opposite the Royal Bank of Scotland's back office building. Each option would contain 150,000 sq ft of offices.

So far only Barclaycard has signed at 3 Hardman Street, taking 80,000 sq ft of the 350,000 sq ft. The credit card provider withdrew from its pre-let in March but is obliged to fit out the space.

Several banks and professional services firms have been strongly linked to 3 Hardman Street including law firm Pinsent Masons (30,000 sq ft), accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers (80,000 sq ft), Regus (30,000 sq ft) and Allied Irish Bank (25,000 sq ft).

Ingall declined to confirm the speculation but said talks were ongoing with several parties. He added: "It's the best office building in Manchester today and we are confident that with the quality on offer it will attract the leading firms looking for space in the city."

Quoting rents are £28.50/sq ft. Letting agents are Jones Lang LaSalle and DTZ.

Meanwhile, Allied is seeking a development partner for the 300,000 sq ft Manchester House site on the edge of Spinningfields, which will feature a 250-bedroom hotel and 150 flats. Ken Shuttleworth's Make architects is drawing up plans for a tower of up to 40 storeys ahead of a development brief reaching the market. Allied plans to sell a 250-year leasehold and retain the freehold.

[jrb]

Government Office to leave City Tower for Piccadilly Place

The Government Office for the North West is close to taking 26,000 sq ft on two floors at Argent's Three Piccadilly Place in Manchester city centre.

GONW will relocate from six floors of City Tower into the new office if the deal is completed.

The public sector occupier will join the Highways Agency and law firm Weightmans at the new building, designed by Austin Smith Lord and due for completion in mid-2008. The quoting rent at the 200,000 sq ft Three Piccadilly Place is £25/sq ft.

The Carlyle Group acquired Argent's interest in Three Piccadilly Place and forward-funded the 120,000 sq ft Four Piccadilly Place during the summer, paying a reported £110m, after original buyer GE Capital pulled out. Other joint venture partners in Piccadilly Place include Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and Manchester City Council.

In total Piccadilly Place will provide 675,000 sq ft of offices, homes and a hotel along with ground floor shops and restaurants around a private piazza. The first phase included a 55,000 sq ft headquarters for the GMPTE and the 284 bed City Inn hotel.

The GONW move will mean that City Tower owner Bruntwood will begin the refurbishment of floors four to 19 when GONW's and the Highways Agency's leases come to an end in December 2008.

The refurbishment of these floors will mark the final phase of City Tower's redevelopment, which began late in 2004 when Bruntwood purchased the Piccadilly Plaza estate.

Peter Crowther, development director of Bruntwood, commented, "We've known since our acquisition of City Tower that both The Highways Agency and GONW have leases that come to an end in 2008. Whilst we would be disappointed to see them go, it provides an opportunity for us to bring these remaining floors up to the standard of office space we've already completed and let. If we have similar success with these floors as we have so far, with occupiers such as Sheppard Robson, Accuma, MVA Consulting and ourselves, City Tower will be thriving mix of businesses by the time we're finished."

GVA Grimley and Savills are advising Argent.

[jrb]

Trio of GVA wins points to health of South Manchester

The recovery of the South Manchester office market has continued with new agency instructions for GVA Grimley on three parks totalling 500,000 sq ft.

Wereldhave appointed GVA as joint letting agent with WHR on the Towers Business Park, which comprises 330,000 sq ft with suites from 2,012 to 38,320 sq ft.

Orbit Developments instructed GVA as sole agent on Handforth Dean Business Park, a scheme with planning consent for a total of 154,000 sq ft of office development, 23,000 sq ft of which is currently under construction speculatively, reflecting confidence in the Wilmslow area.

In Knutsford GVA has been instructed as joint agent with JLL by Miller Developments on The Pavilions, a 27,000 sq ft scheme, which is also currently under construction.

Chris Cheap, partner at GVA Grimley said: "The South Manchester office market is as healthy as it has been for some time, with very real signs of significant activity amongst corporate occupiers. GVA Grimley remains very much at the centre of activity and is highly optimistic that the lettings will come thick and fast for these three key developments."

After reaping the rewards of the dot.com boom ten years ago, the market subsided rapidly in South Manchester, with falling take-up as corporates receded or looked to city centre locations once more.

[jrb]

Langtree selects Morgan Ashurst for Trafford Park offices

Contractor Morgan Ashurst has been appointed by Langtree Group to design and build a 38,000 sq ft office building at Trafford Park, Manchester.

The £4.9m, three-storey Trafford offices are due for completion in August 2008.

[jrb]

Encouraging news.

Confidence returning to NW investment market, says JLL

Investment activity in the North West is recovering after several months on hold following the credit crunch, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's Manchester office.

The investment and valuations teams of JLL were commenting on the Bank of England's real estate lending figures this week, which showed growth again in the third quarter of 2007, by £10.5bn. The total outstanding lending to real estate in the UK now stands at £186bn, which as a proportion of total lending is the highest level ever recorded. This partly reflects the strong levels of investment activity recorded in July, prior to the credit crunch.

Tim Luckman, head of valuation in JLL Manchester, said: "In the last two to three weeks there has been more activity than in the previous three to four months. Not from the funds, which are remaining quiet but from the property companies and private individuals who really understand property.

"We haven't seen deals stalling, there's been a bit of price chipping and renegotiation, but more a pause in the market than anything more serious."

Luckman said sentiment suggested that yields had moved out, reflecting reduced prices, but there was little evidence to back that up.

He added: "It feels like prime Manchester city centre office stock that was at 4.25% to 4.3% is now at 5% to 5.25% but there are not the big lot size purchases to give us any evidence of that."

Luckman did not predict an end-of-year rush to complete deals, predicting investors would sit the winter out and there would be a flurry of activity in Q1 and Q2 '08 instead.

In terms of the areas of activity, Luckman said Liverpool was performing well owing to an abundance of new stock. Preston and the East Lancashire M65 corridor from Blackburn to Burnley were recording rising values.

Jonathan Mills, head of JLL's Manchester office, added: "We anticipate a slowdown in lending over the next quarter to reflect the marked reduction in activity as investors continue to adopt the 'wait and see approach' in a market where investment sentiment remains hesitant. The limited number of transactions we are currently seeing is being driven by overseas and private investors, with UK institutions playing a much reduced role. The latest Bank of England figures are at variance with current sentiment in the UK real estate and finance market. We therefore expect the Q4 figures to reflect much lower rate of growth."

[jrb]

New tenants in Spinningfields
Chris Barry
8/11/2007

MANCHESTER'S £1bn Spinningfields business district has wooed two new blue-chip tenants, underlining its credentials as the city's answer to Canary Wharf.

Law firm Pinsent Masons and serviced office provider Regus are the first tenants in developer Allied London's latest site, 3 Hardman Street.

Pinsent Masons will take the top two floors - 11 and 12 - in the new building, totalling 35,000 sq ft.

The building is scheduled to be completed in around 12 months' time, and the firm expects to move in during the first quarter of 2009, north west managing partner Helen Ridge said.

She told the M.E.N.: "Spinningfields is very much the new business district in Manchester, and we are delighted to be going in there. We'll have panoramic views of the city, so it'll be an excellent site to locate and grow our business."

The firm is currently based in Barbirolli Square and Peter House and needs to move to larger premises to house its expanding team.

Serviced office firm Regus will be taking 17,500 sq ft of space.

Allied London chief executive Mike Ingall said: "Pinsent Masons is one of Manchester's leading legal firms, and we are delighted to be able to help move their business to the next stage by developing a state-of-the-art office for them.

"3 Hardman Street has been designed in particular for the financial and professional services sector for Manchester."

Major companies already in Spinningfields include Royal Bank of Scotland, Deloitte, Guardian Media Group, HSBC, and Grant Thornton.

[jrb]

To be honest I don't like this proposal. It's very Leeds and nothing like the other buildings in the CBD. Good to see there's still buyers out there for new offices. Article blow renders.





Wilson Bowden forward sells Manchester office scheme
14:10 | 09.11.07

Orchard Street Investment Management has agreed to forward buy Wilson Bowden’s Belvedere House in Manchester.

By Laura Chesters

Advertisement
Belvedere House in Booth Street in the city, a £50m 103,000 sq ft office building with restaurant and café’s on the ground floor, is due to complete by October 2008.

Largest floor plate 16,000 sq ft

Orchard Street is funding the scheme, which has floor plates as large as 16,000 sq ft, on behalf of a UK pension fund client.

Chris Bartram, a director at Orchard Street, said: ‘Belvedere is a strategic acquisition for a large UK pension fund client’s portfolio. 100% of the funding for the scheme is being provided against a flexible final price arrangement whereby the success of the letting campaign will define the total purchase cost.’

Lettings to be secured in next 12 months

Robert Grafton, a director at Wilson Bowden Developments, said: ‘We are confident of securing good lettings during the next 12 months.’

Jones Lang LaSalle acted for Wilson Bowden, and Orchard Street were represented by Sanderson Weatherall. WHR and Jones Lang Lasalle have been appointed as letting agents.

[highriser]

Im very opimistic about Belvedere House Jerb ,, i think we'll be very happy with finish .

[jrb]

Originally Posted by highriser

Im very opimistic about Belvedere House Jerb ,, i think we'll be very happy with finish .

Finish looks good. It's just the design. Doesn't appeal to me H. It's too fussy.

[highriser]

lol ,,, or your just fussy ,,, have faith

its 100% better than the shite its replaced

[SleepyOne]

Its actually quite an old design - dating back to 2001 in fact, hence the layered look which was in vogue back then. They did however submit a revised application to freshen it up and I've got to say the images posted above, depicting the final version, are a great improvement on what it was. Architects are Aedas.