Manchester has never lacked confidence; it has a long history of being at the forefront of many movements and its confidence continues to compound.
This post observes the achievements and the pull of the city and why Manchester office space continues to be so popular.
It was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, it became the home of the co-operative movement, it was where the suffragette movement began led by Emmeline Pankhurst (born in Moss Side in 1858), it was at The University of Manchester that scientist Ernest Rutherford first split the atom in 1917.
These are just a few accolades that Manchester is proud of. Several hundred thousand words could be written about Manchester’s achievements to date and many more about what the city has in its future.
It was once said that Manchester has everything except a beach. It’s not far wrong; it has international brand name stores, designer clothing boutiques, many independent retailers, it has green spaces, it has old pubs, bars, clubs and concert venues, it has restaurants serving cuisines from every corner of the world (and now has a long-overdue Michelin star, in Mana restaurant), it has great sports facilities including the Aquatics centre that was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it has two premier league football teams, well-respected rugby teams, it holds several road races throughout the year that attract athletes from all over the world, it hosts hundreds of concerts every month, it hosts several festivals every year…the list goes on.
And it’s really not far from beaches, every spring and summer you will see articles on social media revealing ‘secret’ beach locations less than an hour from Manchester. These beaches becoming less and less ‘secret’ every year, though!
One way the pull of the city can be observed is by looking at the commercial real estate occupiers in the city today compared to which were based in the city 10 – 20 years ago.
If you take a look at Spinningfields for example; up until the mid-2000s, this was a derelict former industrial area used mainly for car parking and not a particularly safe area to be walking at night.
Today, it is a mini-city unto itself; occupiers have flooded in following Royal Bank of Scotland’s commitment to rent 450,000 sqft of office space in 2006. Today, there are occupiers including Deloitte and HSBC and the Ivy restaurant recently opened a northern outpost in the area.
The area around Piccadilly station is now occupied with companies such as the Barclays and Arup in a scheme known as Piccadilly Place.
The Co-Op space created their own district in the north of the city centre known as NOMA – a 20-acre scheme of brand new buildings as well as tastefully refurbished properties. In the last two years, both WeWork and Amazon have chosen to occupy office space here.
At the opposite end of the city centre, at the boundary with Princess Parkway is the First Street development; another scheme comprising of a cinema, bars, restaurants, co-working spaces and office space. Autotrader decided this was the place for them and placed several hundred of their employees there.
In the St John’s district, nestled in between Castlefield and Spinningfields, the developers that made Spinningfields what it is today, Allied London, have commenced with a brand new placemaking project.
Formerly the site of Granada Studio where Coronation Street used to be filmed (before ITV moved to Media City UK in Salford Quays), there will be a 200-bed hotel, apartments, recording studios, co-working spaces, startup office space, conventional office space and several forms of flexible workspace.
Here, Booking.com committed to renting office space to consolidate their 3 existing city centre offices. They took approximately 200,000 sqft of space and will have over 1,000 employees on site.
WPP also signed from 80,000 sqft of workspace at the Globe & Simpson building in the district.
Piccadilly Gardens is unrecognisable compared to 20 years ago; here you will find national and international retailers and office occupiers including Bank of New York.
A few miles out of the city you will find Manchester airport and major developments here with Chinese investment leading to another large commitment from Amazon.
The Manchester saw 1.5 million square feet of office space rented in 2019 which is well above its five-year average so it’s showing no sign of slowing down.
As well as activity in the traditional leasehold market, office providers were active too and Spaces rented the whole of 125 Deansgate totalling 120,000 square feet of office space.
Manchester, though, isn’t just about high-profile international companies taking space as there are several examples of cheap office space in Manchester too.
There are several high-profile deals in the pipeline too indicating that 2020 will be another strong year for the city, if they close as planned.
The commitment to Manchester by national and international companies shows no sign of waning and the great thing is that there are several districts in the city that nurture Manchester’s home-grown talent. Districts such as NOMA and the future St John’s district are created to develop a support network and organic business ecosystem that helps businesses thrive to their full potential allowing them to potentially become future national and international companies themselves.
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