Carillion awarded major Manchester office project
Construction company Carillion has been awarded a contract to build a significant new office development in the centre of Manchester.
Beating off competition from the likes of BAM Construction and Kier Group, Carillion has been chosen to build a speculative £60m office scheme at One St Peter’s Square in the city centre.
A 14-storey, 273,000 sq ft landmark building (pictured) is to replace the existing Elizabeth House office block. The ambitious scheme is a joint venture between developers Argent and Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund.
One St Peter’s Square is expected to be attractive to large, blue-chip tenants. A pre-let agreement with KPMG has already been secured for approximately 63,000 sq ft of floor space. KPMG have agreed to a 15-year lease and are taking the top three floors which offer floor plates of over 20,000 sq ft. KPMG are to relocate 700 staff from their current base at St James’ House on John Dalton Street. Rental prices have not been disclosed.
Designed by architects Glenn Howells, the building will offer mixed-use space at ground floor level including public exhibition areas, with 13 floors of office space above. The scheme is expected to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
Commenting on the development, James Heather of Argent said: “Whilst we are delighted to have a 63,000 sq ft pre-let to KPMG, we still have almost 210,000 sq ft of Grade A office space available. As one of the only developers currently speculatively building commercial property outside of London it further reinforces our commitment to the scheme”.
Demolition of the existing building is being undertaken by Manchester-based Connell Brothers and construction is scheduled to start in April, 2012.
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