The administration of the collapsed commercial law firm Halliwells continues with their former Manchester offices coming to market.

The prestigious office building 3 Hardman Square, Spinningfields, Manchester is available to let with immediate occupation from 26th September, 2010. Spinningfields is a large office, retail and residential development in Manchester that lies in the western side of the city centre. CB Richard Ellis have been instructed to let the building which is owned by Credit Suisse Asset Management and asset managed by Müller International.

Ecclesiastical Insurance occupies 5,000 sq ft on the first floor of the property, but the remaining 175,000 sq ft is available by way of new lease at a headline rent of £30 per sq ft.

When development at Spinningfields is complete there will be 20 buildings on the 6 acre, 4.5m sq ft, former brown field site. Developers behind the project are Allied London Properties. Launched in July 2000, Spinningfields was quoted in the Financial Times as being the “Canary Wharf of the north”. Other occupants in Hardman Street include Manchester Evening News, Deloitte, HSBC and Grant Thornton.

Number 3 Hardman Street was designed by Foster and Partners (Norman Foster being originally from Stockport) and was completed in 2007 offering approx 188,000 sq ft of Grade A floor space over 9 floors. The Manchester Civil Justice Centre currently stands as the tallest building in the Spinningfields district. There are plans for a 40 storey building at 1 Hardman Street offering 600,000 sqft of office space.

Premium Grade A office floor space is in short supply in Manchester’s Central Business District and 3 Hardman Street offers the largest remaining Grade A office floorplates. Will Kennon, associate director of office agency at CBRE North West, said the building would “act as a pressure valve in the city centre office market”.