A major milestone has been reached in the development of Enterprise City and St John’s area of Manchester city centre.
Practical completion has been reached at The Globe Building, a 88,000 sq ft office building which spans nine storeys as well as a roof terrace.
Occupiers will include WPP, Code, Cheetham Bell, Kinetic, Mediacom and Wavemaker.
READ MORE: Major update on plans to build landmark offices next to Co-op's headquarters
Almost 20,000 sq ft, spread across levels one and two, are still to be let.
The news is the latest milestone in the four-and-a-half-year long partnership between Allied London and Lendlease UK’s construction arm as the district moves a step closer to completion.
Since November 2017, Lendlease has assisted Allied London’s development of the area while the scheme was in part funded by Aviva Investors, which invested £300m in the creation of seven of the district’s buildings.
The construction work has taken place across two keys sites within the new city centre tech, media and creative cluster, culminating with the recently completed building which stands on the site of the old Granada TV Studios.
The second part of the inventory completed by Lendlease was Manchester Goods Yard, which reached practical completion in July 2021 and will provide new headquarters for Booking.com and Cloud Imperium Games.
David Cadiot, executive general manager, UK construction – regions at Lendlease, said: "This represents the culmination of four years’ work across the wider site which has already seen us achieve PC on T1 and Manchester Goods Yard.
"The development has been both challenging and rewarding with many positive initiatives and deliverables.
"The team has been lean from the outset with a strong focus on accountability and engagement. Many thanks to everyone involved, they should all be immensely proud of their achievements."
Lendlease started infrastructure and diversionary works to enable development in 2018 and took formal possession of the site to start piling and removing 100,000m 3 of soil for a two-storey basement in 2019.
During the excavation, the team discovered archaeological sites of interest and a team from Salford University moved onto the site for six weeks to expose and photograph the industrial age housing and streets.
Project manager Jack Overson added: "The Globe Building has had an excellent team ethos with everyone working hard together for each other.
"The use of Sablono and Multivista together with daily consultant inspections by Ramboll has driven an excellent façade product. Everyone involved in the delivery of St. John’s should be hugely proud of their achievements over the past four years."
Michael Ingall, CEO of Allied London, said: "The development of Enterprise City is exciting for the future of modern industry in Manchester, and the economic and social benefits to the area will be huge as the area opens in the coming months and years.
"Attracting global tech, digital and media businesses to the district requires a specific blend of inventory and we have managed to create that with Lendlease’s support.
"The Globe Building reaching Practical Completion marks a brilliant step forward for the district and we are excited to open it up to businesses and the tech, media and creative community in the region.
"It has been developed as a campus for the WPP cohort of businesses and will be occupied by seven or eight of its important media agencies including MediaCom North with whom we have had a relationship with now for ten years.
"It’s a fantastic looking building and will perform well against all building standards, as well as benefiting from the broader facilities of the Enterprise City district.
"The building will be a stand-out home for the various WPP businesses. We will also be launching levels one and two as a series of workspace studios."
James Stevens, head of investment at Aviva Investors, said: "We are pleased to see the project at Enterprise City coming to life in Manchester, a vibrant city which we think is well-equipped to thrive as a destination for culture and talent.
"We think this positions the region well for future growth, whilst also offering high-quality real estate investment opportunities for our clients.."
