No.1 St Michael’s office development fully let ahead of construction completing

No.1 St Michael’s, one of Manchester’s most prestigious new office developments, is now fully let, ahead of construction completing, reaffirming its position as the best new office development outside London.

It is the first time in 15 years a speculative office building of this scale in Manchester has been fully let prior to practical completion.

Since construction began on the 100% speculative development in 2022, Relentless Developments has secured six office tenants and three F and B (food and beverage) operators, setting a new headline rent for offices in the city on three occasions.

The multi-let nature of No.1 St Michael’s presents a perfect tenant mix of national and international occupiers from the legal, market intelligence, technology, AI and media sectors, while the F and B provision will see three iconic brands open their first UK venues outside London.

Set to open for business in late spring 2025, the development will become the city’s first fully let Net Zero Carbon commercial development both in operation and delivery. It has been brought to the market through a joint venture between Relentless and global investment firm, KKR, with the support of Manchester City Council.

Bowmer and Kirkland began construction of the building in January 2022, with leasing consultants, OBI Property, CBRE and Metis Real Estate instructed to support Relentless with letting the commercial space. Kuits Solicitors has provided legal advice.

Gary Neville, director at Relentless Developments, said: “It was a huge leap of faith to speculatively build a development in excess of 200,000 sq ft, but we’ve always been confident in our ambition for the building.

“We spent a great deal of time understanding what modern occupiers want from an office and ensured we carefully selected the right amenities and F and B operators into the development.

“We also recognised sustainability was crucial and invested heavily in time and capital to ensure our ESG credentials met the aspirations of our tenants.”

He added: “Achieving fully let status ahead of completion is thanks in no small part to the world class partners we’ve had supporting us along the way, KKR and Manchester City Council for remaining committed to our vision, our tenacious agent partners for marketing the scheme’s potential and B and K for the beautiful building we’ve created.

“I’d also like to thank all our tenants for their trust in our ability to set new standards in quality, aesthetic and experience for office working here in Manchester.”

Nicky Barker, Head of Asset Management in KKR’s European Real Estate team, said: “In today’s market, top tenants expect world class sustainability, a prime location and distinctive amenities – these have become crucial drivers of long term value.

“This was the vision we shared with Relentless when collaborating on the development of St. Michael’s, a vision now affirmed by the project’s success in setting new benchmarks for Manchester’s real estate market.”

A further 80,000 sq ft of office space will be available at No. 2 St Michael’s and is set to be launched imminently.