Bruntwood’s City Tower return

BRUNTWOOD, the commercial property group, is starting to market the space in its iconic City Tower in Manchester vacated by the Government Office North West.

The privately-owned company is under way with a phased refurbishment of  9,000sq ft per floor across a dozen floors, and is already in talks with potential occupiers, director of special projects Colin Sinclair told TheBusinessDesk.com.

“This is pristine refurbished space in a great location – we’re just in the process of completing a show suite and negotiations are already underway with a variety of occupiers including some who wish to occupy part floors.”

The 28-floor City Tower, Manchester’s tallest office block, is home to a mixture of public and private sector tenants including fast growing web hosting company UKFast, the Institute of Directors, Rectory Foods, architects Sheppard Robson, accountants Saffery Champness and Bruntwood itself.

Despite the impact of the spending cuts which led to the axe falling on Government Office North West, which carried out the work of 13 Whitehall departments in the region, the market Mr Sinclair said was “pretty good” across Bruntwood’s Northern heartland cities of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds and Birmingham in the Midlands.

“Generally it’s tough, but lettings are up slightly on last year – people are seeking better value, great service and flexibility which are all fundamental to what Bruntwood is all about.

Andrew Butterworth sales director at Bruntwood added “Our aim is to grow with our clients over time from a single desk in a serviced office to 100,000 sq ft in City Tower – this example is not going to happen every day, but it underlines our strategy.”

Mr Sinclair, pictured, who led Greater Manchester’s inward investment agency MIDAS until moving to Bruntwood seven months ago, is working on a number of key projects for the family-owned group, including the £21m transformation of the landmark Royal Eye Hospital site on Oxford Road.

“A big part of my role here is to diversify Bruntwood’s offering so we can grow in different ways – and this is what we are doing in partnership with Manchester Science Park at the Royal Eye Hospital.

“We’re creating a new science and innovation hub, where we can tap into the talent and entrepreneurial flair in Europe’s largest academic and clinical campus which is on our doorstep.”