Scottish Widows to pay £30m for Barbirolli Square building

SCOTTISH Widows is set to buy the 101 Barbirolli office building at Barbirolli Square in Manchester for £30m.

The site is currently owned by Hermes, which bought the 84,000 sq ft building at the height of the property boom in 2006 from Yorkshire-based developer Paul Sykes.

The building is currently home to law firm DLA, which has 32,000 sq ft and accountancy firm PwC, which occupies 52,000 sq ft. DLA also has space in the neighbouring 100 Barbirolli building.

Jonathan Mills, director in Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Investment team, had advised Scottish Widows on the deal.

He said: “This is the first office investment acquisition in Manchester by SWIPPT and comprises the northern Headquarters for two high profile occupiers in PWC and DLA Piper.

“Due to the high specification of the building and the current market fundamentals in terms of future supply, we believe this provides strong growth prospects.”