Bulk of Circle Square commercial space already let or under offer
Seventy five per cent of commercial space at the £750m Circle Square scheme in the heart of Manchester has been sold, or is at legal stages.
The 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood SciTech and Legal & General is one of the biggest of its kind outside London.
It aims to create a new city neighbourhood when the scheme completes in August 2021, as well as the first city centre park developed in Manchester for years.
Bruntwood SciTech hosted TheBusinessDesk.com on a site tour of the 2.4m sq ft Oxford Road scheme which will eventually welcome an influx of 12,000 workers and around 2,000 residents, including 1,100 student spaces and 683 apartments for private rent.
Work on the site is continuing apace, and it currently hosts 650 workers, as well as a 100-strong site management team.
The first phase of the commercial element will provide two towers, one 17-storeys high and the other 13 storeys.
Tech giant Hewlett Packard has already signed up for space in No 1 building, and Matt Lee, head of commercial, Manchester, for Bruntwood SciTech who hosted the site tour said:
“Terms have been agreed on every other floor in that building, which fits in with our aim for a technology and engineering campus.”
He said commercial discussions are ongoing for lettings on 50% of No 2 building.”
Mr Lee added: “There will be a truly exciting mix of companies.”
Bruntwood SciTech is aiming to create a spectacular reception area which includes plans for an amphitheatre-style space to host events such as hackathons or dojos.
Mr Lee said: “We want to get people out of their offices. We don’t want a normal entrance reception.”
By Christmas the structure and the facade of the two office blocks will be completed and Bruntwood aims to have as much space as possible fitted out.
Mr Lee said: “We want people to walk on to a finished campus, rather than building work still going on in several areas.”
Basement space will cover the entire Circle Square footprint and the intention is to provide facilities such as gyms, shower and changing spaces for staff cycling to work, and even some bars.
Above ground the scheme will create one of the first, and biggest, city centre parks in Manchester for years in Symphony Park, which is a nod to former occupier the BBC and its Philharminic Orchestra heritage, said Mr Lee.
The size of a football pitch, Symphony Park will be able to accommodate up to 2,000 people at a range of events, including music shows.
Symphony Park will make up a total of 250,000 sq ft of public realm space within Circle Square.
The site will also provide hotel space and a 1,014-space car park.
Another important element of the development is the retail mix, which was launched in December 2017 when retail and leisure pop-up area Hatch opened under the Mancunian Way made up of former shipping containers, as a pre-cursor to Circle Square.
Since then it has grown from eight units to 35, and expanded from 4,000 sq ft to 11,000 sq ft.
Andrea George, head of retail lettings at Bruntwood, said that 60 independent retailers have come through Hatch so far, and three have expanded to bricks and mortar business space.
Hatch is part of around 100,000 sq ft of leisure and retail space within Circle Square.
In addition to Hatch there are plans for independent retail units on the busy Oxford Road corridor, and restaurant and cafe space around Symphony Park.
An example of the facade of Circle Square
Ms George said: “The Oxford Road side is earmarked for entrepreneurial, new concept, innovative retailers not already in the city.”
She added: “There is a pent-up demand from the consumer who wants to stay in their location and buy whatever they need. Hatch proves there is a demand from consumers.”
In total, there will be around 25 retail units in Circle Square and Ms George said Bruntwood is already in detailed negotiations with four retailers.
She said: “We are confident we will get a really nice mix among operators.
“We’re tryng to de-risk it as much as we can for retailers. We can improve footfall and turnover.”
She added: “We bring 40 years of placemaking with us. It’s a place you want to hang out.”
And Mr Lee said: “The aim is to have a site that is busy all the time.
“We don’t want it to be a normal mix. The aim is get people who can bring something different to the city, with retail and, particularly, independents.”
