Property round-up: Calico; Academy Business Park; Absurd; Anwyl Partnerships; Hindley Unitarian chapel; Manchester Uni
Calico, the latest Manchester boutique office scheme, has been launched to office agents and is now available for occupation.
The 13,000 sq ft workspace, developed by Bluefig Investments, has suites over seven floors in the heart of Manchester’s business district.
The ground floor concierge reception features exposed brick walls, a communal area to greet guests and modern artwork, including a custom welcome desk designed by local artist Liam Hopkins.
Spaces available at Calico range from 1,200 sq ft to 12,500 sq ft. A breakout area also features on the fourth floor, leading onto a communal roof top terrace with views across the city centre.
Faris Mousa, director at Bluefig Investments, said: “We are very excited to launch Calico, it’s a real gem, a much more authentic workplace in what is considered to be a more traditional and commercial area of the city, so it really stands out.”
Andrew Timms, director and head of office agency at Edwards & Co, said: “This is exactly the sort of workspace that businesses are looking for at the moment. As working habits have changed considerably during the pandemic, businesses have been assessing how much space they really need.”
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Academy Business Park
A business park in Knowsley, Liverpool, owned and managed by Orbit Developments, has seen a number of lettings over the past few months.
Unilin, which has been providing smart living solutions for more than 60 years and employs in excess of 7,500 people in 105 locations worldwide, has taken 110,000 sq ft of prime warehousing space at Academy Business Park to use as its main UK distribution and training centre.
Costa Coffee has been successfully operating a drive-thru from the scheme for a while and Screwfix, the multi channel retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products, will be opening a trade counter in early 2022. In addition, Rontec has also signed up for a 4,400 sq ft unit to become a petrol filling station and kiosk store.
Dennis Dwyer, divisional director at Orbit Developments, said: “When you attract well known businesses, it’s testament to everything that Academy Business Park has to offer and makes all the hard work of our construction team and agents worthwhile. Since the opening of the Costa drive-thru we’ve been delighted with its popularity.”
A further seven new trade counter units are almost finished with one under offer and there are plans under way for the construction of another 110,000 sq ft distribution warehouse elsewhere on the site.
Academy Business Park is situated in Knowsley, nine miles to the north east of Liverpool city centre and one mile north of the M57’s junction four.
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37 King Street
Manchester agency Absurd has taken a five-year lease on the third floor at 37 King Street, in the city centre.
The building has recently undergone significant remodelling works, including private terraces, secure cycle storage, and access to shared amenities in neighbouring properties.
Absurd help organisations by defining and creating user-centred products and services. It was co-founded in 2016 by Oli Taylor and Ollie Bailey in Manchester, but now has a team spanning across London and the US with clients worldwide.
Absurd previously downsized its office space during the first lockdown due to remote working during the pandemic, however, in 2021, the agency team doubled to 25 and revenue has tripled resulting in the team looking for a larger space.
Oli Taylor said: “The location is perfect, as is the building since its recent refurb. In addition to this it also provides us with access to shared spaces and meeting rooms across Northspring’s equally great buildings in Leeds & Birmingham which is great for us as we have team members based over in Leeds who will start to use that space when they are not here in Manchester.”
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Work under way at the Wallasey site
Anwyl Partnerships, specialists in the provision of residential land and build developments, is using an offsite build approach at an extra care scheme in Wirral for Magenta Living.
Part of an £8.5m land and build agreement, the extra care development on Greenheys Road in Wallasey will include 53 apartments, helping fulfil a gap in older persons living within this specific area.
The system uses a kit approach comprising panels formed from lightweight metal framing components which are assembled on site prior to the concrete floor being cast in situ.
Simon Rose, construction director at Flintshire-based Anwyl Partnerships, said: “The key benefits in using this type of system when compared to traditional masonry construction are the timescales involved in achieving water tightness of the building. A typical three-storey apartment block of 50 units built traditionally would take in the region of 35 weeks to achieve roof on stage, compared to almost half that for this lightweight steel frame option.”
He added: “This is a first for us and as a business will be monitoring progress closely with the aim of utilising and replicating this approach across other Anwyl Partnerships sites.”
Justine Gore, development director at Magenta Living, said: “We welcome this approach as Magenta Living is committed to providing at least 25% of its 1,000 new homes programme to modern methods of construction.”
The scheme is due for completion and handover in March 2023.
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Hindley Unitarian chapel
An historic chapel in Hindley is to go under the hammer at the next Pugh property auction, which will be held online on February 23, with a guide price of £68,000. Bidding opens on February 22.
The Unitarian chapel in the centre of Hindley was originally constructed as a Presbyterian place of worship in in 1698, with an extension to the building added in the 19th century.
With a floorspace of more than 4,600 sq ft, the chapel features unique original features, including an upper gallery, stained glass windows dedicated to Hindley families, fireplaces, a dark wooden pulpit and pews and a church organ featuring a memorial to local men killed in two World Wars.
Paul Parker, associate director at Pugh, said: “This amazing historic building has been an important part of the fabric of Hindley for over three centuries. There are all sorts of potential new uses for the chapel in the hands of an imaginative new owner and we are already seeing some interest from investors.”
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Design for Chemistry Building
The University of Manchester has awarded a £12m contract for the refurbishment at its Chemical Building to contractor Henry Brothers.
Henry Brothers is based in Northern Ireland but also has operations in the Midlands and Scotland.
The work involves reorganising the layout of two floors and work on external ventilation ducts.
Regional managing director at Henry Brothers, Ian Taylor, said: “We are excited to be sharing our expertise in refurbishing important university facilities with The University of Manchester. This scheme will upgrade two floors of the Chemistry Building to create first class, modern laboratories, offices and break out areas.”
The design team includes Gardiner and Theobald as NEC project manager, RLB as quantity surveyor, Halliday Meecham Architects, structural engineers Curtins and EDPI for M&E services, with sub contractors William Bailey and Electract providing mechanical and electrical services for Henry Brothers.
Situated on the corner of Upper Brook Street and Dover Street, the Chemistry Building is a seven-storey facility built in the 1960s.
Work is scheduled to complete ine April 2023.
