Key milestone marked at Enterprise City development

Practical completion has been reached on The Globe Building at Enterprise City, in Manchester.

This marks the latest milestone in the four-and-a-half-year long partnership between Allied London and Lendlease UK’s construction arm.

Since November 2017, Lendlease has assisted Allied London’s development of the Enterprise City and St John’s area of Manchester with buildability, logistics, cost planning and supply chain engagement.

Development at the district was, in part, funded by Aviva Investors, which invested £300m in the creation of seven of the district’s buildings.

The construction work has taken place across two keys sites within the new city centre tech, media and creative cluster, culminating with the recently completed Globe Building which stands on the site of the Old Granada TV Studios and will be home to media agencies, WPP and Mediacom.

The second part of the inventory completed by Lendlease was Manchester Goods Yard, which reached practical completion in July 2021, and will provide new headquarters for Booking.com and Cloud Imperium Games. Both sites will house some of Enterprise City’s largest tenants.

David Cadiot, executive general manager, UK Construction – Regions at Lendlease, said: “This represents the culmination of four years’ work across the wider site which has already seen us achieve PC (practical completion) on T1 and Manchester Goods Yard.

“The development has been both challenging and rewarding with many positive initiatives and deliverables. The team has been lean from the outset with a strong focus on accountability and engagement. Many thanks to everyone involved, they should all be immensely proud of their achievements.”

Lendlease started infrastructure and diversionary works to enable development in 2018 and took formal possession of the site to start piling and removing 100,000 sq m of soil for a two-storey basement in 2019. During the excavation, the team discovered archaeological sites of interest and a team from Salford University moved onto the site for six weeks to expose and photograph the industrial age housing and streets.

Project manager, Jack Overson, said: “The Globe Building has had an excellent team ethos with everyone working hard together for each other.

“The use of Sablono and Multivista, together with daily consultant inspections by Ramboll, has driven an excellent façade product. Everyone involved in the delivery of St John’s should be hugely proud of their achievements over the past four years.”

Both the Globe Building and Manchester Goods Yard have achieved WiredScore Platinum certification highlighting the buildings’ connective, innovative and dynamic approach to technology infrastructure.

Michael Ingall, CEO of Allied London, said: “The development of Enterprise City is exciting for the future of modern industry in Manchester, and the economic and social benefits to the area will be huge as the area opens in the coming months and years. Attracting global tech, digital and media businesses to the district requires a specific blend of inventory and we have managed to create that with Lendlease’s support.

“The Globe Building reaching practical completion marks a brilliant step forward for the district and we are excited to open it up to businesses and the tech, media and creative community in the region. It has been developed as a campus for the WPP cohort of businesses and will be occupied by seven or eight of its important media agencies including MediaCom North with whom we have had a relationship with now for 10 years.”

He added: “It’s a fantastic looking building and will perform well against all building standards, as well as benefiting from the broader facilities of the Enterprise City district. The building will be a stand-out home for the various WPP businesses. We will also be launching levels one and two as a series of workspace studios.”

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, committed £300m to the Enterprise City project at both the Globe building and Manchester Goods Yard sites, with the cluster making up a significant portion of its estate portfolio in the region.

James Stevens, head of investment, at Aviva Investors, said: “We are pleased to see the project at Enterprise City coming to life in Manchester, a vibrant city which we think is well equipped to thrive as a destination for culture and talent. We think this positions the region well for future growth, whilst also offering high quality real estate investment opportunities for our clients.”