£9m refurbishment completes at five-floor city centre office facility
The £9m refurbishment of 63,340 sq ft of office space in Manchester city centre has been completed.
OBI Property carried out the upgrade on behalf of Urbana Partners.
Located at the gateway to Spinningfields, Enterprise City and St Johns, the property, at 17 Quay Street, has been branded as Quoin.
The building combines prime Grade A office accommodation with more than 7,000 sq ft of new retail and leisure space, which has increased by 15% since initial proposals.
Key features of the transformation, which was announced in 2022, include a complete façade overhaul with enlarged windows and a brick treatment colour change, a large new roof terrace, ground floor reception with business lounge and meeting rooms, high quality end of trip facilities to complement the cycle hub, secure EV car parking as well as high speed fibre connections.
The Quoin project encompassed a team-wide effort from OBI, which led on all aspects of design, investment, project management and leasing.
Already, OBI has supported on pre-letting the ground floor retail and leisure space to a high-end restaurant and bar, as well as the fifth floor office space.
Joe Weilding, from OBI’s Building Consultancy team, said: “Quoin has been a real labour of love for the OBI team and to see the vision come to life is extremely rewarding.
“The entire team has worked hard to ensure that the building achieved all that it was set out to do. It is a repositioning project that completely elevates this prime Manchester business district and we’re looking forward to seeing it become a sought-after office and leisure destination.”
Nick Lloyd, of Urbana Partners, said: “This has been our first repositioning project in Manchester and we are delighted with how our vision for the fabric of building and the internal spaces have now come to life.
“The combination of location, prominence and amenity have already translated into strong demand and we look forward to announcing the completion of a number of leasing deals shortly.”
Nab Speakes, Managing Director at 3D Reid, said: “17 Quay Street was a fascinating project to be involved with, as it gave us an opportunity to recreate the identity and positioning of an under-utilised building within the heart of the city.”
The team has also secured accreditations such as BREEAM Excellent, EPC A, and Wiredscore Platinum. In line with the building’s sustainability credentials, it also uses biophilia in all aspects and boasts EV car charging facilities.
Since completion, the building has had positive endorsement from Manchester City Council, which provided planning permission for works to go ahead.
Quoin provides a total of 54,000 sq ft of offices across five floors complemented by a further 7,000 sq ft of retail and leisure units fronting both Quay Street and Byrom Street.
