Office of the Month: Blue, MediacityUK
MEDIACITYUK is an example of how Peel has managed to deliver developments that seem somewhat audacious when first proposed.
The 200-acre site has landed a much greater portion of the BBC’s functions than initially anticipated, and ITV is now on site on the opposite bank of the Manchester Ship Canal for its new production centre featuring the new Coronation St set.
Both broadcasters have also taken significant amounts of office space at the site –
the BBC in its own dedicated 135,000 sq ft Quay House building, while ITV is housing around 500 staff over several floors within the 11-storey Orange building, where the University of Salford completed a £30m fit-out of its 103,000 sq ft campus in September last year.
The MediacityUK complex was formally opened by Her Majesty The Queen last month, but many of the other commercial occupiers are still busily putting the finishing touches to their own facilities.
The Blue building, for instance, currently has tenant SIS fitting out the 30,000 sq ft of space for which it signed a deal last year, while Media Enterprise Centre is in the process of fitting out 40,000 sq ft of space. It is a publicly-funded project costing £8m that will provide business accelerator space, training facilities, a research centre and access to busines support services. It contains a new digital content laboratory, a centre of excellence for the games industry and a media facility for use by community groups.
Around 90,420 sq ft on floors 8-18 of the building is office space, and some 40,000 sq ft of this remains available for occupation. The space is generally available on floorplates of 8,220 sq ft which can be sub-divided into two, offering suites typically starting from 4,000 sq ft.
However, the top two floors have been subdivided into smaller units ranging from just over 1,000 sq ft.
The Blue building was completed to a shell & core fit-out last summer, with a reception area including a “statement” reception area featuring a large media wall. The building has advanced lift technology, 24 hour security, secure on-site parking spaces (although MediaCity:UK has its own dedicated Metrolink terminus) and clear floor-toceiling heights of 2.7m, subject to fit-out.
Each floor is available either as shell & core space or with a full Category A fit-out. The quoting rent is £22 per sq ft.
The space is available to any commercial occupier, but surveyor Nick Nelson of CBRE said that media companies have understandably been the focus of its attention.
“There’s been a high level of interest from the media sector from both UK and international firms, which is what we’re trying to encourage,” he said.
The latest tenant to sign up for space in the building is Timeline TV – a post-production firm which has taken 2,000 sq ft of space on the 17th floor.
The company carries out work for ITV, BBC and Sky, and is opening a broadcasting hub containing services such as a Pro-Tools dubbing theatre, voice over facilities, and online and offline editing capabilities.
The London-based company’s managing director, Daniel McDonnell, said: “We are delighted to be opening our new broadcast hub in MediaCityUK, which will further cement our presence in the North.”
Stephen Wild, managing director of MediaCityUK said: “Timeline TV has over 20 years of broadcasting industry experience and is a very welcome and excellent addition to MediaCityUK.
“Our vision is for MediaCityUK to become a leading international hub for the creative and digital sectors and companies like Timeline joining our community help us towards realising this”.
Space also remains available in the Orange building, where larger floorplates of up to 16,000 sq ft are available.
