Bruntwood ‘selected for Alderley Park’
MANCHESTER property group Bruntwood is understood to have won the race to develop AstraZeneca’s Alderley Park research base in Alderley Edge.
Property titles are reporting a partnership of Bruntwood and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund has been selected as the preferred bidder for the 350-acre site.
No one at Bruntwood could be reached for comment and there was no confirmation from Jones Lang LaSalle, which is handling the bid process, at the time of publication.
Last March AstraZeneca said it would close its longstanding Cheshire research base and move 1,600 jobs, with most of them going to a new research site in Cambridge. Around 700 jobs will stay at Alderley Park, although these will not be involved in research and development.
The site has 1.5 million sq ft of offices and labs and Cheshire East Council is working with AstraZeneca on space for early stage technology companies under the BioHub brand. Upmarket housing is expected to form part of any future plan for the site.
Other bidders are understood to have been Palmer Capital, Telereal Trilium and residential developer Huntsmere. Bids for the site were thought to have ranged from £30m to £50m.
