Property briefs: The Oddfellows; PDSA; UKFast

THE Oddfellows, one of the UK’s oldest friendly societies, has opened its new office on Manchester’s Deansgate.

It bought the former Old Courthouse building from Henry Boot for £4m two years ago and will occupy 17,000 sq ft on the upper floors. The ground floor space will house a number of leisure units.
 
The Lord Mayor of Manchester, councillor Naeem ul Hassan JP, was among around 100 guests at the official opening and foundation stone unveiling on March 24.

The Oddfellows said the move from rented accommodation in Booth Street reaffirmed its commitment to the region. The inaugural meeting of the Oddfellows took place less than a mile away at the Ropemakers Arms in Chapel Street, Salford, in 1810, when workers gathered to explore how they could better support one another and their wider communities.

Today the friendly society’s 146 branches and 280,000 members. It is a mutual, not-for-profit friendly society that organises social events as well as providing care and advice for its 120,000 members.

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ANIMAL charity the PDSA has spent £340,000 on a plot of land in east Manchester.

It has acquired a 1.2-acre site on Pottery Lane from Wilmslow developer Quorum where it is planning a new clinic.

Paul Cook of Quorum said: “We had already disposed of part of the site and built a new 20,000 sq ft headquarters office for Eastlands Homes Housing Association in 2010 and now only have one plot of half an acre available, which could accommodate a building of up to 6,000 sq ft.”

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DATA centre firm UKFast is launching free event space at its new headquarters in Hulme.

The 300-seat auditorium, which has a 100 sq ft digital screen, stage and theatre lighting, was opened earlier in the year by the Manchester Camerata which uses it as rehearsal space.

Chief executive Lawrence Jones said: “There’s been a lot of speculation about the Tomorrow Project, but in that time we have built four data centres and a new HQ. This is the project for now; it’s the Today Project for Manchester, now.

“We’ve always done things a little differently and that’s what we are doing here. We’re a business that wants to collaborate and help others whether that’s by connecting people over the internet or by shaking hands.”