Allied London starts work on Cotton Building

PREPARATORY work has started on a new 160,000 sq ft office block in Manchester’s Spinningfields.

Developer Allied London plans to pitch the nine-storey Cotton Building at those working in the technology and creative sectors.

The block, on Hardman Boulevard next to the Civil Justice Centre, will boast flexible space where tenants can customise space, essentially taking a shell and choosing the location of partition walls and the services they want.

The plot, which has previously been used for event, has been cleared of trees and hoardings have been put up.

Allied London is understood to have secured £10m in soft loans from the Regional Growth Fund and the Evergreen Fund to bring forward the development, but the deal has not yet been officially confirmed.

Although the site has been earmarked for development for several years some tenants at the nearby Left Bank apartments have complained about the potential impact on light, while others did not want to see the loss of green space. Managers of the Civil Justic Centre also expressed concern during the planning process about tenants peering into court rooms.

Cartwright Pickard is the architect on the job. There was no comment from Allied London or the Evergreen Fund.