West Village is a hit for the creative sector

BRUNTWOOD’S ‘West Village’ in Manchester, a cluster of buildings on the corner of Oxford Street and Portland Street, is fast becoming one of the city’s hotspots for the creative, media and digital tech sector.

A rise in popularity with creatively-led businesses and a recent surge in new companies moving in, means there is now only one space remaining at the city centre location.

The 7,000sq ft duplex on the top floor of the 127 Portland Street building, is linked together with an ornate spiral staircase and a bespoke meeting space in the form of a purpose-built treehouse that spans two floors with a flexible option to expand into another 2,000sq ft of workspace if needed.

127 Portland Street is also home to ‘Together’, the West Village co-working space for creative and digital start-ups which is currently 90% full. And more recently, Social Chain, one of the UK’s largest Influencer Marketing agencies has moved into the first floor taking 3,500sq ft.

West Village property manager Tim Donoghue said: “The duplex space at 127 Portland Street has bags of character that you would expect in a converted Victorian mill with timber flooring, exposed brick walls and beams and tonnes of original features.

“But we also wanted to explore a creative solution to bring people together and encourage collaboration on the top floor, so we came up with the idea of the treehouse for a quirky meeting space.

“We often produce bespoke designs to help inspire our customers to create innovative spaces but when we saw the initial designs for the treehouse concept we liked it so much we thought it would be too good not to bring to West Village. It’s a world away from your typical breakout space and apart from being a unique talking point for any client or visitor, it’s also about having fun at work.

“West Village is a cluster of buildings, made up of 113 Portland Street, 117 Portland Street, 127 Portland Street and 61 Oxford Street and we’re working with all of our customers to ensure we’re providing the right spaces and facilities for like-minded, creatively-led businesses to thrive.

“It’s all about supporting the community and bringing the right people together so that great things happen.”