Manchester City Council has approved Capital&Centric’s plans to restore the historic Neptune Mill.

The Jonathan Davidson Architects-designed scheme will provide four floors of workspace, as well as a ground-floor social hub and commercial space earmarked for a coffee bar, deli, or general store. Designs will showcase the mill’s original features of red brickwork and timber beams.

Capital&Centric will reserve the first floor as a new HQ to house the social impact developer’s expanding team.

Proposals also feature space for a mural and a courtyard.

No additional car parking spaces will be provided due to the building’s city centre location. However, 14 cycle spaces will be available on site.

Tom Wilmot, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said: “As the city expands, enterprises are always on the hunt for the next stunning workspace that will inspire creativity and foster new ideas.

“We’re delivering that with Neptune Mill, creating the next chapter in the historic building’s story.”

Formerly known as Chapeltown Mill, Neptune Mill dates back to the 1860s. The building was constructed as the final phase of the Crusader Works complex, which was developed during the 1840s as a machine workshop.

Crusader Works is a grade two-listed building, and therefore the application site is a curtilage-listed building.

Now vacant, Neptune Mill was previously used as a packing warehouse and, more recently, offices.

Capital&Centric submitted the plans for the project in May.

Transformation of the 19th-century building follows the developer’s previous Piccadilly East ventures. These ventures include the conversion of the neighbouring warehouse, Crusader, into 126 flats last year.

Wilmot said: “We’ve always been massive champions of Manchester’s Piccadilly East, having delivered new hotel rooms for visitors and homes for those putting down permanent roots in the city.

“This is the next, exciting step for the neighbourhood, bringing in businesses and creating ground-floor spaces that the community can patronise.”

Avison Young is the scheme’s planning consultant. Graeme Ives provided the heritage statement. The project team also includes Shedkm, Rachel Hacking Ecology, Heyne Tillet Steel, Watt Energy & Consulting Engineers, and Hepworth Acoustics.

Want to learn more about the plans for Neptune Mill? Search for application number 136865/FO/2023 and 136866/LO/2023 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.

The post Capital&Centric gets go-ahead for Neptune Mill restoration appeared first on Place North West.

Cassidy + Ashton designed the filtration component company’s new Lancashire base, which was granted planning permission by Lancaster City Council last month. The 21,500 sq ft complex will accommodate the company’s more than 190 staff members and offer both offices and production areas.

“The GVS team are excited about the chance to bring all our business functions together under one roof,” said Ben Hartropp, head of engineering at GVS.

Contractors are set to be appointed this autumn for the project, with work starting in January 2024. The office and production facility is set to be complete by spring 2025.

Situated off Caton Road and overlooking the River Lune, the site was the former home for paper producer Sofidel. Part of Sofidel’s space will be retained and refurbished as part of GVS’s plans.

Those plans also call for a building that will enable the company to meet its carbon neutral goals. Cassidy + Ashton’s designs include rooftop solar panels and heat transfer management systems. A wildlife pond will also act as a sustainable drainage system.

“We’re committed to working with our client partners to design and create buildings that contribute to a more sustainable world,” said Alistair Baines, chairman of Cassidy + Ashton.

“Our plans for GVS’ new commercial facility reflect a conscious decision by the company to ensure they are taking the right measures towards being carbon neutral.

He continued: “In relocating their UK operations, GVS seeks to make a real mark in Lancaster on a prominent site alongside the River Lune. GVS is committed to providing a long-term sustainable facility to align with the company’s carbon net zero aspirations. Cassidy + Ashton looks forward to supporting them to achieve this.”

In addition to Cassidy + Ashton, the project team for the GVS office includes Ryder Landscape Consultants, Hydrock, RSK, Red Acoustics, PSA Design, and Bowland Tree Consultancy.

You can learn more about the project by searching 23/00063/FUL on Lancaster City Council’s planning portal.

The post Spring 2025 target for £10m Lancashire manufacturing facility appeared first on Place North West.

THIS WEEK

• The doubtful future of the 400-store Wilko discount chain poses a challenge to Northern high streets. But there is hope
• Elevator pitch: your weekly rundown of who and what is going up, and who is heading the other way

WILKO LESSONS

A bad time for high streets just got worse

Wilko’s woes place a question mark over 2.5m sq ft of Northern retail floorspace. With retail still on its knees, and a cost-of-living crisis beginning to bite, does anyone want it?

Four bidders (probably) met yesterday’s deadline to acquire Wilko and its 400 UK stores (around 100 of them in the North). B&M, Poundland, Home Bargains, and The Range were reported to be in the frame. It’s hard to believe – given the location of their own stores – that any potential owner will want to keep all Wilko stores open. Maybe all of them will close.

Numbers, please

Some facts. The average Wilko store size is 25,000 sq ft, and about four-fifths is on the high street or in shopping centres and precincts. About one-fifth of the Northern portfolio is in retail parks, according to CoStar data. The impression is that most leases are relatively short-dated: five years or 10 years with a break at five, and a few at 15.

The good stuff

The focus of interest will be out-of-town. “The floorspace within retail parks is likely to attract the strongest interest from other retailers. However, the remainder of shops are on high streets and in shopping centres, where footfall has tended to be lower, and units previously occupied by the likes of Debenhams or Arcadia brands have taken longer to re-let,” Giles Tebbitts, CoStar Group’s director of market analytics in Manchester, tells Subplot.

Woolworths revisited

As for the 2m sq ft of Northern high street floorspace, there are two recent precedents for large-scale retail collapse. Debenhams folded in 2021. Since then, many of its stores – well located, big, interesting – have been repurposed at pace. Manchester’s Art Deco block is the star example of a long list which includes leisure, build-to-rent housing, and much else. Woolworths, which fell down a well in 2008, saw 807 stores repurposed or re-let but a lot more slowly. “This may be more like Woolworths than Debenhams,” says Allsop’s head of commercial investment Richard Brooke.

The difficult cases

A fairish chunk of that floorspace won’t lend itself to repurposing. “Every asset is different, of course, and where Wilko had a multi-floor building it could lend itself to residential or student housing. But the big floorplates in shopping centres will be harder. That said, Wilko is often well located in town centres or roadside, so there will be interest,” says Brooke.

Show time

So the Northern towns anchored by Wilko stores needn’t give up hope. A vision of the future is already visible in Rotherham, where the 20,000 sq ft store shut in 2022. Rotherham Council bought it (for a song) ahead of demolition. The replacement, a new theatre, sounds nice. Blackpool will be hoping for a similar performance. Wilko signed a 15-year lease on a 22,000 sq ft unit at the council’s Houndshill Shopping Centre (bought in 2019 for a lot more than a song – about £48m). The Wilko deal was part of a rethink for Houndshill.

We are watching

“Whilst the extent of [Wilko’s] insolvency procedure remains unclear, the successful delivery of the Phase 2 project at the Houndshill remains a top priority for the council, and we are in discussions with the tenant to ratify their long-term position within the town centre. We will then reassess our options as necessary,” said a council spokesperson when approached by Place North West earlier this month.

Curtains

Not many tears will be shed for the real losers: a handful of already weakened Northern landlords. If they already had high loan-to-value ratios, and were relying on Wilko rental (and covenant strength) to shore up their position with lenders, then the next few weeks could be the final straw. Loans will sink underwater, covenants will be breached. Today’s habit of virtually real-time portfolio valuations – quarterly, or more frequent – leaves stretched landlords with no way to smudge their balance sheet bothers. Lenders will notice. For some town centre landlords, Wilko’s woes will mean curtains.

ELEVATOR PITCH

Going up, or going down? This week’s movers

Subplot’s twin elevators are both rising smoothly to the good-view floors. Flex floorspace can make money after all, says a Leeds operator, while Liverpool’s Spine dodges a bullet.

Low-impact flex floorspace

Subplot reported last week that WeWork and IWG were struggling to make money from serviced flex workspace. Leeds has turned out to be a laboratory for an alternative approach whose operator insists it isn’t a struggle at all. Spacemade, which partners landlords to create their own branded offering, say it’s going like a dream. Co-founder Jonny Rosenblatt has been in touch to say occupancy at Park House, Leeds, fluctuates between 98%-100% and has done during the two years since opening. He wants to expand in Leeds.

“Until a year or so ago, there was an undersupply of well-managed flex space and this is a definite gap as we’re seeing a strong market of – particularly – young creative businesses coming to Leeds, possibly because the rents are that bit cheaper than London or some of the more established Northern cities like Manchester,” Rosenblatt says.

• Learn more about the state of the office market at Place North West’s Offices + Workspace conference on 11 October. Book tickets.

Spine dodges bullet

The Spine, a 155,000 sq ft of Liverpool City Council-backed office in Paddington Village, has had to take a certain amount of incoming fire. The latest was a Sunday drive-by on the state of the site showcasing graffiti, litter, untidy flower beds. The bigger problem has been 70,000 sq ft of stubbornly vacant floorspace.

That could be about to change. Subplot hears that a 34,000 sq ft letting is in prospect (and it’s not wealth manager Rathbones, in case you wondered). Sources nod and wink towards Cashplus Bank, which expanded into a full floor in May, but public sector/NHS occupiers are also fancied.

More deals will follow. One floor is being divided to provide smaller units. Another three floors – so 33,000 sq ft, give or take – is being fitted out to Cat A or Cat B standard, with rents starting at a shade under £24/sq ft.

The council continues to take a kicking for its approach to property investment and regeneration – see below-the-line comments on the latest effort to ginger up the narrative. But in 2016-2018, when the Spine idea was first brewing, everyone thought it was just the bold forward-thinking move Liverpool needed. Of course, if it had been built on Old Hall Street it would have been fully let long ago, but that’s another story. It’s hardly The Spine’s fault that the city centre new-build market is a mix of daydream and nightmare.

Cllr Nick Small, Liverpool’s cabinet member for growth and economy, confirms to Subplot: “The recent flurry of stories highlighting problems at The Spine are well wide of the mark. The RCP is thriving, as is its award-winning event space. All of the serviced space managed by Sciontec is full – with a number of customers planning to expand -– and of the remaining floors, three are in legals and three are being fitted out to meet current market trends.”

The post The Subplot | Wilko lessons, Liverpool’s Spine, flex makes money appeared first on Place North West.

Clancy has signed a 10-year lease on 7,700 sq ft of Cat A refurbished space on the fourth floor. The deal sees the engineering consultancy relocate from Altrincham, where it has been based for 24 years. 

“Investing in our new head office workspace is a significant step forward for the business and by relocating into the heart of the city we’re keen to benefit from the buzz of activity that Manchester offers,” said Clancy chief executive Chris Acton.

“We see this move as beneficial to our ability to better service clients, to welcome potential new recruits into the Clancy family due to the benefits of its central location and to create a vibrant new workplace that supports cross-discipline collaboration, while introducing new facilities which support the health and wellbeing of our team.”

Acton added that the building’s sustainability credentials and focus on wellbeing played a key part in the company’s decision-making process.

Clancy, which was advised by Colliers, will be joined on the fourth floor by LSH, which has inked a 10-year deal on 4,700 sq ft of fully-fitted space at Windmill Green. 

LSH will make the move to CityBee’s building from 3 Hardman Street in Spinningfields where the firm has been based since 2010. 

The third deal will see health and social care law firm Hempsons Solicitors relocate its Manchester operations from City Tower to Windmill Green’s third floor. Like LSH, Hempsons has signed a 10-year lease on 4,700 sq ft. 

Savills and Avison Young acted for CityBee on all three lettings. 

Located opposite Manchester Central, Windmill Green was the city’s first BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ office building upon completion of a retrofit project by Fore Partnership in 2019.  

Europi Property Group and Trinova Real Estate joined forces to acquire the building in 2021. 

“Windmill Green is a leading example of what a modern workspace needs to deliver,” said Mike McCarrick, asset manager for Trinova. 

“This vision is shared by the incoming tenants who we are delighted to welcome into the building on long-term commitments.” 

CityBee also has offices in Glasgow, Leeds, and Edinburgh. 

James Tootell, asset management director at Europi Property Group, added: “The focus for the CityBee strategy is to invest in well-located and highly sustainable workplaces in key European innovation cities. 

“Alongside the building fundamentals, we believe the provision of high-quality amenities and a strong community feel will continue to appeal to modern office occupiers. We are delighted with the recent lettings at Windmill Green, which we consider to be a clear validation of that approach.” 

To learn more about the office market in Manchester and across the North West, sign up to attend Place North West’s Offices and Workspace update on 11 October.

The post Three firms snap up 17,000 sq ft at Manchester’s Windmill Green  appeared first on Place North West.

The 55,700 sq ft office building sits on a nearly half-acre site included within Manchester City Council’s St Mary’s Parsonage Strategic Regeneration Framework. Accordingly, Cardinal House could be in line for either a refurbishment and extension or for demolition.

If demolished, it could be replaced with a 140,000 sq ft commercial block, according to marketing documents. All of these options would be subject to planning permission, of course.

The eight-storey Cardinal House was built in 1963. Currently, the building has only one tenant – Barings, which occupies 24,700 sq ft.

Derwent Group offloaded the site on behalf of Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, whose property portfolio Derwent Group manages. That portfolio comprises 3m sq ft of office, leisure, retail, and industrial space across the country.

With a £11m deal, Cardinal House was sold for around £1.5m less than what Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation spent to acquire it in 2016. At that time, it was reported that the building was sold for around the guide price of £12.5m.

When the foundation put Cardinal House on the market last year, it was seeking offers of at least £13.5m.

Jonathan Black, property director at Derwent Group, described the charity’s reason for selling.

“Cardinal House has performed well for the charity since acquisition as an income-producing asset,” he said.

“The building has been positioned as a future redevelopment opportunity as part of the wider St Mary’s Parsonage Strategic Regeneration Framework, which no longer aligns with the trustees’ current investment criteria and appetite for risk, so the decision has been made to divest from this asset and redeploy the capital,” he said.

Avison Young acted for Derwent Group on the deal. Sensible Properties was unrepresented.

Sensible Properties is a relatively new property company, having only been incorporated in April. Its leadership consists of director George Jones.

The post Derwent Group sells Manchester office block for £11m appeared first on Place North West.

To that end, we have launched a competition where we will let the public decide what office has the best view in the region.

The winning office will get two tickets to our Offices + Workspace conference on 11 October, a news story announcing its win, and, of course, bragging rights.

The very imaginatively named Best North West Office View competition launches today with a call for submissions.

How do you submit your office for the competition? Choose from one of these three options:

1. Email your office view photo to news@placenorthwest.co.uk, with the subject line Best Office Views. Be sure to include where your office is located.
2. Post your office view photo on LinkedIn and tag Place North West in the post. Use the hashtag #BestPlaceView.
3. Post your office view photo on Instagram and tag @PlaceNorthWest in the post. Use the hashtag #BestPlaceView.

The deadline for entries is Friday 18 August, so you have two weeks to take the best possible photo from your office.

Want a taste of who you’re up against? There are two offices already in the running: Studio RBA, which boasts an always glorious Royal Albert Dock view, and AEW, which has a balcony that provides a stunning look out onto the Manchester skyline.

Voting will be done by Place readers. The polls open on 21 August and shut down at noon on 25 August. The winner shall be crowned the following week.

May the best view win.

The post COMPETITION | Does your office have the best view? appeared first on Place North West.

AECOM took over the 20,000 sq ft fourth floor of the office block, which is owned by Salford City Council, earlier this year. The deal, which was signed in January, was brokered by 100 Embankment’s joint leasing agents Cushman and Wakefield and CBRE. AECOM’s neighbours in 100 Embankment include coworking space X+Why and, soon, Deloitte.

While mostly open plan, the AECOM office is stocked up with multiple meeting rooms, focus spaces, and working pods for those who need a more private space.

The community comes together in The Hive, an informal gathering space that does have a definite buzz about it during lunchtime.

The view from AECOM’s office at 100 Embankment, showing Manchester Cathedral. Credit: via AECOM

AECOM moved to 100 Embankment from 1 New York Street in Manchester. The move has been a definite upgrade, according to Jonathan Moore, regional director for the North and Midlands.

“It’s open with high windows, lots of space, and great views – it’s a very positive environment and it makes me want to walk to a colleague and say ‘how are you getting on today?’” Moore said. “In the old location, it was much more densely populated, dark, and you just felt like you didn’t want to do that.”

Moore has also noticed that there is an uptick in those choosing to work from the office rather than from home.

The office is covered in nods to Greater Manchester with quotes from the likes of Tony Wilson emblazoned on the walls and paintings of the city hung up.

Concerns about moving from Manchester to Salford have so far proven unfounded. Many of those working at AECOM live in South Manchester, Moore said, which meant the shift across the river created a bit of a walk to and from the office.

“That hasn’t been an issue though,” Moore said.

The Salford space itself has become a recruitment tool, according to Moore, who has personally brought up potential job candidates to the office to show off the space.

“It’s a very grand location when you look at the views you’ve got,” Moore said.

Click on any image to launch gallery. All photos courtesy of AECOM.