Explore Offices for Rent near Manchester Airport
The Greater Manchester Pension Fund, the property development group Argent, and the construction and support services giant Carillion are the front runners assigned the task of creating ‘Airport City’, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Other parties are still battling it out with the apparent favourites for the contract, but the Manchester Airport Group (MAG) is believed to have all but decided on the matter.
The Airport City scheme looks set to become one of the most expansive the North West of England has ever seen. Planning permission has already been granted for the creation of 1.5 million sq ft of office space and large-scale retail, leisure, hotel, logistics, and manufacturing facilities.
A spokesperson for MAG said: “No party has yet been selected for the final stage in our joint venture partner selection process.
“We are pleased with the level of interest shown to date by a number of parties in relation to the Airport City Project at Manchester Airport; as a number of bids have come from a range of international developers and funders.”
In addition to Manchester Airport, MAG owns and operates London Stansted, and both the East Midlands and Bournemouth airports elsewhere in the UK. The MAG Developments part of the business is leading the Airport City project, which is a government-backed Enterprise Zone development.
Editor’s Notes: In November 2013 (after this original article was published), it was reported that logistics company DHL was the first tenant to sign a pre-let agreement committing them to a 37,300 sqft building at Airport City South.
Online beauty and wellbeing giant The Hut Group (THG) also signed a major deal to develop 1 million sqft of offices and studio space at the scheme.
By 2023, plans for the scheme had expanded to 5 million sqft of office space, logistics, hotels and advanced manufacturing space that would be developed over the next 10-15 years. The total anticipated development cost was forecast at £1 billion.
The scheme, which is located in the Manchester Enterprise Zone, offers a wide array of property options, including offices with floor plates ranging from 5,000 sqft to 15,000 sqft, with the ability to provide up to 85,000 sqft of rentable office space in one building.
The offices are built to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ specification, and office rent is quoted at £23 per sqft.