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The impressive plan to transform Manchester’s landmark Pall Mall building

Oh this is going to be GREAT

Daisy Jackson - 16th September 2024

Work is now well underway to completely revamp one of Manchester’s most recognisable buildings, Pall Mall. 

The Grade II-listed building on the beautiful King Street will be totally transformed into a new city centre innovation hub by Bruntwood SciTech. 

You’ve probably walked past it hundreds of times, but soon there’ll be a chance for freelancers, start-ups, and established businesses to step inside and call it home. 

For those self-employed of you out there, there are no scary commitments to worry about when Pall Mall reopens – you can just walk in and book a pay-as-you-go-desk, work at the cafe, sign up for a coworking membership, or go all the way to serviced offices or sign up for the sort of office space you can put your own stamp on – all with flexible payment options. 

Once completed, there’ll be 12 floors of work spaces for between one and 70 people across three interconnected towers.

If you spend your 9-5 in one of the office spaces at Pall Mall, you’ll have access to a free state-of-the-art gym, a contemplation room, a lounge and library space, and a roof terrace with panoramic views across Manchester city centre. 

There’ll also be secure EV charging points and a large cycle hub, plus plenty of greenery added through an outdoor piazza and revitalised entrance space. And every communal space will operate at net zero carbon. Snazzy. 

Pall Mall is a 90,000 sq ft giant in the heart of Manchester, with a rich cultural and historical significance and is an example of a high-quality post-war site. 

CGIs released as part of the plans show bright and open work spaces with lots of fully fitted offices ready to move straight into, plus a totally overhauled outdoor space to make use of an often-overlooked external space in the city centre. 

The ambitious £30m project comes from Bruntwood SciTech, the UK’s largest dedicated property platform dedicated to growing the science, tech and innovation sectors, which is a joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Manchester Pension Fund, who last October announced that they would be investing a further £500m into building or refurbing work-class spaces for these types of businesses, and Pall Mall was one of these first commitments.

Principal contractor Dragonfly has been appointed to build the Sheppard Robson-designed development and local teams also working on the development include Ramboll as sustainability consultants, Deloitte as planning consultants, heritage consultant Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture and structural engineers DWLLP.

Businesses will be able to move into adaptable and flexible workspaces, with different lease lengths available to cater for businesses as they grow. 

Those moving into Pall Mall will be part of a culture that prioritises sustainable growth, from the net-zero communal spaces to the net-zero construction, with the building’s original structure being maintained to save 7,900 tonnes of additional carbon (the equivalent of one passenger making 26,000 flights from London to New York). 

There’ll be an all-electric heating and cooling system, a smart building management system, and new mechanical ventilation heat recovery units to maximise energy efficiency and provide fresh air control to businesses. 

Once complete, Pall Mall is targeting a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating and EPC A rating – a significant achievement for a Grade II listed, 1960s building.

Their green credentials have been noticed – Pall Mall is a finalist in the 2024 edie Awards for Green Building Project of the Year, and also won Best Commercial Unbuilt Project at the 2024 Manchester Society of Architects Awards.

Start-ups, scale-ups and global businesses alike will gain access to a UK-wide network of 1100 like-minded businesses across Bruntwood SciTech’s community, which spans 31 city centre hubs and nine science and technology campuses in six cities, and in Manchester includes the likes of Circle Square, Manchester Science Park, Bond, Bloc, 111 Piccadilly and Blackfriars in Manchester. 

There are big names who already operate from Bruntwood Scitech’s Manchester innovation hubs including – to name but a few – Roku, Deliveroo, AO, Social Chain, Mills & Reeve, and tonnes of freelancers. 

They can access Bruntwood SciTech’s growth support, including direct access to funding and investors, highly skilled talent, new markets, and an extensive clinical, academic and public partner network.

Ciara Keeling, Chief Operating Officer for Bruntwood SciTech said: “Bruntwood SciTech has a strong blueprint for creating innovation ecosystems, having undertaken significant projects across many of the UK’s cities and regions. 

“We believe that these hubs are not only essential to the development, growth and success of many exciting innovation-focused businesses, but can play a significant role in transforming our regional economies and putting the UK on a path to achieving its ambitions of being an innovation powerhouse. 

“Work commencing on our redevelopment of Pall Mall marks an important step in our mission to power economies through innovation, supporting Manchester to continue growing its support for the knowledge economy, and becoming a more environmentally sustainable city. 

“Core to our vision for the building is to develop a workspace that caters specifically to the needs of disruptors and innovators, whilst also remaining acutely conscious of our responsibility to champion the building’s heritage and inherent character.”

Pall Mall’s redevelopment is targeted to complete in 2025, and is supported by Savills and CBRE.

Want to call Pall Mall home for your business? Enquire today.

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Featured image: Supplied