The leading architect behind Landmark Manchester (Landmark), a 180,000 sq ft office development, has revealed today the key features being implemented in the Grade A, BREEAM Excellent building to ensure that it tops occupiers’ tick lists ahead of its Summer 2019 launch. Barings Real Estate, part of Barings LLC, one of the world’s largest diversified real estate investment managers, is undertaking Landmark on behalf of an institutional investor.
Currently under construction in Manchester’s central business district at St Peter’s Square, Landmark aims to deliver a world-class professional environment to its occupiers. Barings Real Estate along with development manager Castlebrooke Investments, enlisted award-winning architects Squire & Partners to bring the pivotal scheme to life.
The brief in its most simplistic form was to unite aesthetics with practical uses to deliver a high quality designed, sustainable, tech-enabled building into which an occupier can enter and essentially ‘plug and play’. Meeting the BREEAM Excellent, Grade A, EPC ‘A’ target rating criteria was a natural start and the Platinum WiredScore accreditation and spectrum of connectivity management features that have followed on will ensure that all potential occupiers can move in and start work immediately with ease.
Murray Levinson, Partner at Squire and Partners, said: “The overall design and finishes at Landmark are about so much more than just meeting set criteria. The double height reception, with approximately 90 ft glazed frontage onto Oxford Street, was influenced by the previous art deco cinema which sat on the site. The double height interior is treated as a contemporary interpretation of the cinema lobbies of the period, emphasising a sense of theatre and drama upon arrival. The whole building is being constructed with an offset core to enable virtually column-free office space across approximately 14,000 sq ft floorplates, unlike any other in the city centre. The offset core will deliver maximum flexibility for occupiers the majority of which will benefit from uninterrupted views towards the south of the city.”
Dominic Pozzoni, Director at Colliers International and joint agent on Landmark with CBRE, said: “It’s no surprise that we’re witnessing strong interest from potential occupiers in Landmark, which will deliver Manchester’s largest speculative prime Grade A office building during 2019. Occupiers are attracted to the St Peter’s Square location, which has been elevated to a world renowned civic and business square, on the back of private and public investment totalling in excess of £630m. The design team has considered everything an occupier could want, from the voluminous reception creating the right first impression to the tech-enabled floorplates future proofing the space and the connectivity making set-up stress free. The high performance floor to ceiling glazing will provide excellent natural light and, along with the high quality finishes and attention to detail throughout, Landmark will offer an exceptional occupier experience.”
Ian Mayhew, Managing Director on Barings’ Real Estate team, said: “When we embarked on Landmark we knew that bringing together the right team was essential if we wanted to elevate Manchester’s business community with an office destination that is on the cutting edge of modernism and flexibility. We are seeing tremendous interest in Landmark and are well on our way to delivering offices that won’t just look nice, but will feature excellent infrastructure and connectivity.”
