Bruntwood SciTech advances 264,000 sq ft office 

Revised plans for a 15-storey block at Circle Square have been submitted to Manchester City Council after the first 400,000 sq ft of offices at the Oxford Road complex were snapped up. 

Earlier this year, Bruntwood SciTech launched a consultation on revised proposals for No3 Circle Square, unveiling a vision for a 264,000 sq ft office on plot 12 of the masterplan.

The updated scheme supersedes previous plans for a 215,000 sq ft office approved in February 2020. 

The earlier iteration was designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley but Bridge Architects is behind the latest proposals. 

The changes to the scheme were prompted by “a number of structural changes to the commercial office market…accelerated by the Covid crisis”, according to planning consultant Deloitte. 

Many of the revisions made are aimed at boosting the development’s sustainability credentials. 

Bruntwood SciTech is hoping to develop a building that is net zero carbon in operation and is targeting a NABERS rating of 5, EPC rating of A and BREEAM ‘excellent’ accreditation. 

The proposed No.3 Circle Square, which has an estimated development value of £87m, will be the third office delivered at the complex. 

No1 and No2 Circle Square, offering 400,000 sq ft of office space, are fully let to occupiers including Roku, Autocab, Octopus Energy, Bosch, and Hilti.

Bradley Topps, commercial director at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “We’re confident that No.3 will build on the success of No.1 and No.2, which are now fully occupied, and that it will feed the site’s ability to draw in science and technology businesses, as well as the general public, as Circle Square becomes the must-see and must-be-in destination that is already bolstering Manchester’s knowledge economy.”   

Bruntwood SciTech is a 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General. 

The project team for No3 Circle Square includes landscape architect Planit-IE, structural engineer Curtins, M&E engineer Crookes Walker Consulting, principal designer RLB and QS Richard Boothroyd & Associates.  

The submission of a planning application for the project comes a week after Bruntwood Works lodged proposals for the Alberton, a 291,000 sq ft development off St Mary’s Parsonage.