Government department picks Bloc for Manchester hub
The Department for Culture Media & Sport has taken around 12,000 sq ft at Bruntwood Works’ Marble Street office.
DCMS’s decision to open a hub in Manchester is part of a wider Whitehall strategy that will see 22,000 civil servants relocated around the country in a push to level up the regions.
Another government department, Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, plans to move 400 jobs to Salford by 2025, while the Competition and Markets Authority is reportedly eyeing space in Manchester.
In addition, government regulator Ofcom has taken 10,000 sq ft at Bruntwood SciTech’s Circle Square.
DCMS will occupy two floors within Bloc, Place North West understands.
Previously known as Lowry House, 
Bloc completed last year and has since attracted occupiers including Direct Line, which relocated from Quay Street, and essential services supplier Verastar.
The office is one of Bruntwood’s Pioneer Buildings. The Pioneer project has seen Bruntwood invest around £100m to upgrade existing assets.
Bruntwood Works’ other Pioneer buildings include Blackfriars House, 111 Piccadilly, and Alberton House, a scheme first revealed by Place North West last year.
Bruntwood and DCMS were contacted for comment.
A magnate for both Private and Public sector jobs. No stopping Manchester atm
By Bob
Looks like there will be a lot more civil service jobs coming here too. I guess that’s why they’re building HS2.The city pretty much has its own gravity now.
By Anonymous
Move the whole BBC to Manchester. Just leave the news in London.
By Elephant
Think it`s now official that Manchester has been hand-picked as the main outpost for government jobs, and as the BBC out-of-London HQ, it has had billions thrown at it`s infrastructure for the last decade and a half, so much so that it is head and shoulders above any of the other big cities in the North and Midlands, and can`t fail to succeed.
All the more reason then that Northern Powerhouse Rail is built in full so that workers can get into the new out-of-London capital from Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield , Bradford , Birmingham, Hull and Newcastle.
By Anonymous
@Elephant why stop there! Move the lot to Manchester, why not?
By Man on a bicycle
Actually, anonymous, more government jobs have been relocated to Liverpool in recent years and both cities trail a long way behind leeds or Newcastle or Birmingham for government relocations.
But if you’re talking about market-distorting regeneration funding as opposed to investment, Liverpool is head and shoulders above almost anywhere else for these sort of handouts. It’s a shame it has been hamstrung by the problems in the local council and all northern cities would benefit from the delivery of the full NPR network so more places can fulfill their potential.
By Awayo
I can see Mayfield may have timed the development right after all. It was always mooted that this would be one of the favoured sites when the Government first talked about the northern move. Now that Manchester seems to be the chosen one, having a prime site with a park right next to Picc station seem to make good sense especially with HS2 coming.
By Anonymous