HBD unveils ‘future-facing’, £140m Manchester office
“Colloco is a completely different prospect to the sterile and corporate offices of yesteryear,” said executive director Adam Brady about the project.
A public consultation is due imminently on developer HBD’s prospective office block, which would be nestled on the border of the districts of Spinningfields and St John’s.
Designed by EPR Architects, Colloco would comprise 200,000 sq ft of office space on the corner of New Quay Street and Gartside Street. The 16-storey office block has been designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating, 5.5-star NABERS score, and to be net zero carbon.
The office block would be filled with flexible workspace, a roof pavilion that provides areas for events, and a garden terrace. To encourage active travel, Colloco would also have e-bike charge points, cycle storage, and showers for occupiers to use.
Adam Brady, executive director at HBD, described Colloco as “a future-facing workspace solution in the post-Covid era”.
He added: “We wanted to create a building that provides a positive impact to Manchester’s thriving community but one which also meets the needs of a modern and progressive work culture.”
In addition to EPR Architects, the project team for Colloco includes Arcadis, Ramboll, Asteer Planning, Hoare Lea, and Curtins.
HBD put the gross development value of Colloco at £140m and estimated that it would create 850 jobs a year during its construction phase.
The recipe for Colloco has been cooking since HBD acquired the site in 2020 from LTE Group, whose Manchester College had a campus there. Back then, Brady teased that the future office block would “rip up the rulebook on how an office building should look, behave, and function.”
Keeping HBD occupied as Colloco gears up for consultation is Island – another HBD office development in Manchester that is nearly halfway complete.
The 100,000 sq ft Island, like Colloco, is targeting top sustainability credentials, including a 5.5-star NABERS score. So far only English Cities Fund’s Eden in Salford has managed to net that rating.
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So so good. I hope this comes to fruition!
By Anonymous
So so good looking. Makes the new Allied London one across the road look very cheap
By Anonymous
Fantastic looking building, let’s hope it get built and the proposal isn’t watered down to become another generic rectangular box.
By Manc Man
THIS LOOKS FANTASTIC
By jim
Nice design. I like it.
By John
thank god its not another simpsonhaugh rectangle
By Anonymous
Creating 850 jobs no new jobs will be created it’s just a building company moving into another building job
By Anonymous
@Anonymous 11:44 – would you rather that building company not have work, go bust and the 850 people be unemployed?
By Anonymous
Another great looking office building. (in the city centre) Something Manchester does very well.
By jrb
Oh Manchester, you beauty. Build it and they will come. No stopping the place at the moment.
By Bob
Great looking scheme.
By BDAY
This is the sort of building you see near St Paul’s. This is excellent, putting Manchester further ahead of every other regional rival.
By Elephant
Looks really good. Finally now stepping up on the looks of the buildings
By Anonymous
Looks ace!
By Anonymous
Less of SimpsonHaugh and more of this. I love the fenestration.
By Mike
Fantastic design and a real gateway building – it somehow manages to capture elements of Spinningfields, St Johns and New Bailey all into one.
By Anonymous
Now THAT’s a building!
By Heritage Action
Impressive!
By Levelling Up Manager
In a word: fantastic!
By Tom
Interesting, sustainable and modern. It can be done . Other architects take note. Wonderful design.
By Anonymous
Thank the lord !!
By ChequerboardWatch
Good design – architecture should move in this direction, great applause for the ecological aspect and sustainable development,
By Jakub H
Execution will be key but this is a very fine and clever proposal, with brilliant detailing and fenestration. Nice cornice at the top. The building has shades of 1920s German Expressionist architecture yet is also totally contemporary.
EPR have been around a while now but they must have some serious talent there currently!
By Rye&Eggs
Manchester can really become a world class city if more thought is put into design like with this scheme, it’s really well designed.
By Michael