Knight Frank leaves King Street for Deansgate

Knight Frank is to relocate its Manchester office from 55 King Street, its base for the past five years, to Maple Grove Developments' newly refurbished Lancaster Buildings on Deansgate.

The company has taken 3,500 sq ft on the second floor on a five-year lease with a three-year break. Knight Frank currently occupies around 6,000 sq ft in the King Street building, owned by Orbit Developments.

David Porter, joint North West head of Knight Frank commercial, commented: "55 King Street has served us extremely well and we continue to have a strong relationship with the landlord, Orbit Developments. When the time came for us to choose a new office, a similar location was of paramount importance. Lancaster Buildings fitted the bill in terms of its exceptional refurbishment coupled with its central position in Manchester. We are undertaking a fit out at the moment and will be moving in June."

Like many other property consultancies, Knight Frank has cut staff numbers in the past year. Porter said the workforce had been trimmed by 15% and now stands at around 30 in Manchester.

Lancaster Buildings has recently undergone a multi-million pound renovation to create two floors of new space with suites ranging from 3,000 sq ft up to 9,000 sq ft. Maple Grove acquired the offices from Irish investor Morgan Leahy, co-founder of Vision Developments with Stephen Cliff. Lancaster Buildings is on the corner of St Ann's Square and Deansgate, next to Vision's Barton Arcade.

The Knight Frank commercial and residential development teams in Manchester are headed by David Porter and Andy Finch respectively.

The move is expected to take place in around a month's time.