Colliers to move to Chancery Place

Property advisor Colliers International has agreed a 10-year lease with landlord NFU Mutual Insurance Society at a new record rent for Manchester city centre of £34/sq ft on the last remaining floor at Chancery Place, developed in 2008.

Colliers will move 45 staff from No.1 Marsden Street to the 7,786 sq ft 12^th floor of Chancery Place on Brown Street off King Street before the end of 2015. The 15-storey building is now fully occupied. Colliers will join Kyocera, Clyde & Co, HSB Engineering, Clearwater Finance and QBE in its new home.

David Hidderley, investment fund surveyor at NFU Mutual Insurance Society, said: “As a prime core office building in the heart the Manchester city centre, we had a great deal of interest in the remaining space at Chancery Place and I am delighted to be able to announce Colliers International as the final occupier, completing occupancy for the building. This is a landmark deal for Manchester and it is testament to the quality of the space and the prime location of the building that we were able to achieve a new headline rent for the city – this deal further underlines Manchester’s standing as a top performing regional market in the UK and we believe it is only the beginning of the story in terms of rental growth for Manchester city centre.”

Michael Hawkins, director of Colliers International, said: “We were so pleased to work with NFU Mutual to acquire what we believe to be the best floorspace within Manchester’s best building; in a location which is at the epicentre of the Northern Powerhouse’s capital city. We wanted to attain the highest quality environment to match the calibre of our staff and Chancery Place provides that in spades. The move is conducive to fulfilling our business objective of being acknowledged as Manchester’s No.1 commercial real estate practice and we look forward to the next chapter for Colliers International in our new state of the art Manchester home.”

Will Kennon, director of CBRE, who represented NFU Mutual, added: “Chancery Place is a unique proposition in Manchester, and whilst other development is under way elsewhere in the city, there is no other development either planned or under-construction which will provide any competition to the unique 7,500 sq ft floor plates offered at Chancery Place. Whether tenants occupy a higher or a lower floor, the asset is unrivalled and offers its tenants the best accommodation in Manchester across all measures.”

Colliers International represented itself in the deal. CBRE and OBI acted for NFU Mutual Insurance Society.