Council chooses First Street for interim relocation

At the second time of asking, Manchester City Council has selected Ask Developments' Number One First Street as the location for its temporary offices, while the three-year £175m refurbishment of the Town Hall complex takes place.

The council's 1,400 staff will occupy 140,000 sq ft of the building from January 2010 until the end of December 2012, leaving 40,000 sq ft available for additional occupiers. The fit-out is due to start in October.

The council had originally chosen Allied London's Spinningfields but withdrew from negotiations and reopened the selection process. More than a dozen buildings were viewed in recent weeks as part of the competition process.

Number One First Street, a refurbished office building, is the opening phase of a 20-acre scheme that could hold 1.8m sq ft of offices, 1,500 homes and 350,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space.

GVA Grimley advises the council.