First office tenant secured at Didsbury Point

Thermal Transfer has taken a 14,130 sq ft office on the top floor of Countryside Properties and Liberty Property Trust's One Didsbury Point in south Manchester.

The Design and build contractor has agreed a 10-year lease for an undisclosed sum and will be relocating from Glossop in Derbyshire.

Countryside Properties and Liberty Property Trust appointed P3 Property Consultants and Knight Frank to launch a series of new marketing initiatives aimed at securing new tenants at its joint venture scheme Didsbury Point in June this year.

Philip Meakin, a partner at p3 Property Consultants is delighted that the building is now beginning to fill. He commented: "We knew as soon as we started our work at Didsbury Point that it was a great building and all we needed to do was align our offer to the market as it is today. We hope soon to be announcing further deals."

Andrew Carrington, director at Countryside Properties, said: "As developers, we realise that flexibility is key to securing deals. Having not received the initial interest from a single occupier we made a strategic change in our approach to face the market head on and offer splits of the building to meet their requirements. Signing our first deal at the scheme demonstrates that we are now meeting occupier demand and is an encouraging sign for the wider south Manchester market."

Directors of Thermal Transfer said in a statement: "We sought a high quality, modern building which would give us a greater profile in the North West, would also offer excellent accessibility and yet be good value for money. Didsbury Point ticked all those boxes and worked for us as an organisation and we look forward to taking occupation in November."

The first phase of the building, originally named ico1 and comprising approximately 55,130 sq ft across four floors, was completed and launched in mid-summer 2007.

Despite a number of near misses, the building had been completely vacant prior to now.

Jones Lang LaSalle and Edwards & Co were previously instructed on the building.

Didsbury Point offers floor space from 2,500 sq ft and is now known as One Didsbury Point. The quoting rent is £18.50/sq ft.

Daniel Bourmad, partner at Knight Frank, added: "It is fantastic to secure this deal to Thermal Transfer, following our appointment in January. This deal represents a firm uplift in a recovering marketplace, and will hopefully give more confidence to the occupational market. There is also serious interest being shown in the remainder of the building which is very encouraging."