Rayner Rowen replaces Carillion on No8 First Street

Project manager Rayner Rowen has been chosen to complete the 170,000 sq ft No8 First Street in Manchester, replacing collapsed contractor Carillion on the scheme.

Work on the project, which had stalled following Carillion’s liquidation in January, has now restarted, with Ask Real Estate managing the development on behalf of the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and Patrizia. GVA is acting as investment manager for GMPVF.

The scheme had already been subject to delays before Carillion collapsed earlier this year.

Originally slated for a autumn 2017 completion, the timescale slipped after cladding contractor Lakesmere entered administration in November. The project was understood to be one of the “unprofitable contracts” that contributed to Lakesmere’s collapse.

Altrincham-based cladding firm FK Group then stepped in to help complete the project, but work stopped on site following Carillion’s demise.

Rayner Rowen restarted work on site at the end of January, and the project is now on track to complete by spring.

Occupiers include Gazprom, which took a pre-let on the top two floors of the building, and engineering consultancy WSP, which is due to take around 60,000 sq ft and move 900 staff into the building in the summer.

Savills and GVA advise on First Street office lettings.

Dan Williams, head of real estate development UK and Ireland for Patrizia said: “We had robust contingency plans in place to minimise the threat of any potential delays in construction and, following the news of Carillion’s insolvency, we have appointed Rayner Rowen to oversee the completion of No8.

“The team has a great deal of experience in managing medium to large scale construction developments and they have spent a lot of time on site over the last couple of weeks to immerse themselves in the build programme. We now have a critical path in place to complete the building as planned.”

Chris Cheap, senior regional director at GVA , added: “Rayner Rowen has considerable experience and has quickly picked up the remaining development requirement to take No8 forward to completion.

“They are now fully engaged on site and we expect completion to be achieved in late Spring with minimal delay to the programme.”

This week, Ask Real Estate, Richardson and Patrizia announced plans to deliver up to 750,000 sq ft of offices as part of a new phase of First Street, after Ask bought back a stake in the 20-acre development site which it sold to Patrizia three years ago.