Vinci kicks off One Central Park refurbishment
Contractor Vinci will start work on One Central Park next month as part of Manchester City Council’s £5.3m plan to revamp the 138,000 sq ft space into offices for digital and creative businesses.
The council earmarked £5.3m from its capital budget to refurbish the buildings, located between Monsall and Newton Heath, in June 2016 after purchasing the site two years earlier.
However, after finding a number of issues with the building’s infrastructure and its adaptability, the council decided to undertake a full overhaul of the buildings to create a digital and tech hub mirroring the nearby Sharp Project, which is home to around 60 start-up businesses.
Main contractor Vinci has been appointed to carry out the works and is due to start on site next month on a 56-week programme, due to conclude in May 2019.
Designed by architect PRP, the plans will add an additional 18,000 sq ft of space to the office, while 75,000 sq ft of space will be extensively refurbished. Overall, the offices will provide a total of 138,000 sq ft, some of which is earmarked for use by the Manchester College.
Works will see the construction of a courtyard space to be used for events and meeting space, while the majority of existing mechanical and electrical services will be stripped out and replaced. A steel frame will also be built to support a new roof.
Existing tenants in some of the blocks to have been decanted to allow the works to take place.
The professional team includes Turner & Townsend as project manager; Integra as structural designer; Aecom as services engineer; and Keelagher Okey Klein as principal designer.
