Plans approved for Princess Street office extension

Wittington Investments has been given the go-ahead for a comprehensive refurbishment of 40-46 Princess Street in Manchester, which will be extended and renovated to provide modern office space.

Wittington plans to build a new fourth-floor extension to the 51,400 sq ft grade-two listed building within the Whitworth Street and Princess Street conservation area.

As part of the plans, three restaurants – Peking Court, Efes and Bangkok Bar – are all due to close, with the former two becoming office space and the latter potentially converted to a gym. Charlie’s Bar will remain as part of the plans.

Other work on the six-storey building include a reconfiguration of floor plates to provide larger office suites and to make it more open-plan; a new feature light well, including a new staircase and glazing; and two new glass lifts.

It is estimated that changes to the floor plate will add up to 8,300 sq ft of additional office space to the building, bringing its total size to just under 60,000 sq ft.

A number of historical features, including windows, will be restored as part of the project, while the building’s existing entrance canopy will be removed.

The upper floors of the buildings are currently used as commercial space.

The professional team includes EngineRoom as architect, Curtins as structural engineer, Crooks Walker Consulting as building services engineer, and Sandy Brown as acoustics consultant.

The building was purchased by Wittington from offshore investor Rockvale for £7m. It is currently occupied by serviced office operator Citibase.