Soller lodges plans for distinctive Manchester office
Designed by Howells, the 125,000 sq ft building dubbed NXQ would be located on the fringe of the city’s Northern Quarter.
Reaching 18 storeys, Soller Group’s scheme would see a site off Lever Street comprising nine separate buildings redeveloped.
The building gets wider as it rises due to cantilevered floors, while at street level several of the existing buildings will be incorporated into the development.
NXQ would feature a communal reception, a tech hub that would provide touch-down space for occupiers, and a restaurant located on the corner of Great Ancoats and Lever Street, according to Soller.
Subject to planning approval the building is due to be completed by 2027/2028.
Place North West revealed in 2021 that Soller was drawing up plans for an office development in Manchester having secured full control of the site.
More than three years later, the scheme has taken a major step forward with the submission of plans to the city council. The plans are yet to be validated on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
Nick Treadaway, founding partner and chief executive of Soller Group, said: “We are very excited to have submitted a planning application for the NXQ scheme, which has been in the works for a number of years.
“Prime office stock in Manchester remains in short supply and upon completion, this will provide highly sustainable, excellent quality accommodation that will appeal to occupiers ongoing flight to quality who seek environmental excellence.”
Ashton Hale is advising on planning and Turley is advising on heritage. Knight Frank and Savills have been appointed as letting agents. Atelier Ten is advising on MEP, sustainability, vertical transportation, and fire engineering.
Howells is the architect for the development. Credit: via Soller Group
Looks great, hopefully it gets planning quickly and built
By Alex
Street level activation looks fantastic, here’s hoping this sails through & revitalises what is at the moment a bit of an eyesore
By Anonymous
That’s more like it! I can see a lot of nods to the Express Building opposite while having it’s own sense of design. More of this please! My only minor critique is the reason the NQ is so popular is because of its grungy/edgey/hipster vibe and alot of that comes down to the existing and undeveloped low rise buildings. The city needs to be careful not to over develop the area and loose the charm of the area that makes it so popular and desirable. That said, this particular plots existing building are a little bit too grungy and of no real architectural merit. This building is far more appropriate.
By Egg
Wow! Yet another great looking office block for Manchester. I can’t honestly remember the last bad looking office block proposed and/or built.
By jrb
Looks really nice. Scale and street level are perfect. No notes
By Anonymous
Whilst pleased that some of the buildings are being retained, there are some really interesting facades on Great Ancoats Street that could and should be integrated into this scheme.
By Heritage Action
The renders seem intended to not show the looming effect it will likely have, or how it will contribute to the canyon/wind tunnel effect on Great Ancoats Street. That being said, it looks a decent enough scheme, and if this sort of office block really needs to go into the NQ, it’s a reasonable location. MCC perhaps needs to be more proactive in terms of a framework if more of these schemes are going to come forward though.
By Rotringer
Awesome 🙌
By Jeff Blair
I checked what “grungy” means. It is US slang for “grotty”. Not a lot of people want to know that.
By Anonymous
Ah of course the nod to the Express building. Nice touch, looking forward to seeing this started.
By John
A decent design. I presume the developers have looked at the office market and decided it costs in to deliver even more in Manchester.
By Anonymous
Agree with Egg. A homage to the Express building.
By Elephant
This will be great for the area and its daytime economy. Having a commerce hub in NQ will be great for diversifying the area’s offering without diluting its overall character. Good job Soller.
By Anonymous
While Liverpool can’t get an office built to save its life
By Anonymous
Looks great.
By jlb
“Distinctive” in the sense that there are only 75,648 buildings in the world built to more or less the same design. Oh, but hang on… wow, yes. It bulges a bit above the 5th floor. Ground-breaking stuff.
By Matthew Jones
Just seen this and I think it will look wonderful in that location. Manchester does have a huge number of large offices and indeed office districts. This looks like an attractive addition.
By Dan
Wonder how they are funding this one. Looks great… Hope it gets built
By Bob Monkhouse
Another inappropriate ugly eyesore? Yuk
By Roberta Upton
Looks like it’s a hit then. Obviously the usual few pseudonymous joyless miseries who always comment but generally well done . Excellent stuff.
By John
While lower buildings are decent , they’re not worthy of a second look.
The main block behind looks like a 60s multi storey car park.
Oh dear, not good.
By Nige
Who builds 18 story office blocks in Manchester?? If approved and not built out ripe for a future residential application of that scale.
By Anonymous
Nice design. Manchester needs more of this.
By John
@Matthew Jones, it may not be distinctive in that sense, but I don’t think every building should aim to be distinctive, Paris, Barcelona, Copenhagen ect are all build largely built in a homogenous form with most buildings having slight variations from one another and they are all better places.
I would much prefer they took references from good examples from surroundings then try hopelessly reinvent the wheel and produce buildings which only architects can esoterically read and this proposal clearly has been inspired but the Streamline Moderne Express building.
By Anonymous
Love it love it love it! Great reuse of existing building frontages, which is a wonderful mix of old and new. Too easy to bulldoze all of our old stuff. The new tower is fab – not just boxy and glassy but a lovely nod to the curves across at Express. Hope this goes ahead and isn’t value engineered by the accountants 😉 – stick to the vision!
By Express Obsessed
Great design.
By Monty
Surely not a Project for The Northern Quarter ?
Quite out of keeping
By Rex