A topping out ceremony was has been held in Manchester at the
Government Property Agency's (GPA) First Street government hub to
mark the building reaching its highest point.
The ceremony marks the beginning of the countdown to completion
of the nine-storey c.12,000 sq. ft. office building, which is
scheduled to be ready for internal fit-out by the end of the
year.
Once complete, the hub will accommodate approximately 2,600 civil
servants, including the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), the Office of
Rail and Road (ORR), the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities (DLUHC), the Office for Standards in Education
(OFSTED), and the Department for Education (DfE).
With more than 700 roles relocated from London to Manchester,
this underlines the ongoing government commitment to Levelling
Up.
Lead developer Ask Real Estate and its joint venture partner,
Richardson, secured a full pre-let of the Grade A BREEAM
Excellent office building to the GPA, which then signed a lease
with PIC, the building's owners, in 2022.
This latest development forms part of the Government Hubs
Programme supporting economic growth across the UK. The programme
is rationalising the government's estate in towns and cities
across the UK, playing a pivotal role in delivering modern,
customer-focused and varied workspaces for civil servants. The
design recognises that different types of work require different
spaces to enable collaboration, creativity and community
regardless of how people choose to work.
Senior representatives from the GPA, Ask Real Estate, BAM
Construction and PIC - the investor funding the hub's
construction - and members of the wider supply chain gathered to
mark the occasion with a traditional ‘Topping Out' ceremony.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, Alex Burghart,
said:
We are committed to creating more modern and productive work
environments where civil servants can be inspired and take pride
in delivering the best possible service to the taxpayer.
The new Manchester First Street Hub puts us in an even stronger
position to attract talent from across the region into the civil
service and better support the thousands of hard-working civil
servants currently based in Manchester.
Clive Anderson, the GPA's Director of Capital Projects,
said:
The entire project team is making excellent progress and it's
fantastic to celebrate reaching this significant stage in the
programme. This new state-of-the-art office will provide a home
for civil servants from across the government, making it one of
the largest hubs for cross-departmental collaboration and
operation outside London. The GPA remains immensely proud of
the industry-leading sustainability, accessibility and
workplace standards delivered by the Government Hubs Programme.
The construction is being carried out by BAM, appointed by Ask to
deliver the main build. A competitive tender process for the
subsequent fit-out works, scheduled to take a further 12 months,
has just completed with the GPA due to make an announcement in
the next few weeks.
John Hughes, Managing Director at Ask said:
It's fantastic to see this project taking shape now and to be
celebrating such a significant milestone in its construction.
We're proud to be working with the GPA to deliver a project which
will provide a boost to the economic growth of the area, and to
witness the further expansion of the First Street neighbourhood
establishing it as a business location of choice.
James Agar, Head of Long Income at PIC, added:
Government-let commercial property assets are an important,
on-going area of specific focus for PIC, and we are pleased to
make this long-term commitment to supporting the greening and
modernisation of the UK Government's estate.
The First Street hub, Manchester, is a best-in-class development
and joins 2 Ruskin Square, Croydon, as part of our expanding
partnership with the GPA. An important feature of this
development is that it is intended to be net zero carbon in
operation, which exemplifies PIC's purposeful investment
strategy.
Equally important is the collaborative effort projects like this
demand, and we would especially like to thank our development
partners Ask, and BAM Construction for working so successfully
with us on the project.
The First Street Hub is in the heart of Manchester and a few
minutes' walk from Oxford Road and Deansgate rail stations. It
has been designed to be class-leading, meeting inclusive and
accessible design standards.
