Exchange Quay bosses celebrate bringing scheme ‘back to life’ during busy year

The Exchange Quay development in Greater Manchester is celebrating after commanding a sizable chunk of the office deals transacted in Salford Quays this year.

Under the stewardship of real estate investment management firm Hunter, the 433,637 sq ft scheme accounted for 64% of the space snapped up in the area during the last 12 months.

In 2016, Hunter signed investment services provider AJ Bell up to 198,000 sq ft at the development’s Building No.4, while asset supply and maintenance provider JLA Group revealed plans to create 100 jobs after acquiring 10,800 sq ft in Building No.1 on a 10-year lease.

Now, just 114,000 sq ft remains available for let at Exchange Quay.

Hunter has invested £10m into upgrading the space across Exchange Quay’s six office buildings, which included remodelling the public realm and introducing a range of new on-site facilities, including a Costa Coffee outlet and Londis Retail store.

Hunter investment director Jeremy Birkett-Jones said: “We are delighted to be celebrating a successful year at Exchange Quay. Our recent string of lettings success, to include AJ Bell’s landmark deal in August, demonstrates the strength of our investment programme in bringing this extensive development back to life.

“We have listened closely to our occupiers and the market and this has enabled us to create an environment that companies want to be a part of.”

He added: “We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved and look forward to completing deals on the remaining space.”

Mark Canning, director at Canning O’Neill, an agent on the scheme alongside Savills, commented: “Few schemes in the North West of England can boast of such a comprehensive array of occupier amenities which enables EQ to compete with the city centre in providing great product and representing great value for money.

“Given that prime Manchester city centre overheads are now more than double the costs at EQ, it’s not surprising that the scheme is attracting tenants from literally all around the UK.”

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