Construction of a new civil service hub in Manchester has passed a key stage with the completion of core fit-out work at the city-centre building.
The Government Property Agency said today that the First Street Hub had been handed over after its "category-A fit out" had reached practical completion and that its lease has now commenced.
The nine-storey building is a few hundred metres south of St Peter's Square and just over a kilometre from the city's main Piccadilly Station. It will be a base for around 2,600 officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business and Trade, the Office for Standards in Education, and the Department for Education.
The GPA said practical completion of the 12,000 sq m building's category-A fit out would allow work on the final stage of its internal fit-out to commence.
Completion of a category-A fit out means that vital services like electrical distribution, lighting, plumbing connections and heating and ventilation will now be in place – along with basic floor finishes, ceilings and walls.
The GPA said a competitive tender process for the remaining internal fit-out works has now closed, with an announcement on the successful contractor due in the next few weeks.
Georgia Gould, parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet Office, said it was great to see the First Street Hub progress to the next stage of construction.
"UK government hubs across the country help to consolidate our estate," she said. "Not only cutting waste by removing old inefficient buildings from our portfolio, but also giving people across the country the chance to work in the civil service, and driving economic growth in the local area."
Georgina Dunn, interim director of capital projects at the GPA, said First Street would be one of the largest hubs for cross-departmental collaboration and operations outside of the capital.
"It’s very gratifying to reach this significant stage in the programme," she said. "The GPA remains immensely proud of the industry-leading sustainability, accessibility and workplace standards delivered by the government hubs programme."
The reception desk and entrance gates of the new First Street Hub in Manchester Photo: Ask Real Estate
The £105m First Street development is funded by Pension Insurance Corporation, a specialist insurer of defined-benefit pension funds.
The First Street Hub is expected to achieve high environmental performance, with a BREEAM "excellent" rating and a NABERS 5.5 design for performance rating. Lead developer Ask Real Estate said the building would be the first in Manchester city centre to secure such a high NABERS rating.
The GPA signed a lease for the building in 2022. At the time, the First Street Hub was expected to open in 2025. The latest update on the project does not give an indication of when the first civil servants will move into the base.
HMRC has already opened a Greater Manchester base in Salford as part of the first wave of the hubs programme. Elsewhere in Manchester, the GPA is progressing plans for a digital hub for 7,000 officials on the site of a former retail park in Ancoats.