One St Peter's Square is a
high-rise office building in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England. It is situated in
St Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square ( la, Forum Sancti Petri, it, Piazza San Pietro ,) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo. Both ...
in the
city centre
A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
.
Elisabeth House
The previous building on the site was Elisabeth House, an office block constructed of concrete and built in 1960, and which had weathered badly. It was originally meant to be clad in stone to keep with its context but for financial reasons the exposed concrete was not clad.
It used to house the Dutch Pancake House, which opened in the 1970s and closed in the early 2000s.
Demolition of Elisabeth House began in late 2011 and the building was fully removed by April 2012.
Office building
Construction of a new office building was first proposed in 2009,
and was granted planning permission in 2010.
The scheme was approved in July 2011,
and a 25% pre-let of the building by professional services firm
KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
enabled construction to begin.
One St Peter's Square consists of of
Grade A office space.
In 2011, the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF), part of the
Greater Manchester Pension Fund
The Greater Manchester Pension Fund is a pension fund for employees of various institutions in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. It is run by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and follows the rules of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Wit ...
, invested £10 million in the development.
Construction began in May 2012 and was due to be completed in early 2014 to coincide with completion of the
Central Library and
Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
redevelopment. It then underwent internal fit out and was completed in late 2014.
Concern over the building's height surfaced during the construction of the core. One local observer said the building "is at least four storeys too tall on the site and the lift core alone makes the neighbours cower".
The building fronts onto
Midland Hotel, Central Library and the Town Hall Extension – all Grade II* listed buildings.
The
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
s supporting the building are on the outside, thus avoiding unwelcome columns in the office space. The exterior columns are clad in
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
rather than
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
. The choice of limestone was exacerbated by the need to remain in context with listed buildings in the vicinity and the desire to avoid weathering which is often seen in concrete.
A three-storey glazed
balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony is ...
tops the building and features a curved, overhanging roof complete with spotlights.
Situated in Manchester's historic district, the building needed to meet strict
conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
rules. One St Peter's Square was designed in a simple, modern classical style with high quality Jura limestone columns to fit in with the Central Library opposite. A sweeping top floor balcony perches out over St Peter's Square, providing a focal point for passers-by. The building forms part of the new civic space for St. Peter's Square. As part of the plans, the Central Library and Town Hall Extension were renovated (a process which began in 2010 and was completed in 2014) and the landscaping of the square with trees.
Three further high-rise blocks were built adjacent to One St Peter's Square: a 12-storey office building known as
Two St Peter's Square,
a 14-storey office building named Landmark on the site of the
former Odeon Cinema, and
3 St Peter's Square
3 St Peter's Square is a high-rise hotel and aparthotel in Manchester city centre, England. Designed by Stephenson Studio with Leach Rhodes Walker as the delivery architect, the building comprises a 256 unit aparthotel operated by Staycity and a ...
, a 20-storey building which comprises a
Motel One
Motel One is a German low-budget hotel chain headquartered in Munich. It operates properties in eleven European countries as well as one hotel in New York City. Few of the company's hotels use their upscale subsidiary brand The Cloud One instead.
...
and Staycity aparthotel.
Occupancy
In May 2014, it was reported that the restaurant chain San Carlo is set to open its fifth Manchester venue, launching a restaurant in One St Peter's Square in late October-early November 2014.
KPMG confirmed in July 2014 that it was taking an additional of office space across half of the 10th floor. They had initially agreed to take across the upper three floors.
In December 2014, law firm
DLA Piper agreed a 15-year lease for 45,000 sq ft of space on floors eight and nine.
As of February 2023, the building is occupied by KPMG, DLA Piper,
Addleshaw Goddard
Addleshaw Goddard LLP (informally AG) is an international law firm headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. It is structured as an LLP and has circa 1,400 lawyers including 325 partners ,
Irwin Mitchell
Irwin Mitchell is a full service law firm in the United Kingdom, established in Sheffield in 1912. The firm offers legal and wealth management services from its 17 offices, and employs more than 2,500 people.
In 2018 the company was ranked 21st ...
,
WeWork,
Mazars and
CBRE.
References
External links
{{St Peter's Square
Buildings and structures in Manchester
Office buildings completed in 2014
2014 establishments in England