Two St Peter's Square is a high-rise office building 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. B ...

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. Designed by

SimpsonHaugh and Partners SimpsonHaugh (formerly Ian Simpson Architects) is an English architecture practice established in 1987 by Ian Simpson and Rachel Haugh. The practice has offices in London and Manchester. In 2014, the practice re-branded as Simpson Haugh & Pa ...

, the scheme was controversial as it involved the demolition of a 1930s Art Deco but unlisted building.

Century House

The site of Two St Peter's Square was previously occupied by four buildings: Century House, Sussex House, Bennett House and Clarendon House. Century House was built in 1934 for the Friends Provident Society, a Quaker-friendly society that provided life insurance. It was constructed using Portland stone, and featured a

relief sculpture Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

of George Fox, as well as ornate carvings on the side of the six-storey building. A campaign was started in June 2013 to save Century House. The

Twentieth Century Society The Twentieth Century Society (C20) is a British charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. The society's interests embrace buildings and artefacts that characterise 20th-century Britain. It is for ...

strongly objected to the plans to demolish the building. Manchester City Council approved the demolition of Century House on 25 July 2013.

Two St Peter's Square

The new building contains of space over 11 storeys, consisting of of office space and of shops, as well as a 43-space basement car park. The building is faced with stone, with a complex lattice structure on the side. Plans were submitted in 2013, and it was completed in early 2017. It was a

speculative development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. ...

, with no pre-arranged tenants. Separate posts to carry over tram cables were installed in August 2014 so the current assemblage of buildings could be demolished – before these were constructed, the cables were attached to the building structures. Hoardings and scaffolding were installed in November 2014 in preparation for demolition. Three other high-rise blocks have been built adjacent to Two St Peter's Square: a 14-storey office building known as One St Peter's Square completed in 2014, a 14-storey office building named Landmark on the site of the former Odeon Cinema completed in 2019, and 3 St Peter's Square, a 20-storey building containing a Motel One and Staycity aparthotel, completed in 2022.

Occupancy

As of January 2021, the building is occupied by the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

, Knights, Distrelec, Gravitas Recruitment Group, and Cazenove Capital, part of

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company, founded in 1804. The company employs over 5,000 people worldwide in 32 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Headquartered in the City of London, it ...

. A coffee shop and a

Wagamama Wagamama (stylised as ''wagamama'') is a British restaurant chain, serving Asian food based on Japanese cuisine. History The first Wagamama was opened in 1992 in Bloomsbury, London, founded by Alan Yau, who subsequently created the Chinese re ...

restaurant occupy the ground floor.

References

{{St Peter's Square Buildings and structures in Manchester Office buildings completed in 2017 2017 establishments in England