One St Peter's Square
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

One St Peter's Square is a high-rise office building in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England. It is situated in
St Peter's Square St. Peter's Square (, ) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave in Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo. Both the square and the basilica are named after Saint ...
in the
city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
.


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 is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...
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, 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 municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
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 is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rather than
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
. 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 , "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. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...
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 or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
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, a 20-storey building which comprises a
Motel One Motel One is a German Hotel, hotel chain headquartered in Munich. It operates properties in eleven European countries as well as one hotel in New York City. A 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 DLA Piper is a law firm with offices in over 40 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It was founded in 2005 through the merger between three law firms: San Diego–based ''Gray Cary Ware & Freiden ...
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, Irwin Mitchell,
WeWork WeWork Inc., headquartered in New York City, is a provider of coworking spaces, including physical and virtual shared spaces, in approximately 600 buildings in 125 cities. WeWork was founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey. Ove ...
, Forvis Mazars and CBRE.


References


External links

{{St Peter's Square Buildings and structures in Manchester Office buildings completed in 2014 2014 establishments in England St Peter's Square, Manchester