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

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. 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 SimpsonHaugh & 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 Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

-friendly society that provided

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. It was constructed using

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

, and featured a

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

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

, 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 (abbreviated to C20), founded in 1979 as The Thirties Society, is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. It is formally recognised as one of the National ...

strongly objected to the plans to demolish the building.

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been re ...

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

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and Staycity aparthotel, completed in 2022.

Occupancy

As of January 2021, the building is occupied by the

Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

(floor 8 mainly for UK & Ireland Audit and Tax; floor 9 mainly for Strategy & Transactions and Financial Services Audit; floor 10 for reception, IT services, terrace and major meeting rooms), Knights, Distrelec, Gravitas Recruitment Group, and Cazenove Capital, part of

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1804, it employs over 6,000 people worldwide in 38 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is traded on ...

on floor 11. A Black Sheep Coffee shop and a

Wagamama Wagamama Limited (stylised as ''wagamama)'' is a British restaurant chain. The brand is inspired by fast-paced, Japanese ramen bars and offers a celebration of Asian food. History Wagamama Limited was incorporated on 29 April 1991 as China Di ...

restaurant occupy the ground floor.

References

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