Powell Williams project managed the works on behalf of asset manager Cube Real Estate. Originally built in 2006, European investor Benson Elliot Capital Management acquired the building in 2013 and instructed Cube Real Estate to asset manage on their behalf.
Powell Williams has overseen completion of the £300,000 refurbishment of 55 Princess Street in Manchester. Investment in the 57,000 sq ft block, located opposite Manchester Town Hall, has seen the building upgraded to help meet the growing demand for Grade A office space.
This 78,400ft2 office building, for developers CTP, is opposite Waterhouse’s Grade I Town Hall on Princess Street. It sits astride two conservation areas and engages with Kennedy Street to the rear.
Conceptually, each elevation seeks to respond compositionally and materially to the respective street walls. The building may be seen to be enclosed by a unitised limestone external wall whose height varies to make scale relationships to the differing nature of each defining street. To Princess Street, a zinc clad ‘box’ above ground floor level projects over the footway, and offers a memory of 45-51 Princess Street which it replaced whilst imparting a more appropriate civic scale to this street.