Bruntwood opened its flagship building Neo in Manchester on Wednesday night with a launch party and revealed successful lettings figures for the creative workspace.
The £8 million redevelopment houses tech-enabled, high-quality workspace environments.
Downtown in Business and Manchester Digital were announced as the latest companies to take up residency in the new building, leaving Neo’s all-inclusive small studio spaces 100 per cent let or under offer.
The building also houses co-working spaces, a lounge, screening room and larger open-plan office layouts.
A large open-air roof terrace provides all weather meeting pods and built in outdoor heaters.
“Neo is already proving to be a great move for Manchester Digital with plenty of flexibility to meet with our members,” said Katie Gallagher, managing director at Manchester Digital, an independent trade association which collaborates with digital media and digital technology businesses based in Greater Manchester.
“The great spaces will allow us to build up the range of events we currently deliver and to help the businesses who are based here to access our network and integrate with the wider digital and technology community.”
BusinessCloud was there to have a look around and was very impressed.
The CEO of @Bruntwood_UK Chris Oglesby opens the new #Neo building in central Manchester pic.twitter.com/JGRI4h9Ncr
— BusinessCloudEvents (@BCloudEvents) March 29, 2017
Great view of Manchester from the 11th floor of #NeoMCR @Bruntwood_UK pic.twitter.com/fV3Qs0GXY6
— BusinessCloudEvents (@BCloudEvents) March 29, 2017
So the Fermata installation on the #NeoMCR ground floor reacts to the people in the reception area and tweets with that # @Bruntwood_UK pic.twitter.com/rLo0PQ7rku
— BusinessCloudEvents (@BCloudEvents) March 29, 2017
Jenna Gibson, Neo’s community engagement manager, has a programme of regular social, wellbeing and business support events and benefits, some of which will be based around the stunning £250k digital public art space located in the building’s reception.
“We have worked in partnership with Bruntwood for almost a decade now,” said Frank McKenna, chief executive of Downtown in Business, which provides leadership to the private sector.
“During that time we have enjoyed the commercial space and services Bruntwood has provided us with in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester.
“Neo is a hugely impressive development, offering us an eclectic range of services that more than meet our needs.
“We’re looking forward to working at Neo and our continued partnership with Bruntwood in Manchester.”
Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood, said: “We’re delighted to have officially launched Neo with such a wealth of creative customers already on board.
“The proposition at Neo has been specifically designed to encourage creatively-minded businesses of all sizes.
“We’ve actively developed the health and wellbeing benefits for our customers here and we’re incredibly excited to see the community grow.”
Other residents in the small studio spaces include Radium One, Lateral Property Group, Pitch Consultants, One Stream, Proveca, Carrot Pharma and More2. Visixtwo and Accent Software have also taken up residence in the co-working areas.
Neo’s upper floor workspaces are also 75 per cent let or under offer, with customers including The Penketh Group, Kingsley Recruitment and Azo Network – an agency specialising in technology, scientific and medical marketing.
The first digital art installation on the screens located on the ground floor is Fermata by Brendan Dawes.
It consumes real-time digital inputs of data including social media feeds, weather reports and feeds from sensors within the building itself and translate them into compelling, abstract, digital artwork that will capture these ordinarily fleeting moments and visualise them as something beautiful and engaging.