A new co-working and event space aimed at Manchester’s tech and creative community is already more than half full in the week that it opened.
The building at 2 Mount Street is run by Headspace Group and is one of five owned by investor LJ Partnership around Manchester’s Albert Square.
Jonathan Rosenblatt, managing director of Headspace Group, told BusinessCloud that the 15,000 sq ft building was already more than 50 per cent occupied and was attracting lots of interests from tech start-ups.
He explained: “By bringing in tech and creative businesses, by bringing in younger businesses and retail units and bars, this whole area is about to be transformed and I like the idea of being in very early.”
Headspace Group has two other sites in London but 2 Mount Street is the company’s first venture into Manchester.
Rosenblatt said the new offices have 180 desks across four-and-a-half floors, meeting rooms, break-out zones and an event space.
The city centre property overlooks Manchester Central Library, Manchester Town Hall and the iconic Midland Hotel and has already proved a magnet for tech businesses looking for somewhere a bit different.
Rosenblatt told BusinessCloud: “If I was younger and I was starting up a business now, I would probably do it in Manchester rather than London. The cost of living is lower, the cost of rent for your office space is lower and, dare I say it, the quality of life is probably better.
“I’m a Londoner born and bred but actually sometimes London becomes a bit oversaturated, very costly and you have to really make it in order to make it work in London. I feel like Manchester is a better environment.”
He said basing the co-working space away from other tech clusters like the Northern Quarter and MediaCity was deliberate.
“I’m really attracted to the fact this is in the centre of Manchester,” Rosenblatt explained. “What tends to happen, and I’ve watched this happen in London, is that the more and more a sector becomes the biggest in terms of job pool and attracting talent, they actually don’t want to remain on the fringes.
“London will always be the big city and the attractive option for outside investment but I think for start-ups Manchester is head and shoulders above the other cities across the country.”