No8 First Street, the 170,000 sq ft Grade A office scheme, is still on track for completion following Carillion’s demise, with the appointment of specialist construction management team Rayner Rowen and supporting sub contractors.
Rayner Rowen has been appointed by GVA on behalf of the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and work has now restarted back on site. Ask Real Estate is managing the development on behalf of the Fund and Patrizia.
Commenting on the appointment Dan Williams Head of Real Estate Development UK and Ireland for Patrizia said: “We had robust contingency plans in place to minimise the threat of any potential delays in construction and, following the news of Carillion’s insolvency, we have appointed Rayner Rowen to oversee the completion of No8.
“The team has a great deal of experience in managing medium to large scale construction developments and they have spent a lot of time on site over the last couple of weeks to immerse themselves in the build programme. We now have a critical path in place to complete the building as planned.”
Chris Cheap, senior regional director GVA who are investment managers for GMPVF, added: “Rayner Rowen has considerable experience and has quickly picked up the remaining development requirement to take No8 forward to completion. They have been on site since 25th January and have retained a number of key individuals to ensure continuity and the retention of specialist knowledge during the remaining months of construction. They are now fully engaged on site and we expect completion to be achieved in late Spring with minimal delay to the programme.”
Jonathan Rayner, director of Rayner Rowen said “We are proud to have been appointed by GMPVF to complete this prestigious project and look forward to working with the Fund, Patrizia and Ask Real Estate to deliver this scheme as originally intended.”
Gazprom signed as a pre-let occupier early in the construction process, and has already taken access to fit out circa 42,000 sq ft office which is split across two floors.