Locations
Liam Buckley, real estate partner in Fieldfisher's Manchester office led the acquisition of 222,000ft2 of offices, located at the Manchester Goods Yard, part of Allied London’s St. John’s development.
The structure of the new building is due to be completed by 2020 and will be Booking.com's largest division outside of its main headquarters in Amsterdam. This investment will also contribute to the development of a brand new tech, digital and creative cluster in the heart of Manchester known as Enterprise City.
Fieldfisher has dealt with the title investigations; utilities and construction; planning and negotiation of the transaction documents, working in partnership with Booking.com's other major advisors, OBI.
OBI has worked with Booking.com for many years and has provided location and lease advice across its property portfolio. OBI’s interior design for the offices on Fountain Street and in Sunlight House both received prestigious design awards and OBI will be project managing and designing the new office at Manchester Goods Yard.
The new office will consolidate Booking.com's four existing buildings, which currently house over 1,500 people in total.
Booking.com said it was in the process of hiring 200 new staff over the next 18 months.
At 222,000 ft2 of Grade A offices, this is Manchester's and perhaps even the North West's largest single pre-let of any office building since 2003. The previous letting was the 500,000 ft2 letting of two buildings on Spinningfields to the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, which Liam Buckley also acted on.
Ian Brown, CEO of Booking.com, said: "We are committed to the city of Manchester and to its future as one of Europe’s largest and most important tech hubs. We plan to develop Manchester Goods Yard into one of the most exciting and dynamic workplaces in the UK”.
Liam Buckley said: "Fieldfisher is pleased to have played such a key role in the development of this area in Manchester. We have a long standing relationship with OBI, Allied London and Booking.com, and it was a great achievement to work on this acquisition with North West firms that share our vision".
Will Lewis, transactions and asset management, OBI said: “We’ve been working with Booking.com for many years and it’s certainly one of Manchester’s major success stories in recent times.
“The growth of Booking.com has been remarkable and the transaction at Enterprise City represents the largest office letting in the city for some 16 years. It proves Manchester, as a city, has the infrastructure and talent pool to support the growth of global enterprises on an international scale.”