Bruntwood SciTech has completed a £6 million transformation of the historic 117-119 Portland Street building and has let the ground floor to WW+P Architects and Egis UK.
The redeveloped building joins three others – 113-115 Portland Street, 127 Portland Street and 61 Oxford Street – as part of the new Thread Works cluster.
The completed investment sees 117 Portland Street offer 35,000 sq ft of contemporary workspace across six floors, with purposeful design to support ambitious businesses of all sizes in the creative, tech, and innovation sectors to scale, with nine new flexible suites ranging from 1,200 to 6,200 sq ft now available.
As part of the refurbishment, Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G, and Greater Manchester Pension Fund – has delivered a future-ready, sustainable and fully fitted and furnished workspace that addresses the changing demands of today’s market whilst preserving the building’s historic character.
This blend of heritage and sustainable, high specification workspace with premium amenities, has seen the building attract strong interest ahead of the works completing. The entire ground floor has been pre-let to WW+P Architects and Egis UK. Property Hub, the property investment education specialists and podcast producers, will also soon be joining 117-119 Portland Street too.
Adam Brown, Associate and Manchester Studio Lead at WW+P Architects, said: “Joining the Thread Works cluster marks an exciting moment in our strategic growth as we expand our presence in the North. Five years after we started working here, moving into our first permanent residence offers us the opportunity to deepen our connections with the city and focus on our ongoing commitment to championing design quality and technical excellence across the region.
“We look forward to continuing to contribute to Manchester’s legacy of great architecture and creative collaboration from our new home.”
Jack Harrison, Commercial Manager for Bruntwood SciTech, said: “The transformation of 117–119 Portland Street marks a key milestone in our mission to support businesses looking to access Manchester’s growing innovation ecosystem. As the anchor of our new Thread Works cluster, it will provide a home for small to mid-sized fast growing businesses to connect, collaborate and scale both within the immediate neighbourhood, and across Bruntwood SciTech’s city-wide ecosystem.
“WW+P’s arrival reinforces the important role workspace and our established ecosystem plays in the growth of creative and innovative businesses. As the practice joins our growing community of forward thinking, ambitious businesses, we will continue to support cross-industry collaboration that leads to future defining work.
The redesign and brand is inspired by both the buildings’ heritage and future, the name Thread Works draws on the buildings’ first ever user Schill Seebohm & Co – 19th century shipping merchants trading Manchester’s famous locally made textiles from these buildings in the 1880s, and the concept of a ‘thread’ in technology typically being the smallest set or sequence of instructions that a computer handles.
The completed refurbishment forms part of Bruntwood SciTech’s £243 million programme underway across Manchester city centre, delivering 727,000 sq ft of new specialist office and lab space. With major projects including the Pall Mall redevelopment, King’s House and No.3 Circle Square, Thread Works is the latest completion, meeting continued demand for specialist workspace from the city’s growing community of innovation-led businesses.