FORE Partnership has signed up Hana to Windmill Green, FORE’s highly sustainable office building in Manchester city centre.
The flexible workspace provider is taking 26,000 sq. ft. of the redeveloped Grade-A office building, spanning half the ground floor, plus the full first and second floors.
The deal comes off the back of international enterprise software company, Interact, moving its UK headquarters to Windmill Green in September this year. The building is now more than half let.
Windmill Green was designed and developed by FORE with a core emphasis on sustainability, wellbeing and social impact. Its low-carbon design includes Manchester’s largest green living wall and a rooftop apiary. It has been recognised as having the city’s best cycling facilities, as well as a fleet of branded scooters created by local start up Swifty Scooters. It is the first multi-let office in Manchester to achieve BREEAM’s coveted “Outstanding” rating.
FORE Partnership is a purpose-driven real estate investment firm with a forward-thinking approach to ensuring that each single asset works as hard as possible to reduce carbon and drive positive social benefits both for the building occupiers and the local community.
Hana is a plug-and-play, flexible space offering launched in the UK by CBRE in 2019. It currently has three London locations, and Windmill Green will be its first location outside of the capital.
The concept sees Hana partner with landlords to develop and operate integrated, scalable flexible workplaces, with each unit containing office suites (‘Hana Team’), conference and events space (‘Hana Meet’), and co-working (‘Hana Share’). It attracts companies of all sizes, particularly large enterprise and high-growth businesses.
Hana aims to help property owners meet the rapidly growing demand for flexible office space, and offers a range of partnership solutions including designing, building, and operating the co-working facilities and services. The intention is to keep owners in control of their assets and enhance the tenant offering without having to rely on a third-party provider.
Aurélien Collignon, Investment Director at FORE, said: “Hana choosing Windmill Green as its first UK location outside of London is a massive endorsement for the building, and we’re looking forward to getting them up and running. The team’s ethos is perfectly aligned with our own, as we share the same values around the importance of championing sustainability and social impact. We couldn’t have asked for a better fit. Completing this key letting in a time of market uncertainty demonstrates that business carries on, and is a strong vote of confidence in the Hana brand, the building and Manchester from both FORE and CBRE.”
Paul Nellist, EMEA Managing Director for Hana, said: “We are delighted to be coming to Manchester and partnering with such a future-focused firm as FORE Partnership. They understand the needs of the modern occupier and the requirement to provide professional, sophisticated amenity space within their buildings. Windmill Green should be applauded for its focus on sustainability and social impact and makes us the perfect match. We look forward to providing a warm welcome to the city of Manchester in late Q3 when we officially open.”
It is expected that Hana at Windmill Green will be operational in Q3 2020.
