Frequently asked questions

We’re a commercial property company, and we own more than £1bn of assets across over 100 properties in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. We also have a development pipeline of £1.4bn. We’re committed to helping the UK’s great city regions become even greater, investing for the long term to support growth and by creating the right places for business success.

We’re not a property agent - we own, let and manage buildings across Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham. If you choose to look for office space with a property agent, they might refer you to us.

We own over 100 properties across four UK city regions: Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. We also own Alderley Park & Innovation Birmingham, we’re the majority shareholder in Manchester Science Park and we’re in a joint venture with Select Property Group to develop Circle Square.

We offer everything from a virtual business address to co-working, serviced, managed and leased work space options as well as a range of retail space. Alderley Park also offers a range of specialist laboratory space and science services.Manchester Science Park and Innovation Birmingham offer a range of spaces suitable for digital and tech businesses including incubators and post-accelerators.

We can provide internet and comms in all of our offices. However, if you’re renting conventional office space from us, you do have the option to use your own provider.

You can speak to the Sales Surveyor who has been dealing with your office move and they will put you in touch with the right person.

M247 are our partners in providing internet services and offer a range of options to suit your needs. Your Sales Surveyor will be able to talk you through these options.

Just as you need permission to carry out any refurbishment works or alterations on a property, you also (by law) need to get permission to for any data cabling to be run through a property - which is necessary when installing your own telephone lines.

This can vary depending on the type of office space you’re choosing to rent and the location of the property. This could be anywhere between 6 months and 5 years.

Of course. Our legal team will send you a copy of your lease.

If we have space available to allow you to expand, you can do so within your lease term. It’s best to speak to your building team about your plans to expand, and they’ll put you in touch with the relevant person at Bruntwood who can help.

You don’t have to, but we’d always advise speaking to one before signing your lease. Unfortunately, this can’t be a Bruntwood solicitor as we can’t legally comment on your lease.

This depends on the condition of your office when your lease ends. There might be dilapidation fees to pay if we need to do any work to restore the space to its original condition.

The main difference is the length of the agreement. Licence agreements are usually signed when you rent a serviced office. These are generally signed for a period of up to 12 months, making this an ideal flexible solution and is favoured by small or new start businesses and also companies seeking project space or satellite offices.

Lease agreements cover longer periods of time and are usually signed for a minimum of 3 years.

Cleaning is included in the costs for any serviced offices, but if you choose one of our conventional spaces, you’ll need to arrange this yourself. We do offer a cleaning service as an optional extra.

If you search for your office building on our home page search tool, local amenities can be found under ‘The area’ section. Here you’ll find a map which will show you local food and drink, public transport, entertainment, health and fitness, community and hidden gems.

If you enter your office’s building name into the search bar on the homepage on this website, you’ll find the full address under 'The Overview' section.

Once you’ve signed your lease, we’ll work together to agree on a date for you to move in.

Each building displays an out-of-hours contact number - it’s usually in the reception or entrance area. Your building team will be able to give you some more information about your specific building.

It depends on each specific building. Have a chat with your Sales Surveyor or building team, and they’ll be able to give you some more information.

Most of our receptions are open between 8.30am-5pm, but some open earlier and some close later. Your building team will be able to tell you the specific times for your building.

You can find out what each of our different office spaces offer on the products page of the website.

The price of our conventional office space is calculated per square foot, with insurance, service charge and business rates added to this. If you are renting a serviced office, the additional charges are included in your single desk price.

Unfortunately we don’t have the option for customers to access their account online at the moment. We’re currently working on it, as we’d love to be able to offer this option in the future.

The service charge is a contribution to the maintenance and upkeep of the building, and usually includes the heating of your suite.

We’d recommend around 100 sq ft per person for conventional office spaces - which could include a kitchen or breakout space, and 45 sq ft per person for serviced space.

The cost of our parking spaces vary depending on the property. There are usually several car parks near our city centre and regional buildings, and we’re able to offer our customers discounts at some of them.

Included in your fixed monthly price for serviced space is: rent, business rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, furniture, kitchen with tea and coffee and company signage. If you’ve chosen a call package with us, this includes call answering in your company name. You’ll also get discounted access to our on-site meeting rooms.

It’s tricky to compare because the final price depends on the specific options you choose. As well as the basic rent for a conventional lease (sq/ft costs will depend on location and facilities), you’ll need to consider other costs including initial capital outlay for refurbishment, fit out, connectivity and furniture. In general, serviced offices do work out to be more expensive because you’re on a flexible contract and we do a lot of the set up for you.