Puma to Open New UK HQ in Manchester at Bruntwood SciTech’s Circle Square to Support Increased Innovation and Performance Drive

Global sportswear brand, PUMA is set to open its new UK HQ in Manchester, having agreed a 20,000 sq ft lease of cutting edge workspace at the city’s most exciting destination for technology, digital innovation and creative businesses, Circle Square. 

Located on the Oxford Road Corridor - known as the city’s knowledge quarter - Puma’s new HQ is in the £87 million development being brought forward by the UK’s largest property provider dedicated to the growth of the tech, innovation and science sectors, Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G (Legal & General) and Greater Manchester Pension Fund. No.3 Circle Square forms the latest phase of the neighbourhood’s masterplan and offers 267,000 sq ft and 15 floors of new workspace focused on innovation businesses. The building is finalising construction and will open this summer. 

With an existing small presence in Manchester, the move sees PUMA relocate its UK HQ from London to Manchester and will be home to the company’s sales, marketing, merchandising, finance, people & operations and direct to consumer departments. It follows the announcement of its first ever highly anticipated European flagship store which will open on Oxford Street, London, in Autumn 2025 and will offer an immersive, interactive experience that blends sports performance and technology with cutting-edge streetwear designs as part of PUMA’s brand elevation strategy. 

Its base at No.3 Circle Square will enable PUMA to work side-by-side with existing forward-thinking and disruptive businesses and institutions already located at the Circle Square campus and in the wider Manchester knowledge quarter – providing new opportunities to collaborate and innovate as it continues to focus on innovation and advancing performance. The location will also put PUMA on the doorstep of the city’s world-leading academic institutions, with access to top STEM and creative talent in the city. This includes furthering the brand’s existing link with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) where it sits on an advisory board for its Manchester Fashion Institute.  

It will also have access to Bruntwood SciTech’s innovation growth team to broker additional connections and talent access, and its extensive community programme which offers an array of social, business and personal development events for its employees. 

Lucynda Davies, UK Managing Director, PUMA, said: “The move to Circle Square and state-of-the-art facilities on offer forms a key part of our strategy for providing PUMA’s employees with a first class working environment with top facilities and amenities. All whilst being at the centre of a community which offers leading technology, fashion, AI and innovation. 

“Being surrounded by such a strong line up of industry was an important factor, and to find somewhere in the heart of Manchester’s thriving tech community is exactly what we hoped for. Being based at Circle Square will also open up a host of opportunities to tap into the city’s creative talent pool and strengthen our existing links with academic partners like Manchester Metropolitan University – of which we get the added benefit of Bruntwood SciTech being a partner. 

“We’ve already experienced many of the gains that a thriving city like Manchester affords, and in December 2024, we teamed up with Manchester City football club to launch an innovative AI platform for fans to flex their design skills for the club’s official Third kit. Now, through our new UK HQ, we look forward to further integrating ourselves in the city’s innovative community.”

Josh Whiteley, Commercial Director, Bruntwood SciTech, said: “PUMA joining Circle Square underlines our ambition to build a thriving community of technology, digital and creative leaders and promote knowledge-sharing and innovation. The brand’s own ethos to innovate and grow marries perfectly with our vision, and its arrival highlights the vibrant and collaborative destination that we have built at Circle Square. 

“At Circle Square we offer our customers – whether they’re large global companies or flourishing start-ups – access to new connections, introductions to like-minded businesses, and talent networks while providing state-of-the-art workspaces. Manchester has a reputation as an economic powerhouse that draws in disruptive, pioneering brands and skilled professionals. It also has the largest concentration of fashion students and undergraduates in the UK outside London, and a rich history in innovation and textiles as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Being the UK home of a global brand like PUMA will be a powerful two-way partnership – helping support regional growth, as well as offering them access to workspace, talent and companies that will shape the future of innovation.”

Councillor Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "When a major global brand chooses to have its UK headquarters in Manchester it is a significant announcement for our city which illustrates our international impact. Manchester is a city of innovation and a city of style and we're pleased that PUMA have decided our existing ecosystem - the talent pool available and links with like-minded businesses and institutions - make it the perfect fit for them. 

"We look forward to welcoming PUMA to Circle Square and seeing what interesting new opportunities their presence here will open up both for them and for Manchester people."

Manchester provides the ideal home for innovative fashion businesses such as PUMA, with a strong track record in launching and nurturing some of the UK’s most well-known fashion brands. In 2023, the city proved its pedigree as a fashion capital with world-famous fashion house Chanel holding its 2023/24 Metiers d’Art fashion show in the city’s Northern Quarter. It is also home to the UK’s first fashion manufacturing lab - pioneered by the Manchester Fashion Institute - which offers businesses and researchers access to collaborative robotic technology, ‘cobots’, that can create sustainable high value, low volume garments. In 2024, the Institute's annual runway show included an innovative ‘digital runway’ with fully digital collections brought to life through cutting-edge, zero-waste 3D software. What’s more, as the home to the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, the opportunities to apply the latest innovations and technology to fashion and performance in Manchester are abundant. 

The development of No.3 Circle Square follows the successful completion of the fully-let No.1 and No.2 Circle Square and forms part of an ongoing £243 million investment across seven assets currently being built or undergoing refurbishment in Manchester city centre by Bruntwood SciTech, including Pall Mall, King’s House, 117-119 Portland Street, and Greenheys at Manchester Science Park, as well as Citylabs 4.0, which officially opened its doors in March.

No.3 Circle Square will include a shared roof terrace with expansive views across the city, breakout spaces and lounges, 24/7 access with high-speed connectivity, dedicated onsite security, access to on-site meeting rooms, and a ‘grab and go’ food and drink offer. 

Wellbeing and active travel have also been prioritised, with secure bike storage and high-quality shower and changing facilities also included. The building will also open onto Symphony Gardens, a newly landscaped space designed to complement the neighbouring Symphony Park and promote biodiversity and provide access to shared green space at Circle Square.  

A joint venture between Bruntwood SciTech and Vita Group, the Circle Square neighbourhood also offers more than 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space, including Manchester-favourite Onda Pasta Bar, North Tap Room, Half Dozen Other and Federal Cafe Bar.

Sustainability is one of the core principles in the design of No.3 Circle Square as part of Bruntwood SciTech’s net zero carbon commitments. The building will be net zero carbon in both its construction and operation for shared spaces, and is expected to achieve BREEAM Excellent status, as well as a NABERS 5-star rating and an EPC A rating. Its innovative features to maximise energy efficiency and improve fresh air and climate control for those within the building include an all-electric heating system with state-of-the-art heat pumps, roof mounted solar panelling, a smart Building Management System (BMS) and local Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) units. 

This commitment to sustainability was another important factor in PUMA’s decision to have its UK HQ at Circle Square. The PUMA 10FOR25 strategy aims to fully integrate sustainability into all core business functions and is linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which define global development priorities for 2030. 

PUMA will join Auto Trader as the latest letting at No. 3 Circle Square as well as those already based at Circle Square including Avalere Health, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Roku alongside growing disruptors and enablers based within the Manchester Tech Incubator such as BlueSkeye AI and Manchester Digital. The sportswear brand will also be connected into Bruntwood SciTech’s 400-strong citywide like-minded business community in Manchester, including those based at Manchester Science Park, Citylabs, Sister, and at their city centre innovation hubs such as Bloc, The Exchange, and Manchester One, in addition to the business’ UK-wide community of 1,100 start-ups, scale-ups and global businesses.